Manchester City assistant coach, Mikel Arteta, has said they were punished for a poor start, as their Champions League campaign got off on the wrong foot with a shock 2-1 home defeat to Lyon.
He, however, said Pep Guardiola’s absence was not the reason for the poor outing.
Arteta was in temporary charge with Guardiola serving a touchline ban and said his side started slowly, as they lost their fourth consecutive Champions League game.
“We started a bit slow and we were inconsistent in the way we tried to play.
“We lost many duels that at this level you pay the price for.
“When we opened up on the first phase we gave the ball away. They took advantage and scored twice but after that the reaction of the lads was superb.
“The second half we tweaked a few things to try to control better the counters and have an extra man in midfield and I think we created the chances but we couldn’t get back in the game and at this level it’s not good enough,” Arteta told the post-game news conference.
The former Arsenal midfielder also refused to blame Guardiola’s absence for the defeat, although he admitted he wasn’t expecting to have to give a team talk with his side trailing 2-0 at half-time.
“I have no idea, that’s something hypothetical,” he said of Guardiola being banished from the dressing room and touchline.
“The reality is Pep was not here and we lost the game. If Pep had been on the touchline I can’t tell you whether we would have won 5-0 or lost 0-3. I have no idea.
“I wasn’t prepared [for a team talk] with us 2-0 down but you have to react. We are used to making decisions at half-time every time, me and Pep, when we discuss things we have to change.
“It’s not a new thing to tweak some things to try to improve what we’re doing.”
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