Manchester, Nov 26 Pep Guardiola, who marked his 100th Champions League match in charge of Manchester City, admitted that ‘too many changes’ cost his side the win in his milestone game.
Leverkusen ended Man City's unbeaten league run thanks to Alejandro Grimaldo's well-placed strike and Patrik Schick's glancing header.
Guardiola was eager to give several players who haven’t had much game time recently the chance to impress against the Bundesliga side, with 10 players coming in compared to the starting XI that faced Newcastle at the weekend.
Asked why he believed things didn’t go his way, City boss said, “Too many changes. What I said is, I always believe in the long seasons, games every two or three days and everyone has to be involved.
“Maybe it was too much. Seeing the results. I think they played looking to not make mistakes and not to do what you have to do. If you are thinking to avoid not punishing the team, you are not free or relaxed, not just with the ball, but without it.
“We were close, but not aggressive enough. They are a really good team. Congratulate Leverkusen, of course. It is what it is. I take responsibility. I see them, and I like everyone to be involved. When you are 3, 4, 5 or 6 games not playing it’s tough. But maybe it was too much," he was quoted by the Manchester City website.
Man City, however, remain similarly well placed despite missing the chance to go top of the table after suffering a home loss to Leverkusen.
Guardiola added that his desire to keep everyone involved might have backfired somewhat on this occasion against a very good, organised Bayer Leverkusen side.
“They tried to do it - it’s never one player,” he said. "When you are in a big team you have to show up. The players who came from the bench were the same. We slipped over 10 times, every shot was blocked. They are a fantastic team with fantastic players. It’s maybe the players that play regularly lately, maybe we would have been confident for the new players coming up.
"Sometimes I am too nice and involve everyone. When you have 22 players just play 11. The others don’t play quite often and when you play regularly you feel more comfortable. We have weapons on the bench, but honestly it didn’t work, and we have to accept it. Now we don’t talk much. We clear our heads and go onto Leeds," said Guardiola.
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