Man City 'couldn't handle' Bournemouth as Pep Guardiola explains why Premier League champions 'struggled' in shock defeat

Guardiola said his side couldn't match their opponents' intensity and, thanks to Bournemouth's long ball strategy, were forced to defend deeper than usual. Bournemouth took the lead just nine minutes in through Antoine Semenyo before Evanilson doubled their lead after 64 minutes. Josko Gvardiol pulled a goal back in the 82nd minute, but City were unable to get back into the game.

City came into the game with high hopes of bouncing back from a midweek Carabao Cup defeat to Tottenham, but were faced with an in-form Bournemouth side who had picked up points against Arsenal and Aston Villa in their last two league games.

The absence of Ruben Dias and John Stones handed City a major blow, forcing Guardiola to use Kyle Walker despite the full-back only training for a brief time the day before the game. Bournemouth ran out as deserved winners, although they almost ended up being made to rue their missed first-half chances as Erling Haaland hit the post from point-blank rage minutes before full-time.

Speaking to the press after the game, Guardiola said: "We could not match the [Bournemouth] players' intensity. The situation with long balls, we could not win it, and when you don't win those sort of to Semenyo or other strikers, we have to defend deeper. We struggled to make our build up play and especially for the rhythm that they put into the game. They were higher than us, and we could not handle it."

He added: "It was more that when we are high pressing, long balls and you lose the ball lose the duel, win the second ball and after that they run. After that, always happened. In the past we were able to handle these situations and today we could not. Sometimes the opponents are better and you have to accept it."

This was City's first Premier League defeat for almost 11 months, the last one being a 1-0 loss to Aston Villa on December 6 last year.

City face future Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim's Sporting CP in the Champions League on Tuesday, before hosting Brighton the following weekend. The reigning Premier League champions are now two points behind Liverpool in the Premier League.