Manchester City midfielder Rodri says his side need to be ruthless in front of goal after spurning chances in Sunday’s 3-1 defeat at Liverpool.
City made the trip to Anfield looking to reduce the gap to the leaders to just three points but the defending Premier League champions went down 3-1 on Merseyside, leaving them fourth in the table and nine points off the top.
It could have been so different for the Citizens had they converted some of the numerous opportunities they created, with Sergio Aguero fluffing his lines on at least one occasion to extend his record of never scoring at Anfield.
England international Raheem Sterling was also guilty of some poor decision-making against his former employers, while substitute Gabriel Jesus headed over from inside the penalty area late on.
Despite the disappointing result, Spanish midfielder Rodri says the title race is not over and City will harbour memories of last season when they were briefly 10 points behind Liverpool with a match in hand.
Within two games – including a crucial win over the Merseysiders at the Etihad Stadium – the advantage had been cut to four points. Successive victories in their final 14 league fixtures edged out their title rivals by a point.
Midfielder Rodri believes they can take hope from last term although the summer arrival knows his team will have to sharpen up in front of goal to make it three titles in a row.
“Obviously, when you lose, you are not happy. We have to improve some things, we need to be more clinical in the box,” he said.
“They were more clinical than us, I think that was the key factor.
“I think we were much better overall, we created more chances than them, but they arrived to our goal three times and scored three goals.”
Rodri will be back in action for City after the international break when the Citizens play host to Chelsea in a crucial encounter.
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