Back in the dressing room trailing by one goal to nil, everyone at Man City was seething with anger.
Throughout the first half, Man City had controlled possession and the flow of the game, giving Stoke City very few chances.
But who could have expected that a single throw-in defensive lapse would give Stoke City one of their few opportunities to shoot, allowing the Norwegian striker Carew to seize the opening and score?
The goal left Man City feeling as though something were stuck in their throats. They were extremely uncomfortable.
As the rest of the first half went on, Man City's play grew more and more frantic. The more hurried they became, the less effective they were.
When Guardiola returned to the dressing room, he neither blamed the players for their first-half performance nor criticized Joe Hart for his mistake. After all, it was only halftime, and the players still needed to work hard in the second half. There was no need to do that.
Stoke City was not the weak side outsiders imagined. The team was currently eighth in the Premier League, and anyone familiar with the league knew how difficult it was to reach that position.
Their squad also included Premier League veterans such as John Carew, Shawcross, and Pennant. These players were not particularly famous, but their ability was beyond doubt. Their manager, Tony Pulis, had also devised practical tactics suited to his players' strengths, and the results had been good.
Stoke City had adopted a double-pivot system. Defensively, they were still focusing mainly on shutting down the center of the pitch.
"In the first half, seventy-three percent of our attacks went through the middle, while sixty-seven percent of Stoke City's attacks also came through the middle. What does that tell us?" Guardiola asked the players,