• Fabian Delph, left, celebrates scoring Manchester City's fifth goal with David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne. Jason Cairnduff / Reuters
    Fabian Delph, left, celebrates scoring Manchester City's fifth goal with David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne. Jason Cairnduff / Reuters
  • Crystal Palace striker Christian Benteke leaps over Manchester City defender Nicolas Otamendi. Phil Noble / Reuters
    Crystal Palace striker Christian Benteke leaps over Manchester City defender Nicolas Otamendi. Phil Noble / Reuters
  • Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola remonstrates with referee Neil Swarbrick. Phil Noble / Reuters
    Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola remonstrates with referee Neil Swarbrick. Phil Noble / Reuters
  • Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson shakes hands with Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola after the game. Jason Cairnduff / Reuters
    Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson shakes hands with Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola after the game. Jason Cairnduff / Reuters
  • Crystal Palace defender Timothy Fosu-Mensah, left, and Manchester City's Leroy Sane battle for the ball. Nick Potts / PA
    Crystal Palace defender Timothy Fosu-Mensah, left, and Manchester City's Leroy Sane battle for the ball. Nick Potts / PA
  • Raheem Sterling scores Manchester City's second goal. Jason Cairnduff / Reuters
    Raheem Sterling scores Manchester City's second goal. Jason Cairnduff / Reuters
  • Manchester City's Benjamin Mendy and David Silva in action with Crystal Palace's Andros Townsend. Phil Noble / Reuters
    Manchester City's Benjamin Mendy and David Silva in action with Crystal Palace's Andros Townsend. Phil Noble / Reuters
  • Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero, right, shoots under pressure from Crystal Palace's Mamadou Sakho. Nick Potts / PA
    Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero, right, shoots under pressure from Crystal Palace's Mamadou Sakho. Nick Potts / PA
  • Fabian Delph scores Manchester City's fifth goal. Jason Cairnduff / Reuters
    Fabian Delph scores Manchester City's fifth goal. Jason Cairnduff / Reuters
  • Raheem Sterling celebrates scoring Manchesyer City's second goal with Leroy Sane. Jason Cairnduff / Reuters
    Raheem Sterling celebrates scoring Manchesyer City's second goal with Leroy Sane. Jason Cairnduff / Reuters

Pep Guardiola demands more creativity from Manchester City after 'slow' first half against Crystal Palace


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Pep Guardiola has challenged his Manchester City players to keep firing on all cylinders as they look to maintain their position at the top of the Premier League.

Guardiola's side moved ahead of Manchester United on goal difference with a 5-0 demolition of lowly Crystal Palace at the Etihad on Saturday.

City have now scored 16 goals in their last three top-flight games, but Guardiola is demanding more from his players after they struggled to turn their dominance into goals in the first half.

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"Nobody went to take the ball and start to play, so it's five or 10 seconds before someone moves and takes the ball," he said. "When that happens, everything is slow. The ball boys were slow, everybody was slow. We have to be creative and provoke the situations and we didn't for most of the time in the first half."

City's performance after the break pleased Guardiola more and was closer to what he's demanding of his team for the visit of Shakhtar Donetsk in the Uefa Champions League on Tuesday.

"I know Shakhtar very well from my period in Barcelona and Bayern Munich, we played a lot of times," he said. "They were able to beat one of the best teams in the world right now, playing football against Napoli. We cannot get distracted because in the Champions League group we need to be careful."

Guardiola is calling on City fans to turn out in force for that fixture despite their frosty relationship with the competition and Uefa.

"We need our fans, hopefully they can come. I know they have more problems in the Champions League," said Guardiola. "In the Champions League, you are in real trouble if you have one step back. If we can win, we'll take a huge step to be in the knockout round in February.

"Hopefully we can learn from what we didn't do well (against Crystal Palace) and play, win the game, and go with confidence to our game in Chelsea."