James Milner thinks it will take City time to gel…
Manchester City midfielder James Milner admits that his side have started poorly, but thinks it will take the team time to get used to new boss Manuel Pellegrini, reports the Telegraph.
The team won their opening match at home to Newcastle impressively, but since then the Sky Blues have embarrassingly lost to Cardiff and stumbled to drab 0-0 drawn agaisnt Stoke City.
“We’d like to have a few more points. In the first game we played really well, setting our standards high, and since then we haven’t quite hit those, for whatever reason,” Milner said, who started his first game under Pellegrini against Stoke at the weekend.
City spent almost £100m on Jesus Navas, Alvaro Negredo, Stevan Jovetic and Fernandinho – and Milner reckons it will take for the new big money acquisitions to settle into their new surroundings.
“We have a new manager and new players coming into the club, so it will take time for everyone to get on the same page – but the longer time we spend together, and the longer we play together, the better and we now have a few weeks before the next break,” he said.
“That’s more time without everyone jetting off, and the more we are together the better the manager can get across his ideas and we can work together,” added the 27-year-old, who scored his first Premier League goal for Leeds United as a 16-year-old.
City take on Czech side Viktoria Plzen in the Champions league on Tuesday, with fans desperate to mount a serious European challenge following two consecutive years where the big spenders have failed to get out of the group stages.
Following City’s poor Champions League record, Milner says that his side will not be taking the opposition lightly.
“Any team that has qualified for the group stages of the Champions League are obviously a strong team and deserve to be there. The groups in previous years have taught us not to take anything lightly,” he added.
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