Cliff Notes – Pep Guardiola: Manchester City ‘didn’t try’ in Bayer Leverkusen loss
- Pep Guardiola acknowledged his team’s lack of effort in their 2-0 defeat to Bayer Leverkusen, attributing it to a risk-averse mindset among the players he rotated in.
- The manager admitted to making a mistake with his selection, stating that the performance was more concerning than the result itself.
- Guardiola expressed confidence in his squad despite their recent struggles, highlighting the need for players to embrace risk and assertiveness on the pitch.
Pep Guardiola: Manchester City ‘didn’t try’ in Bayer Leverkusen loss
Pep Guardiola said his much-changed Manchester City team “didn’t try” in mid-week and has learnt a lesson from their surprise loss to Bayer Leverkusen.
The City manager paid the price for making 10 changes to his starting line-up as the German side won 2-0 at the Etihad Stadium in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday.
Guardiola felt the players brought in were too risk-averse and failed to grab the initiative, leading to a second successive defeat after last Saturday’s Premier League loss at Newcastle.
Guardiola, who admitted after the game he got his selection wrong, told a news conference on Friday: “It is not about one result, it is in the performance. Of course, results help performances but I’m not very disappointed about Newcastle.
“The last one, yes, because of my decisions and because we didn’t try, it’s as simple as that. In football when you play on the green you have to try things and we didn’t try.
Pep Guardiola was visibly frustrated in Man City’s defeat to Bayer Leverkusen
“I think they played not to make mistakes, not to play to do something. It was a good lesson for me. As experienced as I am as a manager, it was a good lesson for me for the future.”
Erling Haaland, Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden and Gianluigi Donnarumma were among the players benched by Guardiola for the game as the likes of Rayan Aït-Nouri, Rico Lewis, Abdukodir Khusanov, Omar Marmoush and James Trafford were given chances.
Guardiola suggested he felt those who started lacked confidence in themselves.
“Maybe I have a theory to rotate because it’s impossible to sustain but I had a lot of confidence in them and I still do,” Guardiola said.
“I have a huge value of what they are as football players. Maybe I think higher of them than they think about themselves.”
City are still without key midfielder Rodri as they host struggling Leeds United on Saturday.
The Spain international has missed eight of the last nine games with a hamstring injury and it remains unclear when he will return.
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“Not yet but he’s not far,” Guardiola said when asked about his condition.
Leeds travel to City after five defeats in their last six outings and with manager Daniel Farke under pressure.
“I have an incredible opinion of Daniel. I have a really good relationship with him and I know the Premier League is always like this — you can make a good run of results or a bad run and continue, because the opponents are tough,” Guardiola said.
“Every opponent has a long week to prepare and it’s so demanding. We have to be ready.”