Manchester City failed to secure a victory over Nottingham Forest, but Pep Guardiola still has some positive words for his players.
Not many teams come away from the Etihad Stadium with anything to show for their troubles, but this is not the case with Nottingham Forest.
Vitor Pereira won his first Premier League point since joining the club after two stunning goals scored by Morgan Gibbs-White and Elliot Anderson respectively.
It was a great night for the visitors, who managed to match their opponent’s goal tally, despite only recording an 0.7xG compared with City’s 2.02.
For Man City, however, the 2-2 scoreline was nothing short of a disaster, especially with Arsenal scraping past Brighton & Hove Albion that same night.
Pep Guardiola claims Manchester City played well
Man City were certainly on top for much of the game and even had 21 shots in total, but getting a win was a step too far.
However, Guardiola was pleased by what he saw and has heaped praise on his team, even if there are still some things to work on.
He said: “In general it was a good performance. Many, many good things. And of course, we have things we can improve in some departments. But in general, really good.”
Man City must do more than just control the game
Keeping possession and playing lots of passes is all well and good, but that only led to seven strikes on target throughout the match for City.
A couple of defensive switch-offs was all it took for Forest to get themselves back into a game which should have been won before they even had a chance.
Guardiola is entitled to his opinion as much as anyone and his team were certainly not terrible, but it is hard to see how he thinks the performance was actually good.
