Manchester City crashed to their second defeat in as many games in the Premier League with a 4-1 loss to Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane. Manager Manuel Pellegrini refused to blame the referee for the loss, despite his assistant making two contentions decisions.
Spurs stretched their winning run to three games and unbeaten run into six following the 4-1 thrashing of Manchester City.
The Londoners scored through Dier, Alderwiereld, Kane and Lamela after De Bruyne had given Manchester City the lead.
Pellegrini refuses to blame officials
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The Londoners, although in fine form, were helped by the referee’s assistant’s failure to spot two offside players in two of their goals. However, City manager Manuel Pellegrini refused to blame them, instead, urged his side to treat every game as a final.
Speaking in the aftermath of the defeat, the City manager was quoted saying by ESPN FC: “We didn’t play very well in the first half against West Ham, or in the second half here. I don’t want to talk about the goals because it’s a mistake, the referee can make it.
“We must continue working, to continue playing as we did in the first 45 minutes. We must play every game as a final in the future.”
Pellegrini not happy with defence, calls for calm
Expressing his disappointment with the defence’s failure to defend set pieces which led to Kane and Alderweireld’s goals, Pellegrini said: “In the second half it was two set-pieces, one decides the game, but after that they played very well. We defended some balls very badly. Two set-pieces, two goals.”
“We need to keep calm, like the shirt,” Pochettino added. “In Spain, a lot of the kids have ‘keep calm’, ‘keep calm’ on their t-shirts.
“This is true because we are very young. Now after three victories in a row in the Premier League, it is very important for us.
“It is important for them to believe in the way that we play and our philosophy of how we do our job, but remain calm because it is only the beginning of the season and nothing has happened yet.
“We have a long way ahead. We are very young and sometimes we can confuse quick.”