Guardiola suffered over defensive plan as Arsenal hold Man City

Guardiola opted for an unusually cautious game-plan in the second half at the Emirates Stadium in a bid to cling on after Erling Haaland's ninth-minute opener.

But the City manager's decision to substitute Norway striker Haaland and replace England forward Phil Foden in a switch to a back five ultimately proved unsuccessful.

Arsenal were able to monopolise the ball with City sitting so deep, and Martinelli broke the offside trap with a well-timed run onto Eberechi Eze's pass before lofting a composed finish over Gianluigi Donnarumma.

Tellingly, City had just 32.8 percent of possession, which ranked as the lowest figure any Guardiola team have ever recorded in a Premier League match.

"I can't believe I have another record in this country," he joked. "I give a lot of credit to Arsenal, especially when defending with five. We are not built for that but sometimes we have to accept it.

"Arsenal were better so sometimes it can happen. One time in 10 years is not bad right? I have to prove myself again with the strategy. Now I am a transition team!"

Resorting to tactics more familiar to his old rival Jose Mourinho showed Guardiola's desperation to cling onto what would have been a priceless victory after a rocky start to the season.

Instead, the Spaniard's willingness to ditch his purist principles was in vain and City are now languishing in ninth place - already eight points behind leaders Liverpool.

Clearly a work in progress after Guardiola's heavy spending on younger players in the last two transfer windows, City's inexperience has shown in a run of just two wins in their first five league matches.

'I don't like it'

"Tough week, it was so demanding coming here, especially against one of the best teams in Europe. It was difficult to play the way we wanted to," Guardiola said. "I would prefer to play another way but when we play so many games, you can defend deep and take a result.

"Honestly, it is because the opponent was better. We have to survive in that way and we did." Adamant that he would accept the criticism of his conservative approach, Guardiola added: "I am open for that. I am sitting here for that.

"Three days ago against the best team in Italy we played differently against Napoli. I suffer. I don't like it. But if the opponent is doing good things, we have to accept it and improve."

Despite the disappointment of Martinelli's equaliser, Guardiola took heart from a spirited City display that was too often missing during their troubled run last season.

"I said this season, I don't care about the results. I want to see the spirit back. We lost it last season and we have to recover it. We did that this week," he said.