Manchester City defeat about more than mounting injuries, says Pep Guardiola
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City were already missing Jack Grealish, Rodri and Oscar Bobb, before Pep Guardiola in his pre-match interview said Ruben Dias and John Stones were also ruled out.
PHOTO: AFP
LONDON – Manchester City’s injury crisis proved costly, as the champions saw a 32-game unbeaten English Premier League run come to a surprising end with a 2-1 loss at Bournemouth on Nov 2. But manager Pep Guardiola preferred not to use injuries as an excuse.
The defeat dropped City to second spot after 10 games, two points behind Liverpool (25), who recovered to beat Brighton & Hove Albion 2-1 at Anfield.
“I don’t know what would have happened. I would like to tell you that if these players (weren’t injured), we would have won, but nobody knows,” Guardiola said.
“The guys give everything, but not enough to compete against that team in that moment.”
City’s loss came on the heels of a midweek 2-1 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur in the League Cup last 16, and it is rare that Guardiola’s men lose two matches in a row.
On Nov 1, the City boss said that he had urged his stars to play through pain “like Rafael Nadal” and feared he might have only 11 senior players fit to feature in the Bournemouth game.
City were already missing Jack Grealish, Rodri and Oscar Bobb and in his pre-game interview, Guardiola said centre-backs Ruben Dias and John Stones were also “ruled out for a little bit of long time”.
Captain Kyle Walker was one of several players who had not been expected to feature but started, while Kevin de Bruyne was back on the bench after a lengthy injury layoff.
“Kyle in 16 days didn’t train one session with us, made an incredible effort,” Guardiola said, adding that several other players had “niggles”.
“(But) it’s not just about that. They (Bournemouth) were difficult to play in the first half, the second half we were much better.”
Walker said that if City had been fortunate enough to have more healthy bodies, several ailing players might have been rested.
“Probably ideally, but we’re not in that position,” he said. “We don’t use that as an excuse, you have to give full credit to Bournemouth.”
City have little time to recover as they head to Lisbon to play Sporting in the Champions League on Nov 5.
“It’s the schedule that we’ve been dealt, no excuses,” Walker added.
Bournemouth’s victory was their first league win over City in the south-coast club’s history and had Cherries fans at the Vitality Stadium cheekily chanting: “Can we play you every week?”
“I’m very pleased, one thing is to beat City but another is to play better (than them),” Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola said.
“We played with no fear, tried to press when we could and defend when we had to. You know you have to be at your best level (to beat a top team) and wait for them to not have their best day.” REUTERS
