Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has insisted that there is still key improvements needed from The Citizens despite another high-scoring victory on Saturday with a 5-0 win over struggling Crystal Palace.

"Were not good" after a storming start

It has been an excellent start to the campaign for the Eastlands side as they battle at the top of the table with bitter rivals Manchester United, and they solidified their place at the top with the visit of Roy Hodgson's side.

Leroy Sané opened the scoring before the break after City had been left frustrated by The Eagles, but the floodgates opened in the second period with Raheem Sterling's brace, Sergio Agüero and Fabian Delph rounded off a resounding victory.

However, City struggled to open the scoring in the first period until Sané's opener. Kevin De Bruyne and Fernandinho had good efforts but to no avail and Guardiola stated that there are areas in need of improvement in his side and their finishing.

"We started good," Guardiola told his post-match press conference. "In the first five or 10 minutes we created two or three clear chances."

"But after that we were not good," the Spaniard admitted. "The ball should be moved and we didn't move it."

"The last 10 minutes of the first-half we started to play good again and it helped a lot to score the first goal before half-time," the 46-year-old stated on Sané's opener. "The second-half we were at the level of the last few weeks."

Sorting out our problems at home

Despite his gripes, Guardiola couldn't have asked for a better start to his second season in Manchester. The Catalan coach is looking to eradicate the memory of his generally disappointing debut campaign which saw him go without a trophy in a season for the first time in his managerial career.

After a slow start, nobody would have expected City to hit gear as quickly as they have in recent weeks, especially in the goal department. They sit top of the table with a goal difference of 19+.

Even more spectacularly, 16 of their total 21 league goals thus far have come in the last three matches, with their highly-impressive wins over Liverpool, Watford and Palace.

Their form at home has been equally impressive considering their struggle for goals at the Etihad last season, scoring only 37 out of their total of 80 on home soil.

Guardiola stated that those wins will be "very important" to his side's confidence.

"Last season we had a lot of problems at home winning games," he said. "That's why we dropped our competition in the Premier League."

"That's why the last two games are so important," the coach said, referencing 5-0 wins over Liverpool and Palace. "For our confidence and for the other games when we come back from the international break."

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Danial  Kennedy
Award-winning sports journalism graduate. Currently studying a PR Masters at the University of Sunderland. Writing for VAVEL since August 2014. Twitter - @ddkjournalism.