Pep Guardiola believes Manchester City can look forward to a bright future after 'brilliant' performances against Newcastle and Liverpool.
City smashed Newcastle to head to Madrid with some optimism but suffered another chastening week with a Champions League exit at the hands of familiar tormentors Real followed up with a 2-0 home defeat to a Liverpool team almost certain to dethrone the Blues sooner rather than later.
Guardiola saw a lot of positives from the league performance even if it didn't bring any points. Despite the difficulties in turning their possession into meaningful chances that tested Alisson, the City manager saw enough to be optimistic about what his younger team have shown in recent weeks.
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"If you analyse the game today it was really good." he said. "We lost so there's nothing much to say but the way we played was really good.
"The first half was more open, in the second half they defended so deep. I don't know how many times we arrived to the byline. For nine years, that has been the target of my teams. Now we try to make good high pressing and make long balls away as quick as possible but Alexander-Arnold is maybe one of the best midfielders in the world linking to Salah.
"It's always difficult to control. We didn't drop much. We arrived so many times to the byline but in the next attack we struggled to create much. It's not easy, when you have two or three players on Jeremy, Phil, Kevin, Omar, you need the brilliance of players, one cross, one brilliance, we need the pass back from Nico that can make a shot.
"Both wingers were exceptional - Savinho and Jeremy and all the young players. Except Kevin and Nathan, we were such a young team that will be the future of this club. We behaved really good. it was a tight game. We just missed being more creative in the final third, knowing that it is not easy.
"I know what we have done as a team. It's not enough but I recognise my team in the last two games in the Premier League - they were brilliant against both Newcastle and Liverpool."
