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Pellegrini Blames Set Piece Defending for Cardiff Loss
- Guardian, Tuesday, August 27, 2013 12:51 PM
Manuel Pellegrini blamed his team’s defending for Mancheser City’s shock 3-2 defeat away to Cardiff City on Sunday. The Chilean pointed to the importance of defending set pieces after City conceded two goals to late corner kicks.
Asked how he viewed goalkeeper Joe Hart’s role in the first of the two corners conceded. Pellegrini said: "Defending set pieces is a duty for the whole team, not just the goalkeeper or the defenders. It doesn't matter who is guilty. In the second half we improved but after we scored they scored from two corners and that decided the game. Set pieces are very important and we try to work at it. They did better than our defending and scored two goals from corners.”
The former Malaga and Real Madrid coach added that the absence of defenders Vincent Kompany and Micah Richards was not to blame for the loss. "I don't think our defense cost us today. There was no problem in central defense," he said, addin: "We didn't lose the match because of our [central defenders]. We lost because we weren't concentrating on two corners."
