Pep Guardiola felt it was unfair to single out Erling Haaland's depleted energy levels after Manchester City's derby nightmare.
Haaland endured a frustrating afternoon as title-chasing City were comprehensively outplayed in a 2-0 loss to rivals Manchester United at Old Trafford on Saturday.
The striker is going through an uncharacteristically barren spell, scoring just once – from the penalty spot – in his last seven appearances after netting 25 in his previous 23.
That has led to suggestions the 25-year-old is feeling the effects of a tough run of fixtures and needs a rest – perhaps for Tuesday's Champions League clash against Bodo/Glimt in his native Norway – but Guardiola thinks that oversimplifies the matter.
The City manager says it is important players feed off each other's energy but that did not happen in a generally flat performance against United.
Guardiola said: "The (player's) energy is connected one to the other ones. If you believe it's for one player, that's easy for me.
"The energy comes from the other ones, you with me, you with me, you with me. It's as simple as that.
"We are lucky that we have had Erling this season, with what he has done but we have a lot of important games. You know that when you have (games) every three, four days, (you need to) sustain it a lot.
"We have to live with that, we have to deal with that. That makes us stronger. The spirit that we have in difficulties is incredible. We had it in Newcastle for many reasons but (against United) we were not able to do it."
Premier League leaders Arsenal were unable to take full advantage of City's defeat as they were held to a goalless draw by Nottingham Forest, but they still have a seven-point lead over Guardiola's side.
City could soon be able to take some of the pressure off Haaland up front with fellow forward Omar Marmoush due to return from the Africa Cup of Nations next week.
"We need Erling and we need all of them," Guardiola said.
