Pep Guardiola has admitted making mistakes since arriving at Manchester City and has been forced to adapt his managerial style to suit the demands of English football.

The City manager’s frank confession came in the wake of Friday night’s 5-0 demolition of West Ham in the third round of the FA Cup, a victory that should reinvigorate City’s season following a patchy spell as they slipped to fourth in Premier League.

“I’m not going to change England and I don’t want to do that,” he said. “Of course, it’s going to change me. That’s why I came here – to be changed. That is nice. When I do all my career the same thing, 15 or 20 years as a coach, it’s boring.”

Guardiola, in contrast to the tetchy responses he gave after City’s 2-1 win with 10 men over Burnley in the league on Monday, was more forthcoming and said that some of his ideas were misplaced and rather than blame his players he should shoulder the responsibility for his side’s performances.

“Sometimes I have an idea: three at the back or play a player like this. And sometimes it didn’t work and when that happens it is always the manager and I never complain to the players,” he said. “Because when I see them training, how they suffer and what they did in the last game against Burnley after 65, 70 minutes with 10 against 11, two days later after Anfield. They want to do that.

“You have to look at yourself and see what [you] have to do to help them find each other and play to each other more fluently, not all the time with [aggression] and all these kind of things. That is my job. I have to help them. And I tell them. And most of the times we were not good, it was my responsibility.”

He conceded that City need to recover the consistency that meant they were unbeaten in his first 11 games in charge at the Etihad, 10 of them victories. “It’s the only way. We made in the first part of the season some really, really good games and good performances. But the moment we felt mistakes, especially in defence – own goal in [the 2-0 defeat by Tottenham at] White Hart Lane, our miss [3-3 Champions League draw] at Celtic in Glasgow – we lost a little bit our confidence to play.

“And at times my ideas were not good, because I’m still in the process to know the players, to know what is the best position, the best way to play, to adapt to them. But through the control of the game, through the passes, was the beginning and [against West Ham] – and we have to try.

“It’s not always possible because the opponents are playing too and they are so aggressive and it’s not easy to do that. But that is what I think we have to try to do, through the passes, through the multi, multi, multi passes, the situation comes along. When that happens you concede few. [But] when the ball is up and down, any team in the Premier League is better than us – much, much better.”

Making the transition to the Premier League was challenging, Guardiola added. “I come here and I said a thousand million times, I try to adapt to English football in the way I believe you can do that. But in the end it’s 11 against 11 and the pitches here are smaller – or looks like it more than the other places – and the intensity and the [aggression] and the permission for playing for more time with few fouls makes it’s a bit more difficult.

“So I understand that, I never complained and never complained in the past. It’s just we can do better to improve.”