Admitting he was “relieved” after Foden popped up with City’s winner in the final stages of a tightly-contested affair with Leeds, Guardiola felt his side should have put the game to bed a lot earlier than they did.
In his post-match press conference, the Catalan said: “The game was not in the perfect place in the first half, but it should be over for the chances we have and we didn’t concede. And after that brilliantly, Daniel changed the system like Leverkusen did, the 5-3-2 and we conceded a goal we gave away in the first minutes [of the second half].
“The build-up was completely different, and the shape takes influence in the way you play. Football is emotions and in that moment we concede the second. We made a step up and we reacted really well. Omar and Cherki came on, and we got more players in the box.
“In the last minute we had to put the ball quick to the box because in that moment the process doesn’t exist. Being with fullbacks or wingers it doesn’t matter. At the end it was the quality of Phil again, a player with special [talent].”
City are back in action when they travel to Fulham in the league on Tuesday, before they entertain high-flying Sunderland next Saturday. Guardiola’s charges then head to Real Madrid for a mouth-watering Champions League tie on 10 December.