PEP
Pep Guardiola kept his Manchester City players locked
in the dressing room for almost an hour after their disappointing draw against
Southampton.
City moved to the top of the Premier
League but had to come from behind after an unhappy Guardiola again saw his
side shoot themselves in the foot in the first half.
A poor back-pass by John Stones
gifted Nathan Redmond the opening goal and it took an equaliser from
20-year-old substitute Kelechi Iheanacho to save City from defeat.
It meant Guardiola moved to five
games without a win for the first time in seven years and the strict former
Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss kept his stars back afterwards.
When Guardiola finally arrived for
his post-game press conference, he joked at first: 'The red wine was good and I
took a little bit longer with my glass.'
But the 45-year-old then added: 'We were together. We spoke.
We spoke about what the situation. From this situation how we will try to go
up.
'I was a football player and I know
this can happen. It is part of football. You are able to win 10 times
in a row and after you are not able to win five times.
'You have to accept that. It's not
the natural way but we have to accept that.
'You have to do more. I am not a guy
who regrets. That is what I said there (to the players).
'Guys I have to discover the reason
why and I am going to fight for that'.
'We didn't have 90 bad, bad minutes
but when we are not perfect, we concede a lot.'
There was further bad news for
Guardiola, who had to take Kevin De Bruyne off at half-time at the Etihad
Stadium.
The 25-year-old is a doubt for
Wednesday's EFL Cup fourth-round fixture with Manchester United after limping
away with a calf injury and could be absent for the trip to Old Trafford.
Guardiola defended his philosophy
for playing the ball out from the back at Friday's pre-game press conference
after Claudio Bravo's error against Barcelona at the Nou Camp in the Champions
League in midweek.
On Sunday, it was Stones who made the killer mistake and
again Guardiola said his style of play was not to blame, despite the boos at
half-time and full-time from City fans.
'I think that it is not part of the
reason,' Guardiola said.
'The difference between the first
half and the second half was obvious and that is what we have to realise. Today
with John and Wednesday with Claudio, that is not the reason.
'Against Everton we missed two
penalties and played amazing and didn't win. It' s not about that. It is
something more and about the team and how you rebel, how you react.
'When you see the second half, it is
because these guys are good and I have to help them. I have to help them to
achieve and reach what we made in the second half.'
He added: 'It is part of the process
of how we will react and people respect, new manager here, but football is
complicated. I know when you start it is always difficult.'
No comments:
Post a Comment