Pep Guardiola refused to blame Manchester City's growing list of absentees for their 1-1 draw with Leeds United at Elland Road.
Raheem Sterling had put the visitors in front after a relentless opening half an hour from Guardiola's men.
But Leeds rallied after the interval and grabbed a deserved equaliser through Rodrigo, following an error from Ederson
The home side, promoted from the Championship, were good value for the point and could have even won it late on had Ederson not denied Rodrigo.
City went into the game without several key players, including Sergio Aguero, Gabriel Jesus, Ilkay Gundogan, John Stones and Joao Cancelo.
But the Catalan accepted that his side would not have been able to play the way they did early on if they were so heavily impacted.
"The team and situation we have, it is still pre-season and a lot of players out," he told Sky Sports.
When asked if he felt the absences of key players played a part, he replied: "No, no, I'm not complaining for one second.
"I'm sad for them [absent players] because they are not here and all the credit for these guys. We are playing against Wolves, Leicester and Leeds.
"If we could complain because of the absence, we could not play the way we played today."
Guardiola was full of praise for the home side after their contribution to an absorbing contest and admitted the draw was a fair outcome.
"They make a good build-up with the keeper and get a lot of players behind our midfield lines," he added. "In the attack, they have players with incredible quality, quick players outside. It's not easy to play against them.
"All the teams they play against so far, they have shown how good they are. I think we were there, we had a good game and a game we would normally lose because it's up and down, transitions.
"But in the first half, we had chances to kill the game and the second half was more equal."
