Pep stunned by City’s shock defeat

SOUTHAMPTON. — Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola admitted his side cannot lose games in the manner they did in going down 1-0 at Southampton on Sunday if they are to take the English Premier League football title back from Liverpool next season.

Guardiola says he is struggling to understand why his side have lost nine Premier League games this season as Che Adams’s spectacular first Southampton goal condemned Guardiola’s men to defeat despite enjoying 74 percent possession and 26 shots at goal.

It is the first time in his career that Guardiola has overseen such a run, while nine losses is the most the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss has ever had in a single campaign.

“We played really well, but it was a little bit the sum of this season. We make one mistake, they punish us,” said Guardiola.

“We lost a lot of games and losing a lot of games you cannot compete to win Premier Leagues.

“We need to improve because it happened many times this season.

“We played more than good but it is not enough to win the games.

“We cannot say we are not a team who score goals this season. We are leading in goals. We create a lot of chances. We are a team who concede less — no team conceded as few chances as us but we lost a lot of games.

“It’s difficult even for me to find a reason why but you have to insist and talk about the game, the way they play and try to do more, concede as few as possible and score up front.”

Just four days ago City showed what they are capable of when at their best by thrashing newly-crowned champions Liverpool 4-0.

But defeat on the south coast sees the Reds regain their 23-point lead at the top of the table.

Guardiola, though, insisted his plan to get back on top does not involve a summer spending spree on new players.

“No, I don’t think so,” added the Catalan when asked if new signings were the key to a change in fortunes.

“I think we played good. The desire, the character to play until the end was there, we put Southampton with 10 players in the penalty spot, so we did really well.

“When you review the games and the chances we created you cannot do more. I like the way we played but it is not enough.” — AFP.