Pep Guardiola was left to rue Manchester City 's lack of cutting edge and the Selhurst Park pitch as they drew 0-0 with Crystal Palace to hand Liverpool a boost in the Premier League title race.
The Citizens racked up 18 shots on Monday but were unable to breach Patrick Vieira 's side despite a gluttony of guilt-edge chances.
With his players unable to put the ball in the back of the net on grass that was "not perfect," Guardiola vented post-match, with Jurgen Klopp 's men now just four points behind them with one game in hand.
"We played to win the game. We created more, we conceded few, The stats are there," the City boss told Sky Sports. "The way we played was amazing in a difficult stadium with the grass not perfect. We were there all the time so we did a good game."
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And in a separate interview, Guardiola pinpointed the "mistake" that was failing to score against Palace for the second time this season, having lost the reverse fixture 2-0 at the Etihad in October.
"Luck doesn't exist in football. We have to score goals and we didn't do it. We played to score goals and concede few," the Catalan tactician stated to BBC Sport.
"We struggled a little bit. The guys who were playing were playing good, that's why I didn't make changes.
"We didn't score, that was the mistake. The team that was there today was there before and will be there in the next game. I am very pleased with the performance and the way we played."
It was a different story for Vieira though, who was delighted with how his team shut the Citizens out yet again.
"It was tense from the first minute but I think the players managed the difficult situations very well," the Palace boss, an ex-City player, added to Sky Sports.
"It was a team effort and our performance was really good. When you play against the quality of players they have, you need a bit of luck at times and at times we were lucky but you also need to perform as well.
"We want to make the end of the season exciting. We're still in the FA Cup and it will be a massive game against Everton and if we win that it will be really exciting."
On how good the two teams racing for the title are, Vieira noted: "I would put Chelsea in that bracket as well and these three teams are in the best four or five in Europe.
"You look at how they play, they make the game look easy, they have the quality, the technical ability to make the right decisions. It will be a really exciting end to the season for the title."
