Four Man City players name-dropped by Pep Guardiola after a draw at Nottingham
Pep Guardiola has cited four Manchester City players when analyzing the reasons for their unsatisfactory 1-1 draw against Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
Manchester City started off well after a remarkable goal by Bernardo Silva in the first half, aiming to reclaim their position at the top of the Premier League following Arsenal’s surprising 2-4 victory over Aston Villa earlier that day.
However, Chris Wood’s late equalizer for the Premier League newcomers shook the visitors, who were unable to recover their lead in the game, despite attempting 23 shots at Keylor Navas’ goal.
Manchester City missed several chances throughout the match, including two significant opportunities in the second half. This left their manager, Pep Guardiola, with a lot to contemplate when he spoke to the media after the game.
When questioned about the number of games in which he believed his team had not played well this season, the Catalan coach provided an overall evaluation of the game in Nottinghamshire.
“We expect goals after the games, the way we played, the chances we conceded, created. Always we are there, we are top. Arsenal played really good (on Wednesday night), but they (Nottingham Forest) shoot two chances, in general in the second-half, we try to play to create more chances, concede few and be stable as a team,” Guardiola said.
The City coach continued, “I would say for the way we did and didn’t get what we deserved. Football is not about who deserves, at the end you have to score the goals.”
“So Phil (Foden) has to score, (Erling) Haaland has to score, Aymer (Laporte) has to score, Kevin (De Bruyne) has to be more accurate. What have they (Nottingham Forest) done? First-half one shot in the corner, not much. We were stable in many things, set-pieces we defended well, we attacked well. But it’s about putting the ball in the next. The players know it.”
Continuing on the subject of the four players name-dropped by Pep Guardiola, he said, “Do you think Phil, Aymer, or Erling doesn’t know how to score? They want to score. But we didn’t do it. You ask me here to give an explanation, I would say, ‘I don’t have it’. You ask me why? I don’t have it.”
“Normally the manager has to answer all the questions knowing the truth, and we don’t know – it’s football. Sometimes it happens. But I liked the way we played, I liked the way we behaved. But we don’t score.”
Manchester City will take a brief respite from their intense Premier League schedule this week, as they enter the knockout stage of the UEFA Champions League at the last-16 stage. Pep Guardiola’s team will head to Germany to pursue their first Champions League title as they take on RB Leipzig over two matches, with the second game taking place at the Etihad Stadium.
Asked whether the midweek match in Europe is the perfect opportunity for City to refocus from the result against Nottingham Forest, Guardiola said, “Now it’s time to recover, recover the team, focus on the next game, of course.”
“We’ll see what happens. I think we made, in general, a really, really good game (against Nottingham Forest). It’s another competition, and of course today we are sad, we were happy a few days ago. Today we are sad, it’s part of the business, the job. Keep going.”
Manchester City’s next challenge in the Premier League is against AFC Bournemouth, as they travel to the south coast next Saturday for an evening kick-off. The clear aim for the defending champions will be to quickly recover from their recent disappointment and secure a victory in the upcoming match.
Four Man City players name-dropped by Pep Guardiola after a draw at Nottingham
