Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has said his only regret after a 5-1 defeat to Arsenal is “the last 25 minutes” of the game.
The Premier League champions suffered their 11th defeat of the campaign at the Emirates on Sunday.
City had levelled the game early in the second half through Erling Haaland after Martin Ødegaard opened the scoring.
But goals from Thomas Partey, Myles Lewis-Skelly, followed by Kai Havertz and Ethan Nwaneri sealed a big win for Arsenal.
Guardiola, speaking to the BBC, said: “I only regret the last 25 minutes; we forgot to do what we should do, what we have done for 65-70 minutes. Of course, it’s a difficult game starting in this stadium, against that team in the first minutes – it’s happened many times this season.
“But after 10-15 minutes, I think we took the game and played really, really, really well. We were in it after 1-1 and had good momentum, then passed to make the transition with Omar [Marmoush] and a deflection for the third goal.
“But after that, we continued to do what we have to do defensively and be a little bit more patient. When you’re playing that way, they can run, and of course, at 3-1, they are comfortable. It’s more difficult. I regret the last 15-20 minutes; the rest was a really good game for our side. It’s difficult to understand when you see the result, but this is my feeling.
“It’s happened all season – we are giving away too many things. We are aware this cannot happen, but it happened. But we reacted really well and played with personality. We defended so well, and then with the ball, we were a threat, but unfortunately, after the second goal, again, many times we had the momentum. For the deflection and in other situations, we conceded the goals.
“You have to overcome it; you cannot lose control. It’s 90/95 minutes. You cannot finish the way we played. We could’ve scored three more, but the team has to be stable, no matter what happens.”
