SWANSEA, Wales -- Pep Guardiola has warned the rest of the Premier League that Manchester City are far from where he wants them to be despite their perfect start to the season.
City made it six wins out of six in the Premier League -- and 10 victories in all competitions -- with a 3-1 victory over Swansea City on Saturday to open up a four-point lead at the top of the table.
But, asked if City were close to being where he wanted them to be, Guardiola told a news conference: "No, we are far, we are far. It would be boring if we are close -- I can go back home.
"We are here to get better. When you think it's done why do you have to keep going? It never ends in football. Always you can play better. Individual performance, collective performance, the reason why we play better [is] the opponents always create different things every game."
Guardiola is refusing to get carried away by City's fantastic start to the season and says he may learn about his players when they lose their first game of the season.
And the Catalan says he cannot understand why rival managers such as Manchester United's Jose Mourinho and Chelsea's Antonio Conte have come in for criticism so early in the season after losing a couple of matches.
"The people don't have respect, the trainer does not have to [lose] three, four or five games, just one," he added.
"We are being killed, so I hear many, many things about the coaches just to lose one game but the people have to understand we are not going to win absolutely everything, we are going to lose a game.
"And losing is necessary to improve, to get better."
The City boss is, however, delighted with the players' effort and says he can forgive them for playing badly as long as they give everything.
"I said many times I am so happy, because they work a lot, they know that all the staff we are working 24 hours for them," he added.
"They have permission to play awful. They don't have permission to not run, but they have all the permission to play awful because that is necessary to play like this, because we are going to be better the next time.
"From the beginning, the first training session, for many people here they start to work a lot and with a lot of personality, so we are so happy how they live their jobs, their lives as football players.
"That's why we are able to win those games, especially [against Swansea]."