Pep Guardiola: I want to play the football I feel
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Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has defended his team's system after a 4-2 defeat at the hands of champions Leicester City. Leicester led through Jamie Vardy's brilliant first-half hattrick followed by Andy King's fourth, while Aleksandar Kolarov and Nolito scored late consolations for City.
Pep Guardiola started with a back three at the King Power Stadium on Saturday's late kick-off against Leicester City but was forced to revert back to a four-man defence when the hosts took a stunning 2-0 lead inside the first four minutes. Without key midfielder Fernandinho to shield the defence, City were totally vulnerable at the back, with Guardiola's tactics coming under scrutiny.
But the Spaniard defended his tactics by saying that it was the same set of players in defence at the beginning of their campaign.
"It is not about the system. We defended well with these players at the beginning of the season. Now we have to stand up and analyse what happened, especially mentally to encourage the players to step forward," Guardiola said in the post-match conference.
The loss marked the first time City lost two consecutive league matches under Guardiola after their 3-1 defeat to Chelsea last week. But the former Bayern Munich-boss felt that his team did not play that badly.
"I want to play the football I feel. I cannot say we played badly or didn't play without the intention to create. Always I try to control the games so we concede few goals, in here I cannot do that and I have to analyse why,” he said, as City stand in the fourth position behind Liverpool and Chelsea.
The ex-Barcelona boss was optimistic that his tactics will help the team get back on track.
"I want to win games, I don't want to lose games. I feel what I feel and in the Premier League there are some special things, but the pitch is the same. What I believe is good and will be good," the 44-year old said.
Manchester City failed to win a single tackle in the first 35 minutes against the defending Champions, but Guardiola played down the statistic.
"The second
