Certainly wasn't the intention to lose but I suspect that this  might've been the only one of the 3 straight matches against Tottenham Pep was going to play conservatively  and risk a narrow loss. I am sure the intention was to win if not at  least do no worse than a draw but as he said in the post match he was  happy with the play of his team
I also wasn't aware Bernardo got injured before the match, was this  common knowledge or a well kept secret? Very surprising, either way this clearly impacted his team selection as well  as thinking/planning ahead
For me, it would appear Pep played it conservatively with team selection  due to the April fixtures and how tight the margins are. If you  consider it objectively, this is the one match in April they could  potentially afford to lose and not impact the League title chase or odds  for Semifinal qualification with his strongest lineup for the return at the Etihad next week.  Seems a calculated risk, maybe even a bit pragmatic for someone  like Pep tbh but with all the injuries this season, reasonable?
I'm not sure I agree with this approach, just that there is a logic to  it. I think what I fail to understand however are the 89th min subs -  make the subs but why wait that late? Surely at 75 minutes it still  could've mitigated any fears he might've had for more injuries to key  players like KDB & Leroy but that's the only oddity that lingers for  me
Not easy to do but you have to give Spurs credit, they did well and both  Son & Winks were brilliant. We'll have to see if Pep's roll of the  dice pays off in the return but he sounded quite confident that was  going to happen in the post match