- Over 40 minutes after the full-time whistle signalled Manchester City's 2-0 Premier League defeat by Tottenham on Sunday, Pep Guardiola finally re-emerged from the visitors' dressing room.
LONDON • Over 40 minutes after the full-time whistle signalled Manchester City’s 2-0 Premier League defeat by Tottenham on Sunday, Pep Guardiola finally re-emerged from the visitors’ dressing room.
The Manchester Evening News reported that the manager had kept his players locked in as part of an inquest following their latest display of profligacy.
City had 18 goal attempts compared to Tottenham’s three but failed to score in consecutive matches for the first time in the Spaniard’s reign.
Their hosts took the lead in the 63rd minute when debutant Steven Bergwijn volleyed home Spurs’ first attempt on target.
Son Heung-min scored with their second shot on goal and City fell to a sixth league loss of the season which left them 22 points behind leaders Liverpool (73 points).
Despite playing the last 30 minutes with 10 men after Oleksandr Zinchenko’s red card, City enjoyed 67 per cent possession overall.
But Sergio Aguero wasted several good chances and Ilkay Gundogan had a penalty saved by goalkeeper Hugo Lloris before missing a sitter.
Guardiola, however, rejected speculation of a dressing down for his players within the bowels of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
“Never when we lose am I away from my players, because I know them, but we lost the game, we talk about moving forward and keep going,” said the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss, who has never lost more than six league games in a season.
“There are a lot of months to play and we try to do it.
“They (Liverpool) are unstoppable with a lot of points… now is the target for the (other) competitions and qualify for the Champions League next season. The distance is so big and next season we have to do better.”
City could have been out of sight by half-time, but as with the recurring theme of their season, the league champions were wasteful in front of goal.
Lloris, making just his third appearance since returning from a long-term lay-off due to a dislocated elbow, turned Aguero’s low shot onto the post before the Argentinian was chopped down in the area by Serge Aurier.
Referee Mike Dean initially waved play on but, with no break in play for a few minutes, he eventually stopped the game after being told to give a penalty by the video assistant referee.
City’s dreadful run from the spot continued as Gundogan’s low effort was parried by Lloris. They have missed four of their last six spot kicks in all competitions, with Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling also failing to convert.
Sterling pounced on the rebound and went down over Lloris, but no second penalty was awarded and the forward also escaped the possibility of a second booking for diving.
Gundogan was the guilty party again minutes into the second period when he hooked over with the goal gaping after a calamity of errors in the Spurs defence saw Lloris colliding with Japhet Tanganga.
City’s day was summed up in the final seconds when Spurs defender Davinson Sanchez miscued a header in stoppage time and watched the ball crash against his own crossbar.
“We played well, but we lost the game. (Spurs) arrived in (the box) twice and scored two goals. I don’t have too many things to say about our performance,” Guardiola said.
“We have to accept it and work on that. We need to analyse that.”
