In last night's Premier League 5th round focus match, Manchester City staged a fierce duel with Arsenal at home, and finally shook hands with 2-2. In the post-match press conference, City manager Pep Guardiola gave a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of the match, with special mention of the Rodney situation.
Guardiola began by recognizing his team's performance in the game: "Despite everything that happened, such as Arsenal's delaying tactics, we played very well and were full of passion to fight against our rivals for the Premier League title. We started well, scoring great goals, but then we also suffered from conceding. Arsenal have speedy strikers like Martinelli and Saka and they really caused us a lot of problems."
Guardiola also expressed his views on the controversial penalties in the match: "Gabriel's goal was confirmed by VAR, Martinelli did not foul Ederson, which is part of the game of soccer. And in the game of 10 men against 11, Arsenal defended back deep and our attack met a lot of resistance. However, we kept our composure and patience and eventually scored the equalizing goal, which was a good result."
Speaking about his team's attacking problems, Guardiola admitted that creating chances wasn't easy: "Arsenal defended very well and left us hardly any space in the middle. Kovacic and Ruben Diaz both had chances on goal, but their choices weren't the best. Things could have been different if Rodri had been on the pitch. I considered playing Ruben Dias on the right but ended up going with other options. We are really not as good as Arsenal when it comes to competing for the top."
Speaking of Rodri's substitution in the first half, Guardiola said that he was not yet aware of the exact extent of the injury: "Rodri is very strong, but his movements when he left the pitch suggest that he may have felt discomfort. He is one of the best backs in the world and has the potential to win the Ballon d'Or. Against a strong team like Arsenal, injuries like this are always unavoidable. We have to deal with this situation and do better in many ways."
Guardiola also reflected on Walker's mistake in the first goal conceded: "Walker didn't return to his position in time when the referee asked him to leave his position, which taught us a lesson. We have to organize our defense better to avoid a similar situation from happening again. I will tell my players to be more careful with their decisions when the referee asks them to move."
Finally, Guardiola also addressed the issue of refereeing decisions: "Should the referee have given Walker time to get back into position? This is really a question worth discussing. But in any case, we must prepare ourselves to ensure that similar loopholes do not appear in the game. Arsenal is a very good team, they do well in defense and offense. We must learn from this and keep improving."
