Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini insists he is unfazed by the champions trailing Chelsea by eight points in the Premier League after being held to a 2-2 draw at survival hopefuls QPR.
Sergio Aguero saved City further embarrassment after their Champions League loss to CSKA Moscow with a double at Loftus Road, cancelling out Charlie Austin’s opener and Martin Demichelis’ own goal as the visitors twice came from behind.
“I’m not thinking about Chelsea,” Pellegrini said. “I’m thinking about my team. We have 27 games more and the championship is very long.
“For the moment, it’s difficult to say it was two points lost because we came less than 72 hours (after Wednesday’s Champions League match), (in a) very difficult moment. The way the game was during the 90 minutes, we deserved at least a draw. We had more chances to score. Of course I wanted the three points, but if you can’t win it, it’s better not to lose.”
Pellegrini admitted the champions were in the midst of a crisis of confidence following their European defeat and QPR seemed determined to increase City’s misery.
Without injured talisman Vincent Kompany, City’s defence was a shambles as Eliaquim Mangala was exposed time and time again.
Asked about City’s confidence now, Pellegrini said: “Absolutely the same. There can be a lot of criticism of the team and the way we are playing, but not of the way we are working or the character and personality we have.
“It was a difficult test. We didn’t play our best game, but we still had four or five clear chances to score before they scored their second goal.
“We didn’t but we continued to fight till the end to the last minute to try to win.
“It was not our best performance in defence. We must improve, but I don’t divide the team in defending or attacking. We must improve generally.”
