Guardiola: Derby defeat is a ‘lesson’ for wasteful City

Lewis Oldham
Guardiola

Pep Guardiola insisted that his Manchester City side were not “clinical” enough in attacking areas against Manchester United.

City had a nightmare start as they gave away a penalty after just 35 seconds. Anthony Martial advanced into the area and he was clumsily brought down by Gabriel Jesus.

Ederson judged Bruno Fernandes’ penalty well as he got a hand on his effort. But the ball still found the bottom corner past the ‘keeper.


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Guardiola’s men grew into the half but they conceded again just after the restart. Luke Shaw led a fast breakaway and a cute one-two with Marcus Rashford awarded the defender a chance to shoot. He took a touch before he placed it into the bottom corner past Ederson.

That was how it finished as United reduce City’s lead at the top to eleven points. The leader’s 21-game winning run in all competitions is now over and they will hope to return to winning ways against Southampton on Wednesday.

Guardiola told Sky Sports, as cited by BBC Sport, that his side “played really well” despite the defeat:

“It was a fantastic game. United make incredibly high pressing and they are so fast on the counter. We played good. Unfortunately, we couldn’t be clinical up front so we congratulate United.

“We will be the news because we lost. But the news is 21 victories in a row. There are still 30 points to play and we have to start to win again.

“That’s football. Sometimes it happens. We played much better than the game against West Ham which we won.

“It’s always the same. We win a game and then move onto the next one. It’s the same here. We lose this so we go to the next one. It’s a lesson. Even at 0-2 we played really well.”