FCBARCELONA.CAT

03.10.2009 23:19

Guardiola happy with start to campaign

Vanessa Forns

Pep Guardiola was clearly pleased with his team's record equalling win against Almeria: “six out of six is a great start to the competition”.

With Xavi and Iniesta both suffering some tight man to man marking, it wasn't an easy win by any means, though Guardiola stressed that Hugo Sanchez's team: “created very little danger and didn't have a shot on goal”.

Man to man marking

“It's clear that with the tight marking they employed it was difficult to create”, admitted Guardiola, though he insisted he wasn't that worried about other teams copying Almeria's tactics: “it doesn't bother me at all. We can find solutions and I think I know what they are. Tonight all that was missing was some more inside passing. Man to man marking doesn't bother me because that means we can create space where we want to”.

Pedro

With his spectacular winning goal, Pedro was undoubtedly the star of the show and Guardiola was enthusiastic about his young winger: “he's a player who can score and he's a great help to the team. He moved well on the pitch and scored a great goal. He 's gradually getting more minutes and he needs to keep growing as a player. He's young and can get even better”.

Squad getting back together

Guardiola is gradually getting his full squad back together and Rafa Marquez made a welcome return for the Almeria game, his first start of the season, as did Iniesta who completed his first 90 minutes of the season. Guardiola revealed that he'd spoken to Iniesta at half time as to his fitness: “he told me he was feeling very good and he managed the whole game. It's good news for us and I'm very happy about it”.