Pep Guardiola admits Manchester City were deservedly beaten by Southampton as they were "not prepared" for Wednesday's Carabao Cup quarter-final tie.
Below-strength City were defeated 2-0 by the Premier League's bottom side at St Mary's Stadium through goals from Sekou Mara and Moussa Djenepo.
City made five changes for the contest, which followed three days on from an FA Cup third-round win against Chelsea and precedes Saturday's derby against Manchester United.
The visitors failed to register a single shot on target for the first time in a game this season, while their overall tally of seven shots is also a new low for the campaign.
After City suffered defeat inside 90 minutes of an EFL Cup tie for just the third time in 30 matches under Guardiola, the Catalan coach accepted his side were second best.
"The better team won," he told BBC Sport. "We didn't play good. We didn't play well in the start. There are many games you can start not good but recover and we didn't do it.
