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Pep Guardiola admitted January signings were now necessary after Manchester City’s frustrations continued with a 1-1 draw against Everton.
Erling Haaland had a penalty saved as the injury-hit champions’ torrid run continued at the Etihad Stadium, with City pegged back by an Iliman Ndiaye equaliser after Bernardo Silva’s opener on Boxing Day.
City at least avoided their 10th defeat in 13 games in all competitions, but with just one win in that sequence the result meant the damaging loss of another two points in their Premier League title defence.
City manager Guardiola said: “The transfer window in the winter is not easy but even the players know that we have to add some new players.
“After, when these players come and play in their positions, they are unhappy but we have a lot (of injuries) and this is a problem.
“But it’s about bringing a player for the next four or five years and we’ll have to see. Sometimes it is not easy but we have to try because this is sustained for a long time.”
Guardiola refused to blame Haaland after the Norwegian’s 53rd-minute spot-kick was beaten away by England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford and insisted he was pleased with his side’s performance.
He said: “Life is not easy, sport is not easy. When that (penalty save) happens, it’s OK.
“We still had a lot of minutes to play. We had the chances afterwards, except the uncontrolled game in the last minutes when anything happen.
“The rest of the game was well played. We created a lot of chances for the team but could not score.
“When we analyse the result, of course we are not happy, but the performance – what we have done with the guys again, with the situation – they were brilliant.”
The result represented another creditable draw for Everton after stalemates in their previous two games against Arsenal and Chelsea.
They even had a couple of late breakaways that could have seen them snatch all three points had they shown more composure in the final third.
Manager Sean Dyche said: “It could have been three (points), but that would have been stretching it.
“They are a very good outfit. Before you were wondering if they will click again – because they will at some point – and I thought we did very well to prevent that happening.
“Then they scored and it was a scruffy one, a lucky one, but that seemed to settle us down a bit. We scored a fine goal ourselves and defended well for the rest of the game.
“We had chances to break away and you do wonder if we could have nicked it but I think that would have been harsh on them.”
Dyche can sense a change in the mood at Everton, after years of struggle, following the recent takeover of the club by The Friedkin Group.
He said: “The new owners have talked about stability. There is not an immediate fix but the story is beginning to turn again and get more of a positive feel.”
