Guardiola philosophical after loss
LONDON: Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola shrugged off his team’s shock 32 defeat by newlypromoted Norwich City in the Premier League yesterday, saying his team simply cannot be expected to win every week.
Guardiola’s side beat Liverpool to the title by a solitary point last season, winning its last 14 games.
But after five games of this season t it already trails Juergen Klopp’s side by five points.
‘‘The people cannot expect us to win or pick up 100 points all the time. We’re going to recover now and come back,’’ Guardiola said after the loss at Carrow Rd.
City won 32 of 38 games last season, losing only twice, and it had not suffered a league defeat since its 21 reverse to Newcastle United on January 29.
The previous season, City achieved a record 100 points, losing just two matches and finishing 19 points clear at the top.
‘‘Sometimes games like this happen. We had our chances to score but didn’t, so congratulations to Norwich.’’
City dominated possession with 69% of the ball and had eight shots on target — while Norwich scored from all three of its efforts on goal.
‘‘It is football. We had many opportunities today. They had three or four and scored three goals,’’ he added.
‘‘The first one was a setpiece we didn’t defend, the second we were caught on the counterattack and the third came from a mistake.’’
Norwich’s crucial third goal came after defender Nicolas Otamendi was caught in possession in his own penalty area, allowing Emiliano Buendia to square to Teemu Pukki.
In the absence of injured French defender Aymeric Laporte, who could be sidelined for six months with a knee injury, City featured John Stones and Argentine Otamendi in the centre of defence and rarely looked solid.
City’s Spanish international midfielder Rodri said not too much should be read into the loss.
‘‘That’s football . . . The season is very long. You’re going to have matches like this — at least two or three,’’ he said. — Reuters