Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola admitted on Tuesday that repeating a late comeback is not a way to defend the Premier League title in football.
The defending champion had to come back from a 3-1 delay in front of Newcastle in the third stage to get a draw, and overturned a 2-0 delay at its guest Crystal Palace to win 4-2 last week thanks to the hat-trick of its Norwegian star Erling Halland.
“We have to try to avoid that,” Guardiola said on the sidelines of the match once morest his guest, Nottingham Forest, on Wednesday. On the one hand it is a good thing because in the past, when we were late, it was always difficult to come back. We proved last season and this season that we can do it (return) but we have to try to avoid it as much as possible.”
“We have to manage this issue,” he said. It is risky. One day we won’t be able to go back.”
Guardiola was asked if City conceded more goals because they have become a more attacking team this season with the arrival of Haaland, and he replied: “Exactly the opposite, the farther you are from your goal, the safer you are.”
“We’ve proven that in six years, we conceded quite a few goals when we played like that on our way to the league title. We’ll make adjustments, it’s normal in this period (…) you can’t always score four or five goals to win a game over a long period. We have to be better.”
City are second in the league behind Arsenal following three wins and a draw from their first four matches.