Pep Guardiola has given his players a harsh reminder that not only did they lose up Crystal Palace last time the teams met … they also DESERVED to lose. The Manchester City boss takes his team to Selhurst Park on Monday night for the return game, after the Eagles shocked them with a 2-0 win at the Etihad Stadium.
Pep Guardiola said: “When you lose it is because you deserve to lose. We conceded an early goal from a mistake in our build-up, and after we had a red card on the edge of half-time when we were in our best period. In the second half we played with a lot of character and had chances, a disallowed goal for nothing, and in the end we conceded. But if we lost, it is because we deserved it. It is like Tottenham – when you see how we defended the cross from (Dejan) Kulusevski (for Harry Kane’s late winning goal) we deserved to lose. It is not about fair or unfair.”
Guardiola referred to the fact that City have a much higher “expected goals” figure than their opponents this season. That stat takes into account the quality of goalscoring chance created as well as the quantity, and it shows that the Blues average 2.53 expected goals a match, as opposed to 0.84 for their opponents.
Pep Guardiola said: “I know the stats about our expected goals during the season and what we produced and what we concede. The average of what we produce and what we concede we deserve to win in almost all the games. We are the best team in the league for expected goals and whatever but it is not about that. You have to win. Football is unpredictable and that doesn’t count. In that game, they defended incredibly well in the final third and it is so difficult to attack them and create chances. That’s why you have to be so patient, not concede many chances and in the right moment it depends on the quality of the players. All managers especially in these type of games are in their heads for the quality to appear and win the game.”
