Man City boss Pep Guardiola spoke out after the 1-1 draw with Everton (Image: Amazon Prime Sport)
Manchester City head coach Pep Guardiola praised his side for a ‘brilliant’ display despite being held to a 1-1 draw against Everton on Boxing Day.
The Catalan coach was once again left wondering where his side’s next win is going to come from after Bernardo Silva’s early strike was cancelled out by Iliman Ndiaye.
Erling Haaland then missed a second-half penalty to prolong his worrying drought in front of goal as City threw away two precious points at the Etihad.
The result leaves City now 11 points behind leaders Liverpool, who have two games in hand and play later on Boxing Day.
Despite witnessing another disappointing result, Guardiola had only positive words for his players after being left pleased with their efforts.
“First half was brilliant, the first 10, 15 minutes [of the second-half] until the Man City penalty was really good,” Guardiola told Amazon Prime Sport.
“The first time they arrived, they scored a goal. Of course, at the end on the transition we could suffer the defeat. But when you analyse the result, of course we are not happy.
Erling Haaland’s penalty was saved by Jordan Pickford (Image: Getty)
“But the performance and what we have done, the guys again, with the situation we are, was brilliant. Of course we don’t score the goals that we need.”
Guardiola’s men are now winless in their last four league matches and their only taste of victory since the start of November was their 3-0 home win over Nottingham Forest.
The absences of key players such as Ballon d’Or winner Rodri, Kyle Walker and captain Ruben Dias have left huge gaps to fill in the City team. But Guardiola admits he doesn’t know when he will have them back available again.
Pep Guardiola’s side have now only won once in eight Premier League games (Image: Getty)
“I don’t know, right now I don’t know, he said.
When asked what City need to do differently ahead of their crunch clash with Leicester City on Sunday, Guardiola smirked and said: “The recovery is a few days, we have to recover.
“We go there with the best mentality as possible, it’s what we have to do.”
The champions now look to be all but out of the title race with Liverpool moving further into the distance, but the race for a top four finish could become even more tricky with Chelsea, Arsenal, Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa all competing.
Source: https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1993200/Pep-Guardiola-Man-City-Everton