Pep Guardiola said Manchester City’s lack of care with the ball was the reason for their late collapse from 2-0 up to draw 2-2 at Brentford on Tuesday.
Phil Foden’s double put the English champions on course for a fourth consecutive win after a miserable run of one victory in 13 games.
But defensive deficiencies and struggles to hold onto leads have been a consistent theme in a difficult season for Guardiola’s men.
Brentford created chances throughout the game and took them in the final 10 minutes through Yoane Wissa and Christian Norgaard to hit back for a deserved point.
“Long balls we won and we could run and in that moment we didn’t take the right decisions,” said Guardiola.
“Maybe that would have been different but at the same time they had chances. Their strikers are really good, Wissa and (Bryan) Mbeumo are really dangerous.”
City were again without injured centre-backs Ruben Dias and John Stones, while captain Kyle Walker was not included in Guardiola’s squad after expressing his desire to leave the club this month.
“At 2-0 we have to close it but we don’t have those specific players to defend in the box so we have to do it by controlling the ball,” added Guardiola.
“The fatigue against Brentford in the last 15 minutes is normal. I don’t have anything to regret. Recover and go to the next game.”
Meanwhile, Arne Slot insisted Liverpool deserved to beat Nottingham Forest after the “outstanding” Premier League leaders needed Diogo Jota’s equaliser to rescue a 1-1 draw against their title rivals.
Slot’s side were rocked by Chris Wood’s eighth-minute opener at the raucous City Ground.
But Jota came off the bench to head in fellow substitute Kostas Tsimikas’ corner just 20 seconds after Slot sent on the pair in the 66th minute.
Although Liverpool had struggled to cope with Forest’s intensity and rock-solid defending until Jota’s leveller, they laid seige to the Forest goal in the closing stages.
It took a series of superb saves from Forest goalkeeper Matz Sels and a goal-line clearance from Ola Aina to ensure Nuno Espirito Santo’s team held on.
“Their goalkeeper had to make a few incredible saves but their defenders also made some good blocks with quite a few chances. They blocked almost every shot,” Slot said.
“I could not have asked for more. Second half was outstanding. There are not many teams that can create so many chances against an opponent so defensively strong. Unfortunately we couldn’t get a second.”
It was a pulsating clash that recalled the golden era when Liverpool and Forest won five European Cups between them from 1977 to 1981.
They were also both English champions during that period and, while Forest are unlikely to ever emulate the Brian Clough era, this tenacious display indicated a title challenge is not beyond them.
Forest had already beaten Liverpool 1-0 at Anfield in September -- the leaders’ only defeat in 20 league games -- and Slot needed no reminding of their qualities.
“We were definitely better than the last time that we played them. That wasn’t that difficult though. Back then we did not create much, today we did,” he said.
“It is so, so hard for every team to create here. And at times it was one chance after another.
“To win games in the second half of the season is more difficult than in the first. Teams get used to playing you and they improve, they can even bring in new players or a new manager, and they fight for every point.”
Chasing a first English title since 2020, Liverpool remain in control of their own destiny.
- ‘Like ping pong’ - Arsenal can close the gap on the Reds to four points with a win against Tottenham on Wednesday, but Liverpool will hold a game in hand and Slot sees no reason to panic after two successive league draws.
“For us to come from behind shows the character and quality the team has,” he said.
“We must not get a habit of not getting what we deserved because it happened at Tottenham and it happened today.”
Agencies