Pep Guardiola believes Raheem Sterling still has a lot of room for improvement

The Cityzens thrashed Rotherham United 7-0 with Raheem Sterling scoring and assisting a piece.

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola believes that England international Raheem Sterling could have been even better if he manages to put to perform consistently against top teams in England.

Guardiola believes that Sterling has a lot of room for improvement as the forward scored his 11th goal of the season for the Cityzens against Rotherham in their FA Cup tie on Sunday.

The 24-year old has been on fire this season, as he has directly contributed in 20 goals for Manchester City this season - which is more than any player at the club. However, the City boss feels he has a lot more to offer and with time he feels Sterling can get even better as he wants him to contribute more in crunch fixtures.

"All the credit, we said many times... when the game starts, the influence from myself and our staff is zero on what happens in the game," Guardiola said when asked what impact he has had on Sterling's development. We have one idea, we tell them what maybe is going to happen. The players are the artists, the credit absolutely belongs to them," he said.

Guardiola also lauded the Englishman for his physicality and tireless work rate on the field. "Raheem’s work ethic… his physicality is incredibly strong, he has this mentality to create chances and score goals and it’s good for him. He's scored more goals now than in our first season (when Sterling finished the 16/17 season with 10 goals in all competitions)."

The former Barcelona manager further explained that being in his early twenties there a lot of things that players like Phil Foden and Raheem Sterling can learn and improve. He feels the English youngster, Foden has also improved drastically. Pep explains that a player when in prime is more decisive as he has matured over time and hence he believes these players can do the same.

"I think he improved a lot and it’s the same with Phil [Foden]. Raheem is 21, 22 years old (he's 23). We cannot expect him to be precise and clear and make good decisions in every single action.

"When he is 26 or 27 he will be an incredible, much better player, give us more joy with the way he plays but he still has many things to improve."

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Despite their thumping 7-0 win against Rotherham in FA cup and recent win against leaders Liverpool, Pep wants his side to keep fighting as there are difficult fixtures coming up and the Citizens must be ready.

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"He has to be more clinical and precise in the important games. Today we created a lot of chances but if we play against Liverpool or in the Champions League we create just two or three chances. We don't have more because the opponents are good, so at that moment we need him. We need him to be precise and to be there."

Guardiola's men will next face Burton in the EFL Cup semifinal followed by the unpredictable Wolves in the Premier League. They cannot afford to drop points now in the league as finally, they managed to cut Liverpool's deficit down to four. Guardiola will want his team to put pressure on Liverpool as the Premier League title race is all set for a photo finish ending.