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Pep Guardiola said Manchester City’s 5-2 humiliation against Leicester was the result of their players’ lack of stability and faith after Jamie Vardy scored a hat-trick for the visitors.
While Brendan Rodgers’ team has a maximum of nine points in its first three games, City has three from two. Despite registering first through an early goal from Riyad Mahrez, Guardiola admitted that his team lost their way.
“We played for 30 minutes so well, we scored a goal in [the fourth] minute, ”said the manager. “But then we started to believe that we were not playing well when it was the opposite. We are not strong enough to be stable and patient. We started to think that we were playing badly. We told them at half-time that they were playing well, to be patient and the rest will be in our hands ”.
Guardiola played down any concerns about losing points so early in the title race. “We have to accept it,” he said. “But it’s still only the second game.” Vardy scored from two penalties, after 37 and 58 minutes, which sealed off a goal in one slam. Youri Tielemans converted Leicester’s third penalty late in the second half, and that followed a memorable 20-yard finish from James Maddison. Nathan Aké scored the second for Manchester City.
“To beat Man City you have to run like hell,” Rodgers said. “So you have to have that mentality. The tactical discipline was good and because of his counterattack you have to make fast passes. We are left behind with a brilliant ending. We showed good composure and stayed calm and showed enough to cause them a problem. “
The Leicester coach was rewarded for a tactical change under which his team adopted a counter attack approach. “It was a brilliant performance and result. It has taken me 13 years to play that way, I really like to attack and be aggressive, “said Rodgers. “I always try to be positive, but I need to think of other ways to get results in these games. We took the press out of the goal kicks and we were direct, but in general the players had to work very hard ”.
Vardy said: “We knew we wouldn’t have much of the ball, so we braced ourselves to infuriate them a little bit, try to keep players like Rodri. [a holding midfielder] of the ball. “
