Guardiola rues City’s inconsistent home form

PEP Guardiola bemoaned Manchester City’s home form after his side were held to a frustrating goalless draw by Stoke.

The stalemate was City’s fifth at the Etihad Stadium in the Premier League this season and left them 10 points behind leaders Chelsea.

Reflecting on the match Guardiola said: “Our results away are much better than at home. Maybe next season will be the opposite. We dropped points. We have to analyse.

“In the first half we had problems. They defended aggressively, deep, and our strikers stayed there, didn’t move.

“The second half was much better and we created chances to score. The goalkeeper from Stoke did not save too much because we didn’t really shoot at the net.

“It is football, it happens sometimes in the season, but I don’t have regrets about how they fought.”

City came to life after a drab first half but could not find a way through Stoke’s stubborn rearguard with Sergio Aguero, Leroy Sane and David Silva all having good chances.

Guardiola rotated his squad, thinking ahead to Saturday’s FA Cup quarter-final at Middlesbrough and next week’s Champions League trip to Monaco. In-form Raheem Sterling was left out completely while Silva was only introduced as a second-half substitute.

Guardiola did not agree the tactic had backfired and insisted he had little choice.

He said: “The rotations are good when you are successful in the results, but when you’re not always we miss the other people.”

The back-up keeper has thrived given the chance, but faces a lengthy spell out.