Pep Guardiola has insisted that Manchester City played a “really, really good game” against Nottingham Forest, despite Kyle Walker describing the performance as “unacceptable”.
City dropped two crucial points as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Forest in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon. Victory would have sent City back top of the league following Arsenal ’s dramatic 4-2 comeback win over Aston Villa, but they fluffed their lines to stay second, two points behind the Gunners, who also have a game in hand.
Bernardo Silva put Pep Guardiola’s team in front with a powerful shot from 20 yards, but City missed several great opportunities to extend their lead. Erling Haaland volleyed against the crossbar and missed the rebound after Aymeric Laporte's header was saved by Keylor Navas.
They were made to pay when Morgan Gibbs-White crossed for Chris Wood to equalise in the 84th minute. Speaking after the game, defender Walker was angry with his side’s inability to build on the Arsenal win on Wednesday.
"First and foremost we go to the Emirates and play the game we did and then come here, it's unacceptable,” he said. “If we want to compete with teams near the top we need to win. We missed a few chances and we need to do better as a team.
"Sometimes it's football and sometimes it's emotion. Every game should be treated the same - like a cup final. What can I say other than it is unacceptable. We have to stick together as a group.
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"The senior members of the team put our thoughts across. That is just not acceptable. We have to give credit to Nottingham Forest. They dug in and hung on. We have to do better."
He added: "We know as lads that's not acceptable. That's not me being downbeat, but we've set such high standards over the last few years that it should be four or five nil, game done and we move onto the next game.”
Interestingly, manager Guardiola had a completely different take on the game. City had 73 per cent possession and 23 shots to Forest’s four, but couldn’t make their dominance count.
"We did really, really good. It was a really, really good game,” Guardiola said. “We had amazing chances but it's football. We have to score. We did everything. You have to do it. There were too many clear [chances] to score.
"It is one of the best games we have played but we drop two points. We should be more aggressive. There are many games still to play, we know it."
City turn their attention to the Champions League next, with a trip to east Germany to play RB Leipzig next on Wednesday. They then travel to Bournemouth in the Premier League on the weekend before the FA Cup fifth-round tie against Bristol City.
