Pep talk gets him in bother
N Forest..........1 Man City..........1
Pep Guardiola lost his rag with the match officials – but accepted his players were to blame for the kind of result that costs titles.
The Manchester City boss flew into a rage over referee Graham Scott’s display – and was booked for voicing his opinion too strongly after claiming the champions should have had a penalty for Joe Worrall’s tug on Erling Haaland’s shirt.
But after cooling his temper, Guardiola accepted the result was down to City’s failure to kill off Steve Cooper’s battling Forest.
The visitors had 84 per cent of the ball in the first half but Bernardo Silva’s thunderbolt was the only goal they had to show for their dominance. After the break, Haaland, Phil
FURIOUS
Foden and Aymeric Laporte all missed chances and six minutes from time, Forest sub Chris Wood floored City with a sucker-punch equaliser.
Guardiola said:
“We dropped points because we didn’t score more – and we could have also defended with more energy for their goal.
“We had a good victory at Arsenal. Today we played even better against a team that defended with nine players in their box.
“But when you miss so many chances just one metre from the goal…what can I say?”
Forest boss Cooper’s decision to send on Wood in the final stages paid rich dividends as the on-loan Newcastle striker smuggled in at the far post to level.
The result was as vital to Forest as it was devastating to City.
Cooper said: “We had a plan to stay in it for as long as we could.
“We wanted that one moment and it was a great goal.”