Pep Guardiola refused to lay the blame on referee Michael Oliver after Manchester City were beaten 1-0 at Aston Villa on Sunday.
Matty Cash drilled home from the edge of the box in the 19th minute at Villa Park after being teed up by an Emiliano Buendia corner.
However, City felt that Oliver's decision to award the corner in the first place was incorrect.
Guardiola, though, preferred to focus on where City went wrong in a defeat that leaves them six points adrift of league leaders Arsenal, rather than point the finger at the officials.
"It was a corner. A good corner and a goal. Listen, it doesn't matter. We can talk about this reaction," he told BBC Sport.
"Listen, in 10 years already here, I respect the referees too much. It was a corner, and we should've defended that. You cannot complain about actions from five minutes before.
"We had the chances to score, we couldn't do it. We will improve.
"I am satisfied. We played really good in the Premier League mainly, and we're getting better. We will learn from that. It's a long journey, we will try to be close at the end."
Defeat on the road.
— Manchester City (@ManCity) October 26, 2025
1-0 @okx pic.twitter.com/LUezo3AXsD
City attacker Bernardo Silva also weighed in on the contention, saying he felt a foul should have been awarded by Oliver in the build-up.
"It's a minor decision, it's not like a penalty or a red card that changed the game. The reality is it should've been a foul," he said.
"It wasn't, and they scored from the corner. That was a bit frustrating for us, but it's football. These small things is not that important.
"The referee said he thought it was a corner. People make mistakes, just say sorry and go on to the next one. Don't be arrogant.
"Like I say, it was not because of that that we lost the game. It was not about the referee today."
City had 18 shots on goal, but only four were on target as the visitors were met with an outstanding defensive performance from Villa.
Defeat means City have lost three of their opening nine games in the Premier League this season (W5 D1), with the Citizens last suffering more defeats at this stage of a league campaign in 2008-09 (four).
Guardiola felt his side grew into the game, but accepted his side lost too many individual duels and lacked aggression.
"That we are a really good team who played a really good game. We started a really good game. In general, we were much better in the second half, but in the end, we could not score," the Spaniard added.
"They link really well inside, they play four up front, they track you in high positions and after they link behind, they have the ability to keep that ball. It is not easy, and when you cannot win those duels, it's more difficult.
"In the first half, the pressing wasn't good; in the second half, it was better. We were not aggressive enough."