Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola said his team’s lack of patience after conceding an equalizer against the run of play caused them to collapse in their 5-2 defeat to Leicester City, the "defensive mentality" in the Premier League on Sunday.
City dominated the match after former Leicester player Riyad Mahrez put him ahead early, but his plans collapsed when Jimmy Vardy equalized with a penalty kick in the 37th minute.
"The philosopher" coach told the BBC, after his team conceded 5 goals for the first time in 686 games, "They did not want to play, they defended in their area and only wanted to play on counterattacks."
"They scored from their first attack and 3 penalties were awarded to them, so it was very difficult for us. Not creating opportunities made us anxious and anxious," he added.
With strikers Sergio Agüero and Gabriel Jesus absent due to injury, City looked without teeth despite having the lion’s share of possession.
On the other hand, City seemed vulnerable every time Leicester approached the attack, and Vardy's speed caused many problems for the home side's defense.
The striker got two penalty kicks, from which he scored the first and third goals after he nodded with a great heel in the second goal, James Madison added a fourth goal with an amazing shot, and Yuri Tilmans confirmed victory with a penalty kick near the end.
Guardiola expressed his regret over his team's lack of calm, but assured that City would come back strongly after conceding 5 league goals at home for the first time since losing 5-1 to Arsenal in February 2003.
"It is a difficult result, but I will not give up. I will find solutions to stabilize the team," the Spanish coach said.
"Maybe my players thought they were not playing well enough after the equalizer, but we were quite good at this point," he added.
He pointed out that "the problem is that we put additional pressure on ourselves to score the second and third goals. We need to be calmer, we do not have the players we need to attack in the penalty area."
"We needed to be more patient. It is difficult, but it is only the second game in the season and we have to try to find out what we need to avoid this happening again. I feel sorry for the players and the club."