Pep Guardiola claims Man City’s draw with Crystal Palace was ‘DESERVED’ and does not allow players ‘bad luck’ excuse after conceding late penalty… as the champions concede ANOTHER late equaliser
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Pep Guardiola believes his Manchester City players should take responsibility for the two points missed against Crystal Palace – and not blame it on 'bad luck'.
City dominated their Etihad clash with the Eagles, but conceded twice late in the match (including a 95th minute penalty given away by Phil Foden) to throw away a win.
Belatedly sacrificing leads has become City's guilty pleasure of late, as they did the same against Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham.
The 2-2 draw against Palace leaves City in fourth place in the table and they have won just one of their last six Premier League matches.
Guardiola said: 'It's not bad luck, it's deserved. We gave away two points. If you give away this punishment, you deserve it.
Pep Guardiola said Manchester City 'deserved' to draw against Crystal Palace – despite dominant possession and almost four times as many shots
Phil Foden's injury foul on Jean-Philippe Mateta resulted in a penalty, which Michael Olise rightly scored
'You see the chances we've created and conceded, it's pretty much the same as this whole season apart from the match, but we're not able to close out the games. That's the feeling.
βAt the end of the day, be patient and don't concede transitions and don't concede like we have done in these types of games over the last seven or eight years.
'But of course in the first action they run and score a goal and in the last minute we give them (a penalty). You have to be careful in the 18-yard box and we didn't do that. We don't deserve to win.
In a separate interview with Sky Sports, he said: 'In the 18-metre area you cannot behave the way we behaved with the penalty. When this happens, you lose points.
'So simple. The players (were) running incredibly, pressing well, playing well, because it's so hard to have ten players there, so we know that and we were patient and we did it.
'But what can we do, after what we did in the last action? Accept it and improve.β
City had 75 percent possession and 19 shots to Palace's five.
Only two attempts by the visitors were successful and both resulted in goals.
It means City are still looking for a first league win at the Etihad since beating Bournemouth 6-1 on November 4, despite having won every league match at home so far this season.
City have recently conceded late equalizers against Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham
Guardiola warned City 'cannot behave the way we behaved with the penalty' after tackling the more complex aspects of game management
Conceding late goals was a problem for the reigning Treble winners.
An eventful visit to Chelsea could have ended 4-3 until Cole Palmer converted a 95th-minute penalty in mid-November.
Everything went well against Liverpool until Trent Alexander-Arnold scored a blinder in the 80th minute.
And then there was the match against Spurs in early December, when Dejan Kulusevski's 90th-minute strike saved a point for Ange Postecoglou's men.