Manchester City not up to standard as Guardiola left watching defeat from stands
The City boss was serving a touchline ban as City suffered a shock 2-1 loss to Lyon.
Pep Guardiola looked on from the stands in helpless frustration as Manchester City slumped to defeat in their Champions League opener.
The City boss, serving a touchline ban, could do nothing as his side succumbed 2-1 to Lyon in a dismal start to their Group F campaign at the Etihad Stadium.
City were sluggish and were punished for mistakes as Maxwel Cornet and Nabil Fekir struck fine counter-attacking goals in the first half. Bernardo Silva pulled one back after the break but City could not recover.
Arteta refused to use the absence of Guardiola as an excuse after a defeat which ended City’s unbeaten start to the season.
Asked if the performance might have been different with Guardiola’s input, Arteta said: “I have no idea. That’s something hypothetical. The reality is that Pep wasn’t here and we lost the game.
“If he would have been on the touchline, I couldn’t say if we would have won 5-0 or lost 0-3.”
Arteta conceded the team were not up to standard.
The Spaniard said: “At this level, it’s not good enough.
“You have zero margin in the Champions League. When you make mistakes, you get punished.
“Whether it is a lack of attention, not winning the duels, losing simple balls or not being effective enough, you pay the price and this is another great example of that.”
He said: “I wouldn’t like to use that as an excuse because we had that type of crowd in the Champions League before and we were able to win.
“The ideal scenario is to have a full stadium every time and being behind the team like crazy but we know sometimes it doesn’t happen.”
City started well and had chances through Raheem Sterling and Aymeric Laporte before Fabian Delph failed to clear a cross and Cornet struck after 26 minutes. Fekir, a recent Liverpool target, doubled the advantage after Fernandinho lost possession.
“It’s a great achievement and a deserved one,” said Lyon boss Bruno Genesio. “We won and that’s hugely satisfying.”
