Pep Guardiola believes his Manchester City players must take ownership for two dropped points against Crystal Palace – and not blame ‘bad luck’.
City dominated their Etihad encounter with the Eagles but conceded twice late in the match – including a 95th-minute penalty given away by Phil Foden – to throw away a win.
Sacrificing leads late on has become City’s guilty pleasure in recent times, as they did the same against Chelsea, Liverpool, and Tottenham.
The 2-2 draw with Palace leaves City fourth in the table and they have only won one of their last six Premier League outings.
Guardiola said: ‘It’s not bad luck, it’s deserved. We gave away two points. When you give away this penalty, you deserve it.
Pep Guardiola said Manchester City ‘deserved’ to draw against Crystal Palace – despite dominating possession and having almost four times the number of shots
Phil Foden’s stoppage-time foul on Jean-Philippe Mateta gave away a penalty, which Michael Olise duly scored
‘You see the chances we created and conceded it’s quite similar to all this season apart from the game – but we are not able to close the games. That is the feeling.
‘At the end, be patient and don’t concede transitions and don’t concede like we have done in seven or eight years in these type of games.
‘But of course in the first action they run and score a goal and in the last minute we give them [a penalty]. In the 18-yard box you have to be careful and we weren’t. We don’t deserve to win.
In a separate interview with Sky Sports, he said: ‘In the 18-yard box, you cannot behave the way we behaved with the penalty. When this happens, you are going to drop points.
‘So simple. The players [were] running incredible, pressing good, playing good, because it’s so difficult having ten players there, so we know that and we were patient and we did it.
‘But after what we have done in the last action, what can we do? Accept it and improve.’
City had 75 per cent possession and 19 shots to Palace’s five.
The visitors only had two attempts hit the target, and both of them resulted in goals.
City have conceded late equalisers against Chelsea, Liverpool, and Tottenham in recent times
Guardiola warned City ‘cannot behave the way we behaved with the penalty’ after nailing the more complex aspects of game management
It means City are still searching for a first league win at the Etihad since they dispatched Bournemouth 6-1 on November 4, even though they had won every league match at home this season until then.
Conceding late goals has been a problem for the reigning Treble winners.
An eventful visit to Chelsea could have ended 4-3 until Cole Palmer converted a 95th-minute penalty in mid-November.
All was fine and dandy against Liverpool until Trent Alexander-Arnold scored a blinder in the 80th minute.
And then there was the clash against Spurs early in December, when Dejan Kulusevski’s 90th-minute strike rescued a point for Ange Postecoglou’s men.
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