Manchester City head coach Pep Guardiola admitted injury woes are not an excuse for the 2-1 shock loss against Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday. The Sky Blues had won their last three matches in the Premier League but could not bring their best against Bournemouth.
Antoine Semenyo scored an early ninth-minute goal for the home team whereas Evanilson scored in the 64th minute to double the team’s lead. Josko Gvardiol got one back for the visitors in the 82nd minute but it was not enough to stage a comeback.
Meanwhile, City has been on the back foot due to their injury concerns as Ruben Dias, John Stones, Jack Grealish are recovering from respective injuries. Moreover, players like Oscar Bobb and Rodri have been sidelined for a longer period.
“I don’t know what would have happened. I would like to tell you if these players [weren’t injured], we would have won, but nobody knows,” Guardiola told reporters. “The guys give everything, but not enough to compete against that team in that moment.”
The Spaniard admitted that his team had to pay the price for the lack of intensity against the home team.
“We couldn’t match up to the intensity,” he said. “All the situations with the long balls, we couldn’t win it.
“And when you don’t win these types of balls to Semenyo and others, our central defenders and strikers have to defend deeper.
“We have players with rhythm and the other players have a lack of rhythm because we could not train due to injuries. But we knew it.”
On the other hand, City captain Kyle Walker and Kevin de Bruyne returned to action after an injury layoff.
“Kyle in 16 days didn’t train one session with us, made an incredible effort,” Guardiola said, adding that several other players had “niggles.”
“[But] it’s not just about that,” the City boss added. “[Bournemouth] were difficult to play in the first half; the second half we were much better.”
City will next take on Sporting CP on Tuesday.
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