‘We could not win against Long Balls’ – Pep Guardiola makes blunt Man City admission after shock defeat at Bournemouth
Premier League Museum Admin 
Pep Guardiola
Pep Guardiola discussed the challenges Manchester City faced as they encountered their first Premier League defeat in 11 months against Bournemouth. Despite goals from Antoine Semenyo and Evanilson putting Bournemouth in a commanding position, City could only respond with a consolation goal from Josko Gvardiol and a late rally during the final minutes of the match. Key absences hampered City’s strength, as they were without five pivotal players and forced several others to play through injuries, as instructed by Guardiola. This leveled the playing field and Bournemouth capitalized on their greater sharpness and aggression to exploit City’s below-par performance.
Pep Guardiola said, “The situation with long balls, we could not win it and when you don’t win those sort of balls to Semenyo or the strikers, we have to defend deeper. We struggled to make our build up and especially for the rhythm they put in the game. They were higher than us and we could not handle it. They are fast, I know, but today was more than often because our play was not clean, especially with these sorts of balls when you don’t win it. It was not the transitions when we are in the final third and after that we lose the ball and the transition didn’t happen much. It was more that when we are high pressing, long balls and you lose the ball lose the duel, win the second ball and after that they run. After that, always happened. In the past we were able to handle these situations and today we could not. Sometimes the opponents are better and you have to accept it.”
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