‘Not fine’ – Pep Guardiola bemoans Manchester City players’ failure to do ‘simple things’ during Aston Villa draw

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola blamed his players’ failure to do the ‘simple things’ for their 1-1 draw at Aston Villa.

The away side took the lead with another goal from new signing Erling Haaland shortly after the start of the second half but Leon Bailey levelled for Steven Gerrard’s men later on.

Both teams had chances to win the game, and speaking to the BBC after the game, Guardiola acknowledged it was far from their best performance.

He said: “It was a good game, we conceded almost nothing in the first half. We struggled a little bit to create chances but we were in complete control.

“Second half we break the game and we were better. We were trying to score the second goal and we defended the ball badly on our right side and they equalised.

“They didn’t create anything, it was just one shot.

“We were not precise in our game in the final third. A lot of players not fine in the simple things and that is why sometimes this happens, but it’s OK, one point and we keep going.

“We are human beings, we are football players and this happens.”

Guardiola conceded that missed chances came back to haunt them, saying: “Erling Haaland was involved in the game, he had touches and chances. We had two or three incredible chances in the first half and in the second half after 1-0, we hit the post from Kevin [de Bruyne] and had another one from Kevin and another from Phil [Foden].

“So we had enough chances to score a second and a third and fourth. But in the Premier League, when you are 1-0 anything can happen. We didn’t defend that one situation and we drew.”