Pep Guardiola was requested by BBC Sport on Friday whether or not he was turning into involved concerning the late objectives conceded by his Manchester Metropolis facet.
“I’ve many considerations,” he replied. “However not this one.”
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Guardiola might be re-assessing that reply now.
Metropolis twice let slip a lead on Wednesday night time within the Champions League, being pegged again to a 2-2 attract Monaco, with the second equaliser arriving within the ninetieth minute courtesy of England defender Eric Dier’s cool penalty.
Objective machine Erling Haaland continued his scintillating scoring type by scoring each of Metropolis’s objectives, however was scathing in his evaluation of the efficiency.
“After all I do not really feel good we did not win,” the Norwegian advised TNT Sport. “We do one thing unnecessarily within the second half and we do not assume we performed adequate. We do not should win.
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“We’d like extra vitality. We have to get at them extra as we did within the first half and dominated way more. Within the second half they took the lead way more and I do not assume it’s adequate.
“Each Champions League sport is hard, have a look at final yr once we went out. There aren’t many groups who’ve received their first two video games.”
Worrying pattern rising
Metropolis had been on their method to making it back-to-back wins within the Champions League this season however Dier’s nerveless, last-minute penalty salvaged a draw for Monaco.
Guardiola’s facet are unbeaten of their final six video games, however a worrying pattern is starting to emerge of conceding late objectives.
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They’ve conceded eight occasions in all competitions to this point, however half of these have come at essential durations in every half.
23 August: 2-0 house loss in opposition to Tottenham after conceding within the third minute of injury-time within the first half
31 August: 2-1 loss at Brighton after conceding within the 89th minute
21 September: 1-1 draw at Arsenal after conceding within the 93rd minute
1 October: 2-2 draw at Monaco after conceding within the ninetieth minute
It means Metropolis have dropped three factors within the Premier League after conceding within the 89th minute or later – which might have seen them on degree factors with second-placed Arsenal – and an extra two within the Champions League.
This was additionally a missed alternative to place proper their latest poor away file in Europe, now failing to win their previous 5 video games on the street within the competitors.
The end result follows on from final season’s disappointment of not successful a serious trophy, being knocked out of the Champions League on the play-off spherical and ending third within the Premier League.
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“You would not panic,” former Manchester United midfielder Nicky Butt mentioned on Match of the Day. “Everybody needs to win their video games and get the adulation of what an important crew you might be however it isn’t regular to maintain doing it yr on yr.
“Man Metropolis have accomplished it for therefore a few years however they’re having a little bit of a battle during the last couple of years. They’ve gamers who can flip video games and win you huge competitions and trophies.
“They are going to be there or thereabouts, they only should get the squad collectively and be match coming in to the brand new yr.”
‘Silly’ defending however ought to it have been a penalty?
Time was working out when Dier stooped to nod a free-kick in the direction of aim, however was as a substitute kicked within the head by Metropolis substitute Nico Gonzalez.
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The previous Tottenham man did extremely effectively to attain from the spot after being made to attend over 5 minutes to take the kick due to a mix of the referee reviewing the incident on the pitchside monitor and a disagreement between the 2 units of workers.
Guardiola felt Gonzalez “touches the ball first” and had “no intention” of fouling Dier, whereas Haaland concluded that he had not seen the incident once more “however when you kick somebody within the face, I suppose it’s a penalty”.
Butt added: “It’s a bit lazy from the defenders. Dier made a robust, aggressive run from deep and the defenders let him bully them.
“There was not a lot contact however a extremely silly factor to do within the field in such an enormous sport within the final minute. There was little question they had been going to offer a penalty. You simply should see the image for one second on the display screen and it’s a penalty in European soccer.”
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Former Metropolis defender Nedum Onuoha mentioned it was “good to see an Englishman scoring penalties” in a World Cup yr.
It didn’t make nice viewing for Metropolis although.