In what was an incident-packed Etihad clash, City had to fight back after falling behind to Raheem Sterling’s 42nd minute strike.
After a seeing a host of opportunities go begging, the reigning champions finally claimed a deserved leveller seven minutes from time when Rodrigo fired home a powerful 20-yard strike.
City sought to try and engineer a late winner and also saw a 94th minute VAR check for a possible handball in the Chelsea box turned down – our second unsuccessful VAR penalty check in the game.
Reflecting on the draw – which ended our run of 11 straight wins across all competitions and saw us remain in third place in the table – the City boss said there was much that pleased him but also pointed to the need to perform consistently across the full 90 minutes.
“Well, we don’t perform our level in the first half,” Guardiola reflected.
“When you play against teams who have composure and prestige like Chelsea you have to perform at our best for 94, 95 minutes.
“We started to play after conceding a goal. We were not at our best and it can happen in transition.
“When you aren’t at your best you concede transitions. It happens. But after, we react like we are. And we created a lot, a lot, a lot.
“They have one or two transitions for their quality and ability to keep the ball with incredibly good runners up front.
“The result is that. We have to perform better in the first half. We have to go there.
“As a team [and] as a group, the first half was not like we are.”
The boss also said the result and performance also served as a salutatory lesson as to the high standards and expectations surrounding the team after what has been the most successful period in the Club’s history.
“The demand is so high because no-one is going to give us [anything]. We have to do everything,” Guardiola asserted.
“Always [it has] happened in the previous seasons and in this season it’s going to happen. We are Man City so we have to do it for ourselves.
“All the time, always. From day one I said that. I expect we have to improve the first half. We have to improve.
“Second half was unbelievable. How we played and going to make transitions because it happened but in general it was really good.”
