Pep Guardiola admitted he was frustrated that his Manchester City side failed to beat Tottenham Hotspur after being the better side in their 2-2 draw at the Etihad.
City missed a glut of chances in the first half before Leroy Sane and Kevin De Bruyne capitalised on two Hugo Lloris errors to put them 2-0 ahead.
But they were pegged back in the second half with Spurs scoring from their only two shots on target — meaning that goalkeeper Claudio Bravo has now been beaten by his last six shots on target he has faced.
“We performed outstandingly — it was a deja vu game,” Guardiola told a news conference. “It was the same as Chelsea — we created a lot but we missed a lot of chances
“It happened against Everton at home, it happened against Chelsea. It happened in many, many games so why I can I say? The players played with heart but we didn’t win.
“Except one or two games we’ve produced good performances this season. Tottenham — they are a brilliant team. We were able to make a huge performance and that’s why I am so so happy… maybe in the future, for this club, these games will make us stronger.”
City could have had a penalty immediately before Son Heung-Min’s 77th-minute equaliser when Raheem Sterling was pushed over Kyle Walker was through on goal.
The Spurs defender admitted after the game that he had pushed Sterling and Guardiola said to listen to what he said when asked about the decision not to award it.
“What did Walker say?” Guardiola said when asked about the appeal. “But it doesn’t matter. We had the same argument against Chelsea but we lost because we missed a lot of chances.
“But when you score a goal the referee doesn’t matter. The rules here are the rules and [referees boss] Mike Riley one day is going to explain [them] to me.”
City still had chances to win the game late on and substitute Gabriel Jesus thought he had scored a late winner on his debut but the goal was rightly ruled out for offside.
Guardiola wants to take the pressure of the £27 million Brazilian striker but was impressed with him and 20-year-old winger Leroy Sane who was a constant threat to Spurs.
“Jesus has talent but alone cannot do that we have to score goals and we are not able to do that when this happens it’s impossible to win,” the City boss added.
“I’m so happy for the performance from Leroy it’s not easy to come here and play, he was injured, I encourage him to keep going at that level he has special qualities for us I’m so happy for him.”