Man City assistant boss Lillo warns that Guardiola is still improving

Man City assistant boss Juanma Lillo warns Premier League rivals that Pep Guardiola and his team are still improving

• Juanma Lillo has suggested Man City and their manager will keep getting better
• Assistant Lillo is in temporary charge as Pep Guardiola recovers from surgery
• WATCH: It’s All Coming Up – Mail Sport’s preview show for the weekend’s football

Manchester City assistant Juanma Lillo has warned rivals that not only is Pep Guardiola’s team still improving – but so too is the head coach.

Lillo, who returned to the Treble winners earlier this month after leaving to coach Qatari side Al-Sadd last summer, is taking the reins until the international break after his fellow Spaniard underwent a minor back operation in Barcelona last week.

The 57-year-old has been tasked with continuing City’s 100 per cent record from their opening Premier League games as they chase down a fourth title in a row.

With Guardiola recuperating, Lillo deputises for the trip to face newly-promoted Sheffield United this afternoon before City host Fulham at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday, September 2.

But those hoping that Guardiola’s enforced absence might knock the Treble winners off course are likely to be left disappointed.

Juanma Lillo returned as an assistant coach at Manchester City over the summer

City have won their opening two Premier League games but will be without Guardiola for matches against Sheffield United and Fulham

The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss has been gushing in his praise of Lillo, describing him as a ‘very special person in my life’ with a ‘shared ideology’ of football.

Lillo is regarded as one of Europe’s most experienced coaches having had 22 jobs across four continents and over five decades.

So you have to sit up and take notice when he tells you that he’s never come across anyone as driven by a desire to improve as Guardiola.

‘Indeed, that’s the case,’ he insisted. ‘That helps to improve everyone that is around him. We all try to pitch in for Pep. Nevertheless, he doesn’t need a lot of input because he’s constantly building and debating and generating ideas.

‘When he was a player he was the same. He had a true and global vision of everything.

‘It is very difficult to find someone such as him with such a capacity and willingness year after year and I don’t feel as if he’s lacking that.’

Guardiola values his deputy’s willingness to challenge his own thinking on the game borne out of a respect fo rhis coaching ideas and tactical acumen.

They grew close after Guardiola spent six months as a player under Lillo at Mexican side Dorados Sinaloa in 2005.

It wasn’t the first time their paths had crossed, though, with a young Guardiola seeking him out for advice after he had given a coaching masterclass with his Real Oviedo side against Barcelona in the mid-1990s.

‘He was already a bit of a coach when he was a player,’ observed Lillo.

‘We have worked hand in hand for many years, He’s been my player back in the day so we have a relationship that goes all the way back and we understand things in the same direction.

Lillo is in temporary charge of City as Pep Guardiola recovers from back surgery

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‘He is always very open – moment to moment – and he always wants to improve and apply new things.

‘Another very important aspect is to have the capacity to observe the players you have. That’s something that helps Pep to grow, depending on the players he has available because they are never the same. It’s something that he has a very sharp sense over.

‘He is very intelligent, he grasps not only what he’s going to do but with whom he’s is going to do it. If you are always interacting and exchanging ideas on a day-to-day basis then those can only become more robust.’

City could give a debut to Belgium winger Jeremy Doku at Bramall Lane after his signing from French club Rennes for £55.4m on Thursday.

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