Bernardo Silva was in no mood to defend his Manchester City team’s performance after a dramatic defeat to Manchester United, saying they ‘played like under-15s’ late in the game.
The Premier League champions were not playing well but they were in a strong position after Josko Gvardiol gave them a first-half lead.
City were still ahead with just minutes on the clock, but they were their own worst enemy as Matheus Nunes rashly gave away a penalty by fouling Amad Diallo and Bruno Fernandes converted from the spot.
Diallo then scored himself less than two minutes later, expertly getting on the end of a long ball from Lisandro Martinez and securing an unlikely three points for his side.
Manchester City have now won just once in 11 games in all competitions and Silva was making absolutely no excuses for another failure.
‘We deserved what happened,’ Silva told Sky Sports. ‘At this level a game or two is unlucky. We can’t say this is lucky or unlucky – 10 games it’s not about that.
‘Minute 87 in a derby, winning 1-0 and our corner ends in a penalty for them, if we make these stupid decisions with three or four minutes to go you deserve to pay for that.
‘Looking at the game I think there was only one team that could win the game, but at the end we lost.
‘It’s not one game, it’s a lot of games lately. We have to look at ourselves. You can say “oh it’s a bit unlucky.” No. It’s the decisions you make. Today in the last minute we played like under-15s.
‘We don’t want [mistakes] to happen. It’s a bit frustrating because if you look at the game until 86th minute there was only one team that could win the game.
‘Then from a corner for Man City, you leave a centre back, Ruben stayed, but we end up with the ball at our keeper. There’s no excuse for that.’
Explaining what specifically needs to improve, Silva continued: ‘There needs to be communication for us to play short or to keep the ball in the corner or something. At least if the ball ends up with one of our midfielders, just put it in the corner. Not put yourself under pressure.
‘It’s not just the pass from Matheus to the goalkeeper. It’s everything, how the ball ends up from Ruben [Dias] to Matheus [Nunes] and Kyle [Walker] we have to do better. Be more experienced, smarter, at this level even if you’re better than the opponent. You deserve to lose the game.
‘It’s quite normal that we’re not very happy at the minute. Not just this game but the last month.
‘We have to do better individually and collectively because it’s not the standards of Manchester City.’
Guardiola claimed after the game that he is ‘not good enough’ as City’s slump continued and had little explanation for another disappointing result.
‘Not much to say. No defence, they were incredibly persistent,’ said the City boss. ‘We have not lost eight games in two seasons. We can’t defend that. It’s not about this or that player. We gave away goals, our fault. We don’t play with composure. The results are not good, the game was not exceptional. I know the situation, I understand but the reality is this.
‘They have to know that these situations happen. In the box you have to be careful. It’s not about Matheus [Nunes], he played really good in not his position at full-back. But it’s not about that, we have to play better. The result will help us to take our best but right now we don’t have it. The way I learn is to keep going.
‘I am not good enough. I am the boss, the manager, I have to find solutions and so far I haven’t. That’s the reality.
‘We want to play better, create chances. But at the moment it’s not possible.’