Manchester City coach, Josep Guardiola, was disappointed that his team failed to win when they welcomed Crystal Palace in Week 17 of the 2023-2024 Premier League. However, he considered that Man City deserved a draw if he saw his team’s play in that match.
Yes, Manchester City was detained by Crystal Palace at the Etihad Stadium, Manchester, England on Saturday 16 December 2023. The Citizen – Man City’s nickname – took the lead through Jack Grealish (24′) and Rico Lewis (54′).
However, Crystal Palace managed to equalize via Jean Phillipe Mateta (76′) and Michael Olise (90+5′). This is the fourth draw for Manchester City.
Guardiola said this draw was a worthy result for his team. The Spanish coach said his team did not deserve to win the three points.
“This is not bad luck. It is deserved. We gave two points,” said Guardiola, quoted from Manchester City’s official website, Sunday (17/12/2023).
Furthermore, Guardiola seemed angry with the penalty his opponent received. He also criticized his team’s poor performance throughout this season.
“For yourself, when you give this penalty (away) you deserve it. You see the chances we create and the chances we concede are almost the same throughout this season, except against Chelsea,” said Guardiola.
“We couldn’t close the game,” he said.
After the match, Hodgson praised the Eagles’ performance for never giving up. Even though he was two goals behind, Hodgson was happy that his team was able to equalize through a patient playing strategy.
“I thought Jean-Philippe Mateta was outstanding throughout the game with his running and holding the ball but of course, when you play against Manchester City in their current form and with the quality of players they have, you have to accept that patience will be the key.” said Hodgson as quoted by BBC International, Sunday (17/12/2023).
Furthermore, Hodgson admitted that Manchester City was very dangerous when attacking. The 76-year-old coach initially gave up when he was two goals behind, but good use of opportunities meant that the Eagles deserved to win one point.
“They will have the ball more often than you and if you start trying to take risks and attack too early then they will cut you off,” explained Hodgson.
“By chance, we got the score 2-1 and finally gave up. I think we had a little hope and then we thought, we’ll take some chances now and we’ll try and luckily it paid off for us,” he said.
