Manchester City news: Pep Guardiola defends his leaky defence and constant tinkering despite woeful defeat to champions Leicester
His side fell to a Jamie Vardy hat-trick and an Andy King stunner amid awful individual errors and a clear lack of game-plan... but Pep says he needs time
PEP GUARDIOLA has defended his formation and leaky defence despite going down 4-2 to struggling champions Leicester.
His side fell to a Jamie Vardy hat-trick and an Andy King stunner – and despite goals from Aleksandar Kolarov and Nolito, the Spaniard has not won in three matches as City stayed in fourth, four points behind leaders Chelsea.
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Guardiola has been criticised for chopping and changing his formation and personnel in recent games as results fail to go his way.
Today the likes of John Stones, Bacary Sagna and Kolarov were more than shaky along with keeper Claudio Bravo - but he could not disagree more that his players are not up for it after this latest defeat, despite missing the likes of Fernandinho and Sergio Aguero through suspension.
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He told BT Sport: “It is not about the system, and we defended well. We played well with these players at the start of the season.
“We have to stand up and analyse how the players can make a step forward from here. It was definitely not the game we wanted.
“We knew that Leicester would play long balls, and when they won the ball they targeted our back four.”
While the knives are not yet fully out for one of the most successful coaches of the modern era, many are baffled by some of his decision making – but Guardiola believes he cannot find the winning formula immediately, and therefore he has to look for positives.
He added: “We tried until the end, that was a good thing, but it was difficult once we were 3-0 down.”
“England is so good at second balls, and we didn’t fare well with that. When they counter attack they are so tough and they defended so well.
“All managers need time.”