- Manchester City drew 3-3 with Feyenoord despite taking a three-goal lead
- City manager Pep Guardiola was left incredibly frustrated with the performance.
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Pep Guardiola joked that he wanted to hurt himself after his Manchester City capitulated and blew a 3-0 lead against Feyenoord to go six games without a win in all competitions.
When asked in his post-match press conference about a deep cut on his nose and several red marks on his head, Guardiola said: “Yes, it’s from the fingernail,” he said. ‘I cut myself with my nail (during the game). I want to hurt myself.’
The coach lamented his team’s inability to win games after Feyenoord scored three goals in 14 second-half minutes to surprise City.
“We are not capable of winning games,” admitted Guardiola. ‘As a team, we always found a way over the years. Right now, in another situation, nothing happens.”
City, who ended their five-game losing streak, will go into Sunday’s clash against Premier League leaders Liverpool at Anfield without a win in more than a month.
“It wasn’t necessary to tell them anything, they know perfectly well,” Guardiola said when asked what he told his players.
Pep Guardiola was left scratching his head, literally, after Manchester City’s draw against Feyenoord.
The City manager looked frustrated on the bench after his team squandered a three-goal lead.
City’s winless streak has now extended to six games as they head to title rivals Liverpool.
‘Three episodes and they (Feyenoord) didn’t allow us to win. It is what it is and very difficult to swallow. It will be a tough season for us and we have to accept it. We have to lift them up (for Anfield). I have to lift my players up. It’s my job.’
With City three goals up, Guardiola made a triple change in the 69th minute bringing on Kevin De Bruyne, James McAtee and Jahmai Simpson-Pusey and the Spaniard admitted he thought the game was over.
‘Nathan (Ake) came off with 20 minutes left and I didn’t feel like the game was in danger. Nathan has been hurt many times. We didn’t want to expose it for 90 minutes. Ilkay (Gundogan) is the only fit midfielder we have and Phil (Foden) plays a lot of minutes,” Guardiola said. “I did it so that Kevin (De Bruyne) could get the rhythm in the best way and Macca (McAtee) and Jahmai (Simpson -Pusey) are always very stable. At that moment, everything was completely fine.”
When asked about the booing at full-time from a section of the City fans, Guardiola insisted he understood why.
‘They are disappointed. Of course we understand it. “They come here not to remember the successes of the past, but to see the team win,” he said.
Guardiola later joked that he wanted to hurt himself after watching his team capitulate.
The draw leaves City in 15th place in the Champions League standings, with eight points from five games and games against Juventus, PSG and Club Brugge remaining. City have also conceded two or more goals in six consecutive games in all competitions for the first time since May 1963.
Meanwhile, Feyenoord manager Brian Priske praised his players for their mentality but insisted City are still the best team in the world.
“It was an incredible match and an incredible evening facing, still for me, the best team in the world,” Priske said. ‘They are obviously having problems at the moment, even though they were leading 3-0.
‘They revealed three key moments that we took advantage of in the end. It was a remarkable effort and mentality from our guys. “After 3-1 I definitely felt like my guys were ready for this and then when they went 3-2 we felt like maybe there was something in the air tonight.”