Pep Guardiola insists Manchester City “played a really good first half” in their 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa but admits the reasons for his side’s poor form go beyond the absence of Rodri and other injuries.
City fell to their ninth defeat in 12 games as Villa Park on Saturday as Unai Emery’s side comfortably swatting them aside through goals from Jhon Duran and Morgan Rogers, with Phil Foden’s late consolation underserved given the dominance of the home side.
It deepens a quite astonishing City crisis to the point where sacking Guardiola may actually be a kindness, but the Spaniard simply insisted “we are going to try next game”.
He said: “We played a really good first half, and the second half we dropped, we were not good. The tempo as the game goes on is a bit more difficult. Congratulations Aston Villa on the victory.”
On whether he thinks City will find results: “Yeah. It can come, it can not come. It depends on us. The solution is bring the players back. We have just one central defender fit, that is difficult. We are going to try next game – another opportunity and we don’t think much further than that.”
The absence of Rodri and others have been used to excuse City’s shocking run but Guardiola admits there are other factors involved.
He added: “Of course there are more reasons. We concede the goals we don’t concede in the past, we [don’t] score the goals we score in the past. Football is not just one reason. There are a lot of little factors.
“Aston Villa are a team that are doing well in the Champions League, Premier League as well. It is a tough place to come. Last season we won the Premier League, but we came here and lost. We have to think positive and I have incredible trust in the guys. Some of them have incredible pride and desire to do it. We have to find a way, step by step, sooner or later to find a way back.”
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Unai Emery was pleased with his side’s display and their “domination” of the champions, particularly in the second half.
“We played 90 minutes in the way we were expecting. They were imposing and dominant in the first half, more than we wanted. Then in the second half we dominated more, avoiding their press, I think we played better. The second half we were playing with confidence, we imposed and we decided to win through domination of them.
“Always we are trying to be positive, in some matches we are maybe not performing as we want, but today we perform. We are feeling strong, here we played the first half very well, in the second half we kept possession more and getting in the box to score the second goal, we imposed and dominated more.”
The Villa boss was particularly impressed by Rogers’ performance.
He added: “He played fantastic today, he is very important. Through him we are getting the performance back because he links strikers with midfielder and wingers. Today he was fantastic in the second half, connecting with strikers and scoring the goals. He has to add goals to his numbers, and today he was fantastic.”