Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has put their surprise 2 – 0 home defeat to Wolves down to ‘a bad day’.
The problem with that is City as we have come to know them simply don’t have bad days. As well as that, with Liverpool looking rampant, they can’t afford bad days.
It was their second bad day of the season, having lost to Norwhich last month. The result leaves them 8 points adrift of Liverpool, who have won all of their 8 opening Premier League games.
“It is a lot of points,” said Pep Guardiola. “They didn’t drop points. From many circumstances they haven’t dropped points.
“But when one team is eight points in front it is better not to think too much about that. It is better to think about what is next.”
Read: Excitement Building Over Kieran Tierney
His postgame comments suggest that Pep Guardiola is beginning to feel the pressure. The way he describes Wolves’ defensive style is reminiscent of his first season in England, when he bemoaned the physicality and long ball tactics of English teams when results did not go his way.
“It was a bad day, sometimes it happens,” said Guardiola. “We got a bit nervous.
“We lost to a good team that were really well-organised, good physically, strong in the air and so fast on the counter-attack.”
“They defend. They play long balls and defend, they then go on the counter. It is physical team, a strong team so know how good they are. We know their qualities and we knew how they scored the goals. We were not organised, lost balls in positions we could not lose them in.”
Want to bet on the Premier League? Check out our reviews section to find the best markets!
“We had two chances, one onto the crossbar and with Bernardo Silva. They did really well.
“We are going to come back again to try.”
“We did not make good process, we had problems in that sense. We’re a team that plays a specific way but it is a bad day, that happens sometimes.
“Kyle Walker did not feel good, he did not train well after an infection and we had to change him. Our process was not quite quick and that is why we had problems.
“When you win games, you think about the other one. Now we have the international break, then can come back and go to the other games.”
The obvious caveat is that City clawed back an even bigger deficit from Liverpool last year with even less time left in the season. They will also play Liverpool twice before the season ends.
The question is, after three years of Guardiola’s renowned intensity, do the players have it in them to do it again?
According to Paddy Power, they don’t. City have slipped to second favourites for the Premier League at 11/10, behind Liverpool at 8/11.
