Pep Guardiola insists Manchester City still have a “bright future” despite another disappointing defeat against Liverpool.
Premier League champions for the last four seasons, City now sit 20 points behind Sunday’s opponents at the Etihad who now look set to steal their crown after a 2-0 win.
A miserale week for Guardiola’s men also saw them crash out of the Champions League to Real Madrid in midweek, with their star players of years gone by failing to reach the high standards they have set over recent years.
And while the Catalan boss, who will remain at City for at least another season, suggested a rebuild is required for this team, he is confident the club is well placed to raise themselves back to Liverpool’s standards in the future.
Guardiola told Sky Sports: “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.
“Except Kevin de Bruyne and maybe Nathan Ake, all the 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 amount of absences we have, we played well. They break the lines and can break behind you.
“They really threaten but we bring them there and all we missed is that in the final third, it depends on the talent to dribble or shoot in the right moment. From there, we build for the future.
“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 personality which was really good.”
Guardiola: We played very good
City’s performance on Sunday afternoon was far from their worst this season but never looked likely to trouble Arne Slot’s side, who looked in control as soon as Dominik Szoboszlai doubled their lead on 37 minutes after Momahed Salah’s opener.
Guardiola was happy with the performance but said they lacked that extra level required to beat a team of Liverpool’s calibre.
He added: “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.
“Second half they defended very deep. We have done something we have not tried for many games which 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 happened a lot 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.”
