Guardiola "locks up" team after Southampton draw

Guardiola, who did not reappear from the home dressing-room for 50 minutes after the full time, appeared to be in a good mood as he explained his delay in the post-match conference.

“The red wine was good and I took a little bit longer,” Guardiola joked.

"We were together, we spoke, but nothing special. We spoke about the situation. I was football player so I know this can happen. You’re able to win 10 times in a row and after you’re not able to win five times."

“You have to accept that, but I have to discover the reason why and I’m going to fight for that.”

A John Stones error in the first half gave Southampton the lead in the 27th minute as Nathan Redmond ran onto a poor back-pass by the ex-Barcelona keeper to put the Saints 1-0 up in the tie. The error is a continuation of a long list of mistakes that have resulted in a prolonged win-less streak that the Manchester club has had to endure.

Cluadio Bravo's moment of madness in the Barcelona game, where the keeper handled the ball outside his 18-yard box, was preceded by two penalty misses in the game against Everton by Kevin de Bryune and Sergio Aguero that resulted in both teams sharing the spoils.

"Today with John and on Wednesday with Claudio, that is not the reason,” Guardiola explained.

“Against Everton we missed two penalties, we played amazing and didn’t win. It’s something more and about the team and how how you react. It’s part of the process of how we react and how people react to a new manager here, but football is complicated."

“We didn’t have 90 bad, bad minutes, but when we’re not perfect, we concede a lot.”

City midfielder Kevin de Bruyne had to be replaced at half-time due to a calf injury and will miss the trip to Old Trafford for Wednesday’s EFL Cup tie against cross-city rivals Manchester United.