Pep Guardiola scolds negligent Man City players after the draw with Crystal Palace
Manchester City’s players were chastised by Pep Guardiola for heedlessly failing to live up to the championship-winning expectations they had set.
The Premier League winners led 2-0 at home against Crystal Palace with to goals from Jack Grealish and Rico Lewis, which they held onto until the 75th minute. But poor defending allowed the undermanned Eagles to equalize through Jean-Phillipe Mateta, and in injury time Michael Olise scored a point after Phil Foden gave away a penalty unjustly.
City have now dropped nine points by conceding goals after the 80th minute in the Premier League, with late goals making up 30 per cent of their total for the season. Guardiola thought his team had played well for most of the game but in a scathing verdict said they did not deserve to win a game if they could not see it out like they have so many times before.
“At the end, be patient and don’t concede transitions and don’t concede like we have done in seven or eight years in these type of games,” he said. “But of course in the first action they run and score a goal and in the last minute we give them [a penalty]. In the 18-yard box you have to be careful and we weren’t. We don’t deserve to win.
“It’s not bad luck, it’s deserved. We give away two points. When you give away this penalty, you deserve it. You see the chances we created and conceded it’s quite similar to all this season apart from the Chelsea game – but we are not able to close the games. That is the feeling.”