Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said that he has no regrets regarding his tactical management despite losing 2-0 against Liverpool on Sunday.
Mohamed Salah broke the deadlock early before Dominik Szoboszlai doubled the lead to bury City’s hopes of climbing the table into third place.
Guardiola, however, isn’t too concerned about his players’ performance due to the fact they performed “very well”.
He said: “It was a good game. Tight game in the first half. First half it was more open and the second half they defended very deep.
“They always have the threat but it is not easy to control it. We dropped them. Through our pressing or build-up, dropped the team there.
“I think Doku and Savinho played an incredible game and get to the byline a lot but then just from there we missed the magic. We played really good so I have no regrets.
“The chances in the final third, when we want to shoot and cross, for the amount we arrived there we did not create much.
"I saw a bright future. Other than than Kevin [de Bruyne] and Nathan [Ake], they are the future of this club in the next years, with others who will come in future windows.
"So many players are here playing but we know Erling [Haaland] will come and we have important absences. Everyone was really, really good.
"The first goal from the corner but we tried to play and I know how the opponent will play. Second half they were 11 players in the box. We did well because they don't want to do that. Big compliment to them but I am very pleased with the way we play."
Guardiola: We could not find the next step
Guardiola is adamant that his side are progressing even though they lost heavily in midweek to Real Madrid and at the Etihad on Sunday, and is clear that the only negatives are that they couldn’t score.
New signing Omar Marmoush, alongside Savinho and Doku each had chances but failed to convert any of them, with Marmoush coming closest having scored, but was later ruled offside.
“We played very good. Maybe we missed more productivity in the shots but we played against a fantastic team,” Guardiola said. “Maybe at the start it was 50-50 and we could not convert.”
He added: "Second half they defended very deep. We have done something we have not tried for many games which was we brought them to their box and tried to beat them there.
"The tactic was to arrive in the final third and the byline and it happened a lot but we did not score. We missed the next bit a little bit and with crosses it is almost impossible to do it because of their size. We could not find the next step."
Amid ongoing concerns regarding City's older players’ contracts, Guardiola instead focused on the positives of his side’s youth.
The City manager spoke highly of the novice players in his squad, saying that there is “a bright future for this club”.
He said: "If you lose, you have to lose the way we lost today. I saw many things that this club has a bright future with the players that we have.
"Except Kevin de Bruyne and maybe Nathan Ake, all the players are so, so young. What the club decides next for the future, there is a bright future for this club in the next years.
"Everyone knows that a part will be here next season for the older players but we have to build for the next step. There is a question of time. Even with the amount of absences we have, we played well. They break the lines and can break behind you.
“They really threaten but we bring them there and all we missed is that in the final third, it depends on the talent to dribble or shoot in the right moment. From there, we build for the future.
"We are far away. We will see in the future. What we have done in previous seasons is good but now we are away from them. We played with personality which was really good."
