The Bees lost 2-0 as City struck through Rayan Cherki and Savinho.
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"We played with a lot of courage," he said. "I had to make some changes, with Dango (Outtara) going away and a couple of knocks to (Igor) Thiago and Jordan (Henderson).
"We had one day prep and one day training, we flipped the system - the players are so intelligent, so adaptable and versatile.
"I was very impressed in terms of how we played; we had to play with courage in how we tried to break them down and control the play.
"Unfortunately, we couldn't quite get that bit of quality in the final third, but I felt we were close on quite a few occasions.
"I'm disappointed, obviously, but I thought we defended brilliantly and I'm very proud of the boys."