Pep Guardiola accepted his Manchester City side lacked bite in the final third as they fell to a 2-0 defeat at home to Liverpool on Sunday. (More Football News)
T🌄he hosts actually had more shots (16 to eighꦦt) and shots on target (five to four) but first-half goals from Mohamed Salah and Dominik Szoboszlai sent Arne Slot's men 11 points clear of second-place Arsenal.
Indeed, City averaged only 0.03 expected goals per shot, s🦩uggesting the chances they created wer𝔉e of a low quality.
Guardiola explained the 🐟approach he attempted to employ against the league-leading Reds and conceded they needed to be a touch more clinical when it mattered at the Etihad Stadium.
"We played very good. Maybe we missed more productivity in the shots but we played against a fantastic team. Maybe at the start it was 50-50 and we could not convert,&qu🎉ot; he told Skyܫ Sports.
"In the second half they defended very dee🔯p. We have done something we have not tried for many games whiꦐch was we brought them to their box and tried to beat them there.
"The tactic was to arrive in the final third and the byline and it happen🃏ed a l🦂ot but we did not score. We missed the next bit a little bit and with crosses it is almost impossible to do it because of their size. We could not find the next step."
Guardiola has now lost 10 ti🍌mes against Liverpool, the most he has been beaten by an opponent in his coaching career, though this represented just a second defeat to the Reds at the Etihad in all competitions.
Defeat leaves City in fourth and 20 points adrift of Liverpool, the most they have trailed the league 🌜leaders at the end of a day since July 14, 2020, when they last failed to lift the title and the Reds went on to triumph.
Guardiola acknowledged 🌊his side are "far away" from where they need to be.
"If you﷽ lose, you have to lose the way we lost today. I saw many things that this club has a bright future with the players that we have," hꦇe added.
"Except Kevin de Bruyne and maybe Nathan Ake, all t♑he players are so, so young. What the club decides next for the future, there is a bright future for this club in the next years.
"Everyone knows that a part will be here next season for the older players but we have to build for the next step. There is a question of time. Even with the amou🤡nt of absences we have, we played well.
"We are far away. We will see in the future. What we have done in previous seasons is good but now we are away from them. We played with personalit🐼y which was really good."
