Pep Guardiola assesses dreadful Manchester City display against Tottenham | OneFootball

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has explained his side’s lacklustre performance in a 2-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

First-half strikes from Brennan Johnson and Joao Palhinha gave Thomas Frank’s men a comfortable win as City lacked a genuine threat going forward and were the architects of their own downfall in defence.

A slip from John Stones whilst marking Richarlison helped the Brazilian set up Johnson for the opener, which was initially ruled out for an offside against Richarlison in the build-up but overturned following a VAR review.

James Trafford made his first senior home appearance for Manchester City after keeping a clean sheet against Wolves week, but the 22-year-old summer signing from Burnley was at fault for the second goal as he put Nico under pressure and Tottenham pounced to give themselves a two-goal cushion as a result.

Speaking to TNT Sports to reflect on his side’s performance, Guardiola said: “I had the feeling that it was a little better than the result. We started well, conceded, but in simple things with the ball we lost, and with the top quality they (Tottenham) have.

“Individually, simple things with the ball we missed, and that’s why they could transition. After they scored at the end of the first-half, it was difficult.”

City made a bright start to their second Premier League game of the campaign and despite the likes of Omar Marmoush, Tijjani Reijnders and Erling Haaland all being presented with clear-cut goalscoring opportunities in the first half, the hosts failed to find the back of the net.

“We needed one goal and had chances, the penalty not given for Oscar (Bobb), chances for Erling (Haaland) and Rayan (Cherki) – we had chances,” Guardiola added.

Whilst City failed to impress, Tottenham executed their gameplan to absolute perfection and Guardiola hailed Thomas Frank and his side for their stellar showing in defence and when breaking on the counter.

“We didn’t read much too well, man-marking and pressing because Thomas (Frank) does it, it happens and we had to attract and play a different way,” Guardiola said.

“But in the final third we were really good, controlled transitions. The result is not good but we’ll learn from that.”

A trip to the Amex Stadium awaits Guardiola and co next weekend and with just over a week remaining in the summer transfer window, the performance against Tottenham is likely to have left Manchester City’s director of football Hugo Viana with some food for thought.