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Pep Guardiola warned his rivals that Raheem Sterling should do more after the winger inspired Manchester City to defeat Southampton 6-1, which sent them to the top of the Premier League.
Sterling scored a brace – bringing him to 50 goals for City – and added two badists to close out a week during which he verbally accepted a new five-year contract with the defending champions.
"He's in incredible shape," Guardiola said. "He is lively, fast, intelligent, fighting, ambitious and decisive.
"He can play both sides and center, receive the ball behind the lines and still commit the central defender with a lot of aggression.
"It was an amazing performance with and without the ball, but with the kids like him and Leroy (Sane), I'd like to feel like they can still improve."
On this form, it was easy to see why City had worked so hard to connect the 23-year-old Sterling to new conditions.
This is the man Sane was looking for when Wesley Hoedt scored his center on his own goal for the first goal. Sterling then set up second goal, Sergio Aguero, before playing a role in David Silva's shot that raised the score to 3-0.
After Danny Ings escaped – Southampton's first goal since September 17 – Sterling finished fourth for City in the first half, then fifth in the 67th minute before finishing the day with Sane sixth.
"I have the impression that he now likes to score goals, make badists and play an important role in the win," added Guardiola. "He is becoming a winning player and he is only 23 years old. We can not forget it.
"He is stable and focuses on what he has to do to become a better player. If he's willing to become a better player and thinks it's not enough what I am as a footballer he can achieve what he wants. "
Sterling could be inspired by Aguero, who scored his 150th Premier League goal, but also featured the kind of performance required by his forwards, regularly taking stock and taking possession of the ball.
"Of course," Guardiola said to the question of how he wanted to see Aguero play. "I have spoken with Sergio many times. I do not ask Sergio to be Gabriel (Jesus) or Kyle Walker, but I ask the best Sergio … to be aggressive, with and without balloon. "
Very happy for this victory and for having scored my 150th goal of @ first league with this great club. Many thanks to all the team and fans for their support. And we go even more! ?? #mancity pic.twitter.com/ihFD7qc55q
– Sergio Kun Aguero (@aguerosergiokun) November 4, 2018
Southampton may have ended its fruitless run in front of goal, but Ings penalty in the 30th minute never gave the impression of changing the match after City scored three times in 18 minutes.
"It's the game that's been going on since the beginning," said manager Mark Hughes. "Any other work that you have prepared and the game plan you want to implement is off the beaten path."
But Southampton continued to fight and had six shots shot, the largest number of cities to have faced in the league this season, to offer encouragement.
"It's hard when you're down," added Hughes. "You can not engage too much because Man City has the ability to overtake you and it gets even more embarrbading.
"Six-one is not a result we are proud of, but the fact that we were trying to create opportunities when the game was played shows that the character was good."
Press Association
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