Manchester City's Rodri Says Pep Guardiola Was Upbeat After United Defeat
Manchester City midfielder Rodri has said Pep Guardiola immediately tried to raise the spirits of his players in the dressing room after the 2-1 Premier League defeat on Saturday against Manchester United.
The champions fell 14 points behind Liverpool in the title race after the shock loss at the Etihad Stadium, but Rodri explained Guardiola remained positive in defeat, per Metro:
"He tried to lift our heads up. It is a tough moment for the team, but we have to keep fighting.
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"We have other cups, other goals which are interesting and very good, so we need to keep fighting and of course recover people because we have lots of problems with injuries – it's been tough at the beginning of the season."
City's struggling defence was exposed by United's explosive attack, but the Sky Blues dominated possession in the second half.
It was a match the champions needed to win, but they failed to achieve their agenda despite laying siege to David De Gea's goal.
United's Marcus Rashford opened the scoring from the penalty spot when he was fouled by Bernardo Silva after 23 minutes, and Anthony Martial doubled the advantage just six minutes later.
Central defender Nicolas Otamendi came off the bench to head home with five minutes on the clock, but City ran out of time in their quest for an equaliser.
Rodri added City have consistently failed to stop opponents this season but asked fans to stick with the team through the campaign, per Metro.
"We knew what they were going to do, many times we have known what teams would do but we haven't fixed these things.
"We shouldn't let them turn, we need to be more aggressive – it's our fault.
"It's too much [the points gap], I don't know. I would tell the supporters to stay behind us because we have other things this year, other cups. It's difficult but we have to fight until the end."
City have declined since losing Aymeric Laporte to a knee injury in September, and the Frenchman's value cannot be in doubt after recent inconsistencies.
The centre-back could return for the second half of the season after knee surgery. Fernandinho has been played in the back four, which has also caused a ripple effect of weakening the midfield.
Liverpool remain in command at the summit, and their eight-point lead over Leicester City make them heavy favourites to walk away with the title.
However, City have plenty to play for, and they can pool their resources into the UEFA Champions League if they decide their Premier League aspirations are over until next term.
