Pep Guardiola admitted that Manchester City simply couldn’t match Bournemouth’s sharpness and intensity in their 2-1 defeat, marking City’s first Premier League loss in 11 months.
The reigning champions arrived at the Vitality Stadium missing five key players, while others played through injuries. Despite a late push and a goal from Josko Gvardiol, City couldn’t recover after Antoine Semenyo and Evanilson found the net for Bournemouth.
Reflecting on the game, Guardiola acknowledged Bournemouth’s aggressive approach had City struggling from the start. “We could not match the players’ intensity,” he noted. “With long balls, we couldn’t win them. When that happens, you have to defend deeper. Their rhythm was just higher than ours, and we couldn’t cope.”
He pointed to City’s lack of precision, especially in duels. “They’re fast, I know, but today it was different because our play wasn’t clean,” he said. “We lost too many duels and couldn’t handle the second balls. In the past, we managed these situations, but today, the opponents were better, and sometimes you have to accept that.”
