Pep Guardiola has yet to find the answers to what ails Manchester City, as the defending champions were beaten 2-0 by Liverpool at the Etihad Stasium on Sunday.
Mohamed Salah and Dominik Szoboszlai traded goals and assists in the first half as City struggled to break through Liverpool’s packed-in defensive unit.
MORE — Man City vs Liverpool recap | Player ratings
City have fallen 20 points back of leaders Liverpool with a match-in-hand on the first-place side basically meaningless, and Guardiola will be mindful of the many teams within shouting distance of their fourth-place spot.
Their Champions League is done and next season’s tournament is no sure thing, and Guardiola’s reaction to this one was one to watch (or read).
Pep Guardiola reaction — What did Man City say after latest defensive breakdown, home loss to Liverpool?
“We played really good. We could be more productive in shooting, maybe people need to arrive more in the box. But we played a fantastic team and put together a really good performance. The first half was 50/50 and set pieces made the difference. The second half they defended so deep. We did what we tried for so many years — we tried to bring the opponent into their box and try to beat them there.”
“The tactic was arriving in the final third how many times. How many times did that happen? And after that we missed. It’s not easy with 10 players in the box. With the crosses it’s almost impossible to do it with the size of the central defenders but at the moment we could not find the next step when we dropped and tried to arrive behind the line.”
“We have good wingers. They defended inside and Salah defended today much, much more than previous games. I know people don’t believe me, but we made a really good performance today.”
“If you have to lose, lose the way we lose today. Both games, there are so many things that this club has a bright picture. Besides Kevin, all the players are so, so young. What the club is going to decide in the next future, we have a bright, bright future in this club for the next few years.”
“Everybody knows that apart from the old players, we’ll be here next season and we have to build for the next step. It’s normal and a question of time. Today with the amount of absences we have, we played really, really good.”
