At the end of a breathless encounter, Pep Guardiola held his hands up in defeat.
After watching his Manchester City side deservedly lose 2-1 to Bournemouth on the south coast on Saturday, the club’s first Premier League reverse since a 1-0 loss at Aston Villa last December, Guardiola was quick to hail the performance of his opponents.
“We knew we couldn’t match the intensity,” City’s beaten boss told the BBC post-game. “We have talked about it. It was an open game. We had chances at the end but I congratulate Bournemouth for the victory.”
Antoine Semenyo fired the hosts in front within the opening ten minutes, but Ederson had already been forced into two saves 90 seconds after kick off. The hosts hassled, harried and harangued City, winning the ball back inside the opposition half seven times within the first half-hour.
“The 50-50 balls in the middle, the duels, they play this type of game,” Guardiola sighed. “They are so aggressive. They had six-seven days to prepare. They have physicality and speed, but you have to win these types of situations. And they had chances. Ederson made a good save.”
City didn’t have their first shot on target until the 80th minute, by which time they were trailing 2-0. Josko Gvardiol soon halved the deficit, sparking a frantic conclusion as City had eight shots in the final eight minutes. “We had real good moments at the start of the second half and after that it was difficult to swallow as we were good,” Guardiola noted. “After we scored we had momentum and chances but couldn’t score [again].”
When reflecting upon the end of his team’s 32-game unbeaten Premier League run, Guardiola would not blame the various fitness issues which City carried into the game. The champions were without Ruben Dias, John Stones or Jack Grealish, while Oscar Bobb and Ballon d’Or winner Rodri remain long-term absentees.
Guardiola called on his players to push through the pain barrier ahead of Saturday’s fixture and later admitted that Nathan Ake and Kyle Walker were not 100% fit. Nevertheless, the Catalan coach refused to lean upon this as an excuse. “It is what it is,” he shrugged.
“We have few players with a lot of minutes and a lot of players with no minutes to the balance is a bit uncomfortable. We played good against Spurs but today we could not handle their intensity that they had and that’s why we lost the game.”
