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Publication Date: Saturday, October 24, 2020, 3:25 AM
Pep Guardiola claimed that Manchester City created enough chances to beat West Ham, but their opponents’ deep defense and a poor first-half finish meant they didn’t.
City had to come back to claim a 1-1 draw at London Stadium. Michail Antonio scored a spectacular header in the 18th minute, but City won a point thanks to a goal from half-time substitute Phil Foden.
It continues City’s inconsistent start to the league season. They have only scored one goal in each of their last three Premier League games: after losing 5-2 to Leicester in their last game in September.
However, Guardiola believes his performance against West Ham was positive, apart from a 10-minute period.
He said BT sport: “We started very well, we conceded a goal the first time they arrive. They defend very deep and we had the opportunity at the end to score the goal. Now we move on.
“I think we did not play badly except the last 10 minutes of the first half. We suffer in the last 10 or 15 minutes of the first half.
“They have a lot of players coming to the area, we had periods of that but we had opportunities to score and we didn’t.
“All the teams in the Premier League are tough. [West Ham] make a good first half, yeah.
“In the second half we were better and scored early. We had the opportunities we needed to win the match, but unfortunately we couldn’t score.
“We create enough. Their defenders defended so deeply that it is difficult to find spaces, but we had the opportunities ”.
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Guardiola insecure due to Agüero’s injury
Guardiola had to take out leading forward Sergio Agüero at halftime. While his replacement Foden made an almost instant impact by scoring the tie, he could be a concern for City in the long run.
That’s because Guardiola says the Argentine international could have a muscle injury, although he’s not sure how long he could be out.
Explaining the substitution, he said: “Injury. No, I do not know [what it is].
“It looks like a muscle injury.”
Guardiola also added words of praise for scorer Foden, saying: “As always, he gave us something extra.”
In general, however, Guardiola may be concerned about the way City have started the season. They remain in the bottom half and, for the first time, a team that has managed has failed to reach 10 points in their first five league games of a season.
Reflecting on their shaky start, he admitted that they will have to make up for lost time due to various reasons.
“I’m not a guy who can predict the future,” he said. “We are already down seven points, which is a lot.
“But we have fought hard for many reasons. We have to take things match by match and see what happens ”.
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