Goals from Sergio Aguero and Kelechi Iheanacho were not enough as City lost 3-2 to the Gunners in Sweden, but the boss believes that the players are adjusting to his preferred style of play and that they will get more comfortable as time goes on.
Sports Livestream ⚽ JOIN NOW for FREE
Instant access to the BT Sport, Sky Sports and Eurosport
He said: “I saw many things that I like a lot. Our pressing, our solidarity. I would have preferred to win the game for our confidence but it’s not about whether we are ready.
“We made a few mistakes in our build-up as except for the second goal that was the quality of the Arsenal players, the chances that we conceded were our mistakes.
“We have to improve that but if the solution was to play long balls, that would be easy. Four or five times building up we made clear chances.
“For example, in the last 10 minutes Aleix made good possession with Yaya and De Bruyne and we created clear chances. That is why we are going to work on that more and more because it is new for them.”
Guardiola also highlighted the source of City’s two goals; crosses from wingers Raheem Sterling and Jesus Navas that were converted by Aguero and Iheanacho respectively.
“The two goals came because we attacked the byline. It was two crosses; one from Sterling and one from Jesus. Today all the typical players go inside but I like to attack byline,” he said.
“Of course Sterling likes to play on the left but that is when it is good to know the players. The last two games he has played on the right and he did it really well.”
Finally, Pep insisted that all the members of squad will have a role to play throughout the season as he looks to challenge on domestic and European fronts.
“All the players are going to play an important role so we cannot judge after three friendly games which players are going to play all the season. There are a lot of games and players cannot play every three days so the players who are ready will play more,” he stated.
