Pep Guardiola slams stars for lacklustre attitudes in Manchester City's FA Cup defeat

Pep Guardiola refused to hold Manchester City’s back four responsible for the shock FA Cup defeat by Arsenal. City were heavily criticised for their defense in the 2-0 loss. Guardiola was more agitated by a lack of potency and energy on the ball, with City boasting 71 per cent of possession but only managing one shot on target. "The defence was not a problem," Guardiola said. "There were counter-attacks and we made a mistake for one but it was not a problem. How many counter-attacks did they use, maybe one or two? No more than this. "It was not about the tactics. I’m not sure how many chances we had. Possession is part of it but it’s how many chances you create through the possession. In the first half we were not there, we were not ready for a semi-final of the FA Cup." Guardiola wanted more from his key protagonists to unlock Arsenal’s rearguard. "They have to (motivate themselves)," he shrugged. "As managers, we are not here to motivate them or tell them what to do. They have to do it. What they’ve done in the past is incredible but this was an FA Cup semi-final. We have to play the whole 90 minutes and we played just 45. In the first half everything was sloppy and not the right rhythm for this kind of game, when you want to reach a final. "I don’t have to tell them. They should feel it. They know it. They know the standards we need at these stages. Bournemouth (last Wednesday) was not good and this first half was not good. We’re struggling to play at our level. You don’t have to be a genius to realise that we need to raise our level against Real Madrid. The Premier League is already done and we’ve been playing for nothing." Source: Daily Mail