Pep Guardiola on Sunday took responsibility for placing his trust in Riyad Mahrez as the Algerian’s missed penalty five minutes from time cost Manchester City victory in a disappointing 0-0 draw at Liverpool.
The draw preserved both sides’ unbeaten English Premier League records, but they failed to lay down an early marker in the title race as Chelsea moved into a three-way tie at the top on 20 points after eight games.
“I see him every day in the training sessions, I see him every day practice penalties and it gave me a lot of confidence,” Guardiola said after he instructed Gabriel Jesus, who earlier replaced regular penalty-taker Sergio Aguero, to hand the ball to Mahrez.
Photo: AP
However, Mahrez’s miserable record from the spot continued as City’s record signing missed for the fourth time in his past six penalties by blasting well over the bar.
Unlike the four enthralling encounters between the two last season when Liverpool beat the champions three times, a highly anticipated clash fell flat with neither side managing to register a shot on target until after the hour mark.
However, Guardiola admitted his plan for a slower tempo to stop Liverpool springing onto the counterattack had worked.
“If it is an open game at Anfield you don’t even have a 1 percent chance,” Guardiola said. “Up and down they are the best team in the world. Running in these transitions there is no one better. They are built for that, Juergen [Klopp] is built for that. In that situation they are much better than us.”
However, after losing on his three previous visits to Anfield as City boss, Guardiola took the positives from taking a point from one of the few venues the champions were defeated last season.
“We were close more than ever to win here. [A draw] is better than last season when we lose,” Guardiola said. “I’m so comfortable [with] the performance we have done. I know against which team we are playing.”
After starting the season with seven straight victories, Liverpool have now failed to win any of their past four matches, but manager Klopp lamented a grueling fixture list that has seen his side face Chelsea twice, SSC Napoli away in the UEFA Champions League and City in 12 days.
“It was an unbelievably intense period of fixtures, crazy. It makes no sense to moan about it when you are in it, but now it is over so I can,” Klopp said. “If somebody had told me after eight fixtures, 20 points, I would say ‘yes,’ but with this fixture list, I would definitely buy it.”
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