Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola says his team played well for much of Sunday’s defeat at Arsenal but regrets the way they let it slip in the closing stages
The Gunners scored quickly in the first half but City rallied and had the better of the chances before the break.
Erling Haaland equalized when he headed home 10 minutes after the restart for his 250th club goal in senior football in just 313 matches.
However, the Citizens were soon behind again when Thomas Partey’s strike from range deflected off John Stones to give Stefan Ortega Moreno no chance.
Arsenal ran riot from that point, with Myles Lewis-Skelly, Kai Havertz, and Ethan Nwaneri giving the scoreline an emphatic edge.
Speaking after the match, Pep praised his side’s application before Arsenal retook the lead before accepting his players lost control in the closing stages.
“I only regret the last 25 minutes, we forgot to do what we should do, what we have done for 65/70 minutes,” he began.
“Of course, it’s a difficult game starting in this stadium, against that team in the first minutes it’s happened many times this season.
“But after 10/15 minutes I think we took the game and played really, really, really, really good and we are in it after 1-1 and good momentum we pass to make the transition with Omar (Marmoush) and a deflection and the third goal.
“But after that, we then continued to do what you have to do in terms defensively and (be a) little bit more patient. And when you’re playing that way they can run and of course, at 3-1 they are comfortable, it’s more difficult.
“I regret the last 15/20 minutes, the rest was a really good game for our side. It’s difficult to understand when you see the result, but this is my feeling.
“It’s happened all season, we are giving away too many things, we are aware this cannot happen, it happened.
“But we reacted really well, and we played with personality and we defended so good, and then with the ball we were a threat but unfortunately after the second happened, again many times we had the momentum. For the deflection and in other situations we conceded the goals.
“You have to overcome (it), you cannot lose control, it’s 90/95 minutes. You cannot finish in the way we played, we could’ve scored three more but the team has to be stable it doesn’t matter what happened.”
