Guardiola makes light of unlikely record

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola's side can scarcely have played more defensively during his tenure than it did in Sunday's 1-1 draw at Arsenal, parking the bus in an ultimately fruitless attempt to defend an early lead.

City finished the game with 32.8 percent possession, according to Opta the lowest recorded in a top-flight league match by any of Guardiola's teams in his glittering career, built largely on controlling possession and suffocating opponents.

Guardiola pointed to the short turnaround from Thursday night's Champions League clash with Napoli, and fairly compared City's display to Arsenal's rearguard action with 10 men in a 2-2 draw at the Etihad last season.

But, he also frankly accepted that Arsenal's quality pushed him towards pragmatism, while he made light of yet another milestone.

"I cannot live in this country with another record, you know," Guardiola joked. "I'm so proud of that."

He added: "We don't want it, but sometimes it happens. One time in 10 years is not bad, right?"

Old habits die hard and Guardiola freely admitted he did not enjoy watching City dig deep for what would have been the grittiest of victories.

"I suffer. I don't like it," he said. "I want the ball away, away now."

City remains a team in transition, with the league-winning juggernaut coming to a halt last season, though it was a mark of its strength that it still finished in third place.

Guardiola insisted that his immediate focus is on improving the feeling around the squad without setting lofty targets as City adjusts to not being the team to beat.

"I want to see the spirit back in the training sessions and enjoying (playing) ... we lost it last season and you have to recover, and this week we recover and you have to continue," he said.

REUTERS