Pep Guardiola was unable to contain his frustration after misfiring Manchester City were held by unfancied West Brom on Tuesday night.
West Brom goalkeeper Sam Johnstone made two magnificent point-blank saves in stoppage-time to deny the Blues victory, leaving Guardiola’s side sixth in the Premier League table with five points off the top.
It was again another frustrating night for the Cityzens after their flat performance in the goalless Manchester derby on Saturday, and Guardiola’s side are now on 20 points, having scored only 18 goals in 12 league games this season, a far cry from the free-flowing performance that have marked the Catalan’s time in charge to date.
‘That’s the reality,’ Guardiola said of his side’s struggles.
‘We were able to control things, not conceding much, their goal was a deflection – we were better in all departments but struggling to score.
‘We control the games but we cannot do it. You have to shoot one ball inside the net.
‘We cannot score goals. It’s difficult for managers to find solutions.’
‘We didn’t create much in the first half, they had a lot of people back, we struggled to win the second balls. In the second half we did everything we just couldn’t score.
‘We created enough to win the game, 26 shots I think, you just have to put the ball in, We are struggling with that. We have to be optimistic.
‘You don’t have to be so clever to see the gap between this year and previous years [in our results]. It is not confidence, Sergio Aguero is injured for four months, but we create chances, we are there we just can’t score.
‘It is not about the points [to the top of the league], you have to win games like this. We know it, we drop points. These are the ones you have to win. It’s not far away to the top of the league but you have to beat West Brom at home. There are a lot of games left.”
“This situation is weird for everyone. We deserved to win the game but we didn’t win it.”