Pep Guardiola admitted he felt “a bit guilty” after Manchester City failed to deliver a win for their fans against Southampton on Saturday.
The champions were held to a frustrating goalless draw in front of a near-capacity and vociferous crowd, as Guardiola had called for, at the Etihad Stadium.
Guardiola issued a rallying cry to supporters in midweek, stating his side would be tired after their Champions League game against RB Leipzig and would need their energy.
He said: “Always when the game is not good I feel bad for them. They come to see a show, to see a game and when it doesn’t happen I feel a bit guilty because we didn’t play good.”
In terms of the game itself, City did not muster a shot on target until the 90th minute and escaped a big scare when referee Jon Moss overturned decisions to award Southampton a penalty and send off Kyle Walker after a VAR review.
Guardiola claimed he did not see the Walker incident but admitted his side, who did have a last-gasp Raheem Sterling winner ruled out for offside by VAR, were not on song.
He said: “We were not good in our build-up. We lost simple balls in our process because we were not clever and a little bit sloppy.”
