23 hours ago
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Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola spoke about the talking points from their 1-1 draw with Brighton in the Premier League
Pep Guardiola said Manchester City needed to put the ball in the net if they wanted to challenge Arsenal for the Premier League title. The Blues had closed to within a few points of the Gunners at the top of the table but have dropped six points in the last seven days with three damaging draws to threaten to bow out of the race.
Guardiola cut an agitated figure during the game with Brighton, but mostly that was down to his interactions with the fourth official and opposite number Fabian Hurzeler. He had a number of spats with both, and was booked by referee Thomas Bramall in the first half after losing his temper when Jeremy Doku was not initially given a penalty before it was overturned using VAR.
"I was complaining why it wasn't a penalty. And after it was - I was right," he said. "It was a penalty. I don't know how the referee didn't whistle and VAR had to do it. It's an easy job for the referees now."
Things got worse in the second half when City surrendered a lead at the Etihad for the second time in four days as Kaoru Mitoma equalised for Brighton and the home team were unable to respond. Bernardo Silva had missed a golden opportunity to make it 2-0 and then Erling Haaland and substitute Rayan Cherki were among the players to waste good chances to grab a winner.
City's manager was happy with the performance from his team, and their level in the last three matches. However, he lay the blame for the dropped points at the chances missed. "The result is the result. I'm not a person who believes what we have done is fair. The result is the result. One point for them, one point for us. It is what it is," he said.
"The second half was quite similar against Sunderland and Chelsea, we missed the passes. I like a lot the way we play, many new players and many new things but we don't score goals. Too many clear chances and all the people up front, unfortunately we could not score. Scoring goals is part of doing your job.
"We played exceptionally well - the opponents had chances but that has always been the case - we did very good things, the defenders are really good but we created a lot and we could not score. It's not today and not just one player but that's the reason we cannot win the games.
"The energy and the way we play we create chances and expected goals, we just didn't put the ball in the net. Today Bernardo and Erling and Rayan and Jeremy. They know it, we create incredible things with the way we defend and the game is the boxes.
"We are concerned with the defence because we don't have players but the way we approach is fantastic but unfortunately we don't score goals - that is my analysis of the last three games."
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