Delph: ‘Perfectionist’ Guardiola has been ‘unbelievable’

Mark Scott
Fabian Delph: Subject of Leeds 'approach'

Fabian Delph: Subject of Leeds 'approach'

Manchester City midfielder Fabian Delph has hailed the arrival of Pep Guardiola and stated that he has been “fantastic from day one”.

The former Leeds United and Aston Villa man, who was restricted by injury over the course of last season, will be trying to force his way back into first-team contention at the Etihad and revealed that the Spaniard has given him a new lease of life.

“When I first met the new manager, I did feel a bit of a lift. He’s been fantastic from day one, knew everybody’s names from day one,” Delph told BBC Sport.

“I’d say I’ve learnt more in these three weeks than I have throughout my whole career.

“The systems that he’s trying to implement are unbelievable, the intensity that he’s brought to the group is frightening.

“He’s a perfectionist and, to be fair, everyone is pulling together and trying to implement what he wants us to do on the training field.

“It’s been a big learning curve. It’s been amazing for me and I’m really looking forward to the rest of the season.”

Delph’s team-mate Gael Clichy has also given an insight into life with Guardiola at the helm, and Man City fans can expect their team to be playing positive football.

“”What he wants is for his team to play offensive football and for that he wants the full-backs to support without getting beat when we lose the ball,” Clichy explained on City’s official website.

“That’s something new as before we were quite open and if you look at our games from last year we were conceding a lot of goals on the counter-attack because we were an offensive team and open.

“I guess he’s trying to make us as offensive as previous years but just as solid at the back.”