Kevin De Bruyne tries to explain Man City defeat after West Ham shock

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Kevin De Bruyne has insisted that Manchester City tried everything they could to avoid defeat against West Ham United on Saturday, but were simply unable to break the Hammers down.

Slaven Bilic’s side secured one of the results of the season so far when they defeated City 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium in the day’s late kickoff.

The Hammers took the lead on six minutes through Victor Moses, before Senegal frontman Diafra Sakho doubled the Londoners’ lead just after the half-hour mark.

City fought back through new boy De Bruyne, making his first EPL start since his high-profile summer switch from Wolfsburg [BBC], who scored on 45 minutes to halve the deficit.

However, despite enjoying the lion’s share of the possession during the second period, and putting increasing pressure on the Hammers’ goal, the Sky Blues were unable to restore parity, let alone push on for a winner.

Speaking to BBC Sport after the match, De Bruyne explained where City went wrong, but insisted that they gave everything to try and avoid defeat.

“We didn’t start well, conceding two goals with the two chances they fashioned. After that we created lots of chances, and 2-1 was a good place to be at half-time, but in the second half our final ball wasn’t good enough,” he began.

“We knew they would have 10 men behind the ball and we would have to be patient, but unfortunately we couldn’t score the second one.

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“At half-time we were still confident we could change the game and we tried to put pressure on them. We tried everything, but the final pass wasn’t that good.

“It was a shame to lose three points and we wanted to win after the defeat to Juventus,” the Belgian concluded. “I don’t think we played badly but we have to move on.”

The defeat ended City’s 100 percent record in the league, as they had won five out of five up to that point. However, the 2014 champions remain top of the pile after six matches, having amassed 15 points—three more than second-placed West Ham.

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