7 hours ago
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Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola spoke about Erling Haaland and the number of changes he made to his team against Leverkusen
Pep Guardiola banked on playing some of his Manchester City stars into upcoming games - but admitted his gamble backfired horribly. Ten changes were made from the Newcastle defeat in a selection change that the manager said was unprecedented for his career, and will not be happening again after a limp 2-0 defeat.
The logic behind the decision to change so many players was a belief that Erling Haaland and others cannot play every game as City challenge on four fronts. However, the performances put in by everyone against Leverkusen suggested that Guardiola will not be able to rely on many if they want to fight for silverware.
"Erling qualified for Norway and it was so demanding against Newcastle and I see Omar close to the box and for the way we play, we have attacking midfielders in position there and wingers are in specific positions. It is what we have to do in the squad," he said. "A lot of games, you have to have a lot of players to play this amount of competitions and I felt that I need to be involved with that.
"Erling cannot sustain all the 95 minutes, we need fresh legs and let's go and after that we will have the tempo that we want to do. Second half, the guys who play a lot of minutes - Erling played 90 minutes and 90 minutes for Norway and celebrated afterwards, then Newcastle - I thought quality time rather than time in the beginning.
"Savinho and Oscar had incredible pace and intelligence , they were not aggressive enough defensively. I thought why not Tijjani as well with rhythm and fresh legs because Newcastle was so demanding. That was the thought but it was too much.
"John is a central defender for the national team, Nathan is a safety, Ait-Nouri played really good at the Club World Cup, Khusanov for the pace going inside and Matheus Nunes played a lot of minutes recently. I tried them and I trust them and I like them as football players but maybe I moved too much.
"You never know what would happen with other players. Everyone thinks with Erling and Bernie and the other ones we should be better, but maybe not - I don't have the answer. With players in the past, sometimes it wasn't good. I felt from my instinct from my gut that the team is training good, they have incredible vibes so let's go - Champions League at home, we are in a good position, and everybody counts for the future.
"The next games we have Fulham, Sunderland, Madrid - a lot of games together. We cannot play Erling all the time for 95 minutes. Omar is really important for us, for his movements and goals. But it was too much. It was the first time in my life I've done it and it was too much. I've realised."
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