Huddersfield vs Manchester City: Leroy Sane reveals Pep Guardiola's half-time message after poor first half

City beat bottom-of-the-table Huddersfield comfortably but only after a sloppy first half

Leroy Sané revealed that Pep Guardiola told his Manchester City players to ‘wake up’ after a sloppy first half in their 3-0 win at Huddersfield Town.

City cut Liverpool’s lead at the top of the table to four points thanks to goals from Danilo, Raheem Sterling and Sané himself.

Guardiola was unhappy, however, with a lacklustre first-half performance that saw City play well below their best after opening the scoring.

Huddersfield failed to capitalise on City’s sluggishness and paid the price in the second half, with Sterling and Sané securing victory.

Sané later revealed that City needed a half-time dressing down from their manager in order to pick their performance levels up.

“The second half, everyone could definitely see we were quicker and better and in important positions and controlled the game,” he said.

“It is easier when you can play like that and you can push forward more. The boss said at half time that we can’t play the way we were playing and that we had to get better.

“They were putting us under some pressure too and we know in the Premier League that a goal can come out of nowhere and at 1-1 it would be difficult to get the win.

“He woke us up a bit to play our game quicker and better and help us find where the space is.

“[Guardiola] is always kind of relaxed most of the time and always tries to help us get solutions and he did it again at half time, you could see it was better in the second half.”

Guardiola was pleased to pick up all three points but stressed that City could improve many aspects of their performance.

“During the season you have these kind of games,” he said. “It is important to win. We have scored many goals in all competitions. Today we are happy we have won but after immediately we have to analyse.

“During the season you have games when maybe you are not in the top level and it is important to win these games.”

When asked what specifically City could improve on, he said: “Our pace, more passes in a row. We were not able to make a lot of passes. Always in football when you play good you have the ball as much as possible.”

“[The second-half reaction] was good. But you have to maintain more and more level. I was a player. I understand, that happens.”