Pep Guardiola has praised Leicester City for making life ‘tough’ for Manchester City as they fought for the win at the King Power Stadium.
Leicester were unbeaten in their last four games prior to City’s 1-0 win, thanks to Kevin de Bruyne’s free-kick heroics. The Belgian curled a shot into the top corner of Danny Ward’s goal.
Brendan Rodgers’ men responded well to the pressure, creating plenty of chances of their own. Youri Tielemans’ effort was tipped away by Ederson in the visitors’ goal.
Speaking to LeicestershireLive, Guardiola said the hosts made City’s life difficult as they sat deep. “In the shape Leicester played with the five at the back, the four in the middle plus [Jamie] Vardy dropping, it was difficult. The best I can say in this type of game is don’t get frustrated.
“You can concede transitions with [Harvey] Barnes and Vardy, with the quality from [James] Maddison. After you concede a goal, it would be a hill to climb that would not be possible. That’s why you can’t get frustrated, and not concede free-kicks and corners to Maddison.
“So literally there is no space. You have to put the ball over the top to get the second one. But if you have to do it in the right position. If you are not in the right position, Barnes runs, Vardy runs and they kill you.
“They wait for that moment to punish you. You have to avoid it. If they score a goal, these games are impossible. Credit to Leicester to be patient to do it.”
