Riyad Mahrez Insists Manchester City Have Learned How to Deal With Penalty Woes

Manchester City winger Riyad Mahrez has insisted that Saturday's 1-0 win over Leicester City proves that the team have learned how to react following a missed penalty.

Shortly after the hour mark, Sergio Agüero saw his penalty saved by Kasper Schmeichel, which was their fourth missed penalty of the season so far. Fortunately, it did not prove to be costly as Gabriel Jesus did manage to get the ball in the back of the net soon after.

⛔️ Man City’s last 4️⃣ PL penalties:
❌ Sterling v Wolves
❌ G. Jesus v Sheff Utd
❌ Gundogan v Tottenham
❌ Aguero v Leicester pic.twitter.com/bszwzRg4Rj
— Sky Sports Statto (@SkySportsStatto) February 22, 2020

It has not always been the same story for City. In the recent meeting with Tottenham Hotspur, İlkay Gündoğan saw a penalty saved and the Citizens went on to lose the game 2-0, thanks to goals from Steven Bergwijn and Son Heung-min.

But speaking to Sky Sports, Mahrez insists that failure taught them how to respond in such a situation.

"Sometimes it happens," he said. "The most important thing is that we won - even though we missed a penalty. We missed a penalty against Tottenham and we lost.

"But [against Leicester] we showed a great reaction after the miss, so that the last time made us stronger."

Manager Pep Guardiola also touched on the subject, admitting that City's penalty woes have come as a surprise to him, before claiming that he will never have a problem with a player who is prepared to step up and try.

"I like it when players have the initiative to do it," Guardiola said, in quotes carried by Manchester Evening News. "We didn't score against Spurs in Champions League last season, this season against Spurs we miss a penalty, in this kind of games it's a big difference.

"I like the mentality, I like Sergio taking the ball and wanting to take it. Practice, be positive, one idea, shoot and score a goal."

"It's not normal for the quality we have, but like I said to them, the next one we're going to score and the taker must be convinced, practice and be convinced and do it. Next time we're going to score and maybe it will be when we need it the most."

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Source : 90min