Defender not happy with sluggish performance in second half but pleased the team “kept fighting”
Manchester City defender Ruben Dias has criticised his team for being sluggish and making several mistakes that nearly cost them against Leeds.
City raced into a 2-0 lead at the Etihad on Saturday and looked comfortable, before allowing Leeds back into the game in the second half. They needed a stoppage time goal from Phil Foden to snatch a late victory.
“The mistakes that happened cannot happen,” warned Dias. “It was just not good enough.
“We’re not happy with the beginning of the second half especially. Maybe 10, 15 minutes in we finally adjusted, started to play more comfortably but by then I think it was already 2-1.”
The turning point came in added time when Phil Foden struck to secure the points, sparing
Manchester City had already lost two games in a row after defeats against Newcastle last weekend and then Bayer Leverkusen in midweek. Another negative result would have meant the possibility of falling further behind Arsenal, who already have a seven-point lead at the top.
Victory over Leeds closed that gap to four points, with Arsenal to meet a difficult opponent in Chelsea on Sunday. Dias also tried to focus on the positives from Saturday’s game.
“At the end of the day, I feel we need to leave this on a positive note because mistakes happen and are part of football,” said Dias.
“Obviously we’re challenging for everything in every season we play, and these kinds of mistakes can cost us heavily.
But still, we faced the situation, kept fighting, had the chance for Phil, a clear chance for Omar [Marmoush] just before and I’m proud of the way the team kept fighting.”
