Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola said he was suffering, and he no longer understood why his club scored so many goals and denied his opponent the opportunity industry, yet he lost nine Premier League games this season.
City, who wasted the league title and gifted it to its rivals Liverpool, lost to Southampton 1-0 yesterday, despite possession of the ball by 73% and more than 20 shots were fired at the opponent's goal.
Striker Che Adams snatched the 13th victory for Southampton and City, who crushed Liverpool 4-0 in the last round, tasted the third consecutive defeat away from home soil in the league.
Liverpool lost only twice in the league this season.
"We are superior in number of goals. We create a lot of opportunities," said Guardiola, who for the first time lost his coaching career in three consecutive away matches.
"We are a team that receives few opportunities. No team has received fewer opportunities ... we lose a lot of matches."
"It is difficult to come up with an explanation of why this is happening, but we must insist and talk about playing and the opponent's playing style, and try to provide more and receive the fewest number possible and register more."
The "philosopher coach" supported his players to return to the path of victories when hosting Newcastle United next Wednesday.
"I have confidence in the possibility of doing this because we are the same group and we did that for the previous seasons ... This season we play in a similar way, but this is not enough to win the matches," he concluded.