LONDON (Reuters) – Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola blamed the fact that he is missing key players for his side’s late capitulation against Brentford in the Premier League on Tuesday as the Bees came from 2-0 down to grab a 2-2 draw.
Visitors City had gone 2-0 up thanks to a pair of goals from Phil Foden, but Yoane Wissa pulled one back for the hosts in the 82nd minute and Christian Norgaard headed the equaliser in the second minute of stoppage time as City’s defence wilted.
City are currently missing defenders Ruben Dias and John Stones and influential midfielder Rodri, all of whom are injured.
Guardiola said that with several key players missing through injury, City didn’t have the personnel to defend the type of balls they faced against Brentford.
“We have another type of player right now, and at the end we could not defend that situation,” Guardiola told a press conference.
“They put six, seven players in the box, crosses, and sometimes they are better, so there are more players, they are taller, they are stronger in (heading),” he added.
The Catalan coach was seen engaging animatedly with Stefan Ortega after the final whistle, simultaneously berating and hugging his German goalkeeper, who got a strong hand to Norgaard’s equalising effort but couldn’t keep it out.
“I said how good he played in actions with the ball, how good his pass (was) to Erling (Haaland), how happy and satisfied I am,” Guardiola explained.
Despite his positive words about Ortega, there was no denying his disappointment at throwing away another lead and dropping two more points.
“What I missed today especially was that we didn’t take the right decision in the final third, in the actions where we could run, long balls we won and we could run, and in that moment we didn’t take the right decisions,” Guardiola said.
“I give credit to them, Brentford has always been a really, really tough opponent … they are an honest team, they are a generous team, I like the way they play, but today we created a lot.”
(Reporting by Philip O’Connor; Editing by Toby Davis)
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