Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola has admitted that he would like opponents to "play" against his team, as they dominated proceedings in the 1-0 win over Newcastle United on Wednesday night. 

For football, for the spectator, for everybody 

City have been an unstoppable force on all fronts in the campaign thus far with pretty much every side that has come into their path being thwarted, and that was no different when they travelled to Tyneside on Wednesday. 

A single goal from Raheem Sterling in the first period gave them their 18th consecutive Premier League victory and more importantly a 15-point gap at the top, but Guardiola will have been impressed in just how dominant his side were against The Magpies. 

City managed to record 21 shots opposed to Newcastle's six as well as 78 percent of possession, it can also be argued like many sides this season Newcastle sat back and soaked up the pressure and Guardiola admitted that he would like sides to come and attack his side. 

"I would like the opponent to play," Guardiola admitted in his post-match press conference. "For football itself and for the spectator, for everybody. But every manager can decide whatever he wants." 

"You have to find and search for a way to attack them when they defend with 11 players in the box," the Catalan coach proclaimed. "Then a striker goes with our holding midfielder, and there are nine or 10 players there waiting for a throw-in or free-kick or corner." 

"I cannot judge them," he stated. "But I think attacking in that situation would create enough chances to score a lot of goals."

"It's always a belief that the best way to defend is far, far away from your goal," Guardiola added. "Most people think completely different, but that's why football is magnificent." 

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Only stand for a certain amount of time 

It has been a season of broken records for the blue side of Manchester and they are close to another following their win on Wednesday, as their 18th consecutive league triumph took them within one victory of equalling Europe's all-time record - which is held Guardiola's Bayern Munich side. 

Guardiola stated that prior to the Newcastle win that he wasn't thinking about the imminent record, and Wednesday's goalscorer Sterling echoed similar comments stating that records will only last a "certain amount of time". 

"I don't think anyone is really thinking about records," he stated to mancity.com. "They're nice to have on your CV but we have to keep winning and getting three points." 

"Records only stand for a certain amount of time," Sterling concluded. "Three points add to the table." 

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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.