'We were a bit scared' - Man City saviour Rodri urges team-mates to be 'brave' as he rues dropped points in Chelsea draw

The Spaniard drew City level in the 83rd minute after his side had trailed to Raheem Sterling's first-half goal. The hosts created a string of chances with Erling Haaland passing up a number of opportunities to score. But it was an alarming first-half defensive performance that was foremost in Rodri's mind when he spoke after the game.

"I think we weren’t great in the first half," the midfielder told Sky Sports after the game. "We conceded another easy goal. I think we have to defend better. They almost created nothing in the first half.

"We knew about their counter-attacks and fast players, we have to defend the counter-attack better. From there it’s always more difficult to come back.

"It’s a matter of defending better. We tried in the second half. We wanted the ball and wanted to take risks. We were a bit scared of the counter-attack. You have to be brave."

In a separate interview with BBC Sport, Rodri again emphasised the need for defensive improvement. "It was in our hands and we have to do better individual actions and you can't let the game go this way. I'm not blaming anyone but we have to take responsibility if we want to win the league.
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City had been on an ominously strong run of form of late, further boosted by the return of Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne. But Saturday's issues at both ends of the pitch is a reminder of some of the problems they faced earlier in the season where the control of last season's treble-winning campaign gave way to more chaotic performances such as the 4-4 draw against Saturday's opponents at Stamford Bridge in November.

City have a chance to make amends when they play their game in hand on their title rivals against Brentford at the Etihad on Tuesday night. A win would put Pep Guardiola's men a point ahead of Arsenal and just one behind Liverpool with 13 rounds of Premier League fixtures to play.