City must improve next season: Guardiola

The Spaniard took close to an hour to appear for his post-match news conference, prompting talk of a dressing down for his players after a sixth league loss of the season, which left City 22 points behind leader Liverpool. But Guardiola was giving little away, bemoaning an unusually bad day at the office for his feared strike force that has helped City rack up more than 100 goals in all competitions this season.

“It (Liverpool) is unstoppable with a lot of points. We are now having an eye on the other competitions. We want to qualify for the Champions League next season,” said Guardiola. “The distance is so big and next season, we have to do better.” City had 18 goal attempts compared to Tottenham’s three, with the host taking the lead in the 63rd minute. Debutant Steven Bergwijn volleyed home in Jose Mourinho’s side’s first attempt on target. Despite playing the last 30 minutes with 10 men after Zinchenko’s red card, City enjoyed nearly 70 per cent possession overall but Sergio Aguero wasted several chances. To add more misery, Ilkay Gundogan had a penalty saved by Spurs keeper Hugo Lloris before missing a sitter.

“We are there in the six-yard box but we are not able to score. One day, it will click,” Guardiola, whose side has failed to score in consecutive matches for the first time in his reign, said. With its hopes of a third successive PL title all but over, Guardiola remarked motivation is not a problem for his side.

“We played well, but we lost the game. (Spurs) arrived in (the box) twice and scored two goals. I don’t have too many things to say about our performance,” he said. “We have to accept it and work on that. We need to analyse. Football is to create chances and concede few. We played to win the game and I didn’t see a lack of desire to win.”

Romelu Lukaku scored a quick-fire second half double to give Inter Milan a 2-0 win at Udinese last Sunday, ending its run of three successive 1-1 league draws and keeping it (51 points) three points behind Serie A leader Juventus.

The Belgian forward, who took his league tally for the season to 16, broke the deadlock in the 64th minute and converted a penalty seven minutes later.