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Pep Guardiola was asked for his thoughts on Arne Slot's midweek comments about the depth of the Manchester City squad.
Pep Guardiola refused to be drawn into a war of words with Arne Slot on squad depth after the Liverpool manager's midweek Manchester City comments.
Slot made wholesale changes for Liverpool's Carabao Cup tie against Crystal Palace, fielding a young side that was brushed aside 3-0 by the Eagles.
After the game the Anfield chief suggested that City - and Chelsea - have greater squad depth than Liverpool, despite a summer spending spree that saw the Reds twice break the British transfer record in a £400m splurge.
Speaking after the midweek defeat, Slot said: "Before I went out I saw City’s line-up and I don’t think they had one starter from the weekend, but it felt as if you looked at their line-up that they played with 11 starters.
"Maybe it also gives a little bit of insight that everybody has always said how big of a squad we are having.
"When we played Chelsea, I said they are missing eight but they can still bring Estevao in.
"We are only missing four players at the moment and already we needed to start with four players under the age of 19 and after I made two substitutions we were on six."
City actually made 10 changes for their Carabao Cup tie, with Oscar Bobb the sole survivor from the Premier League game at Aston Villa. The Blues included young prospect Divine Mukasa in their XI but the rest of the side was made up of senior players. City recovered from going a goal down at Swansea to win 3-1 and progress to the last eight.
Asked about squad depth and Slot's comments on Friday ahead of the Premier League game with Bournemouth, Guardiola said: We don’t have injuries. It’s the same squad depth as last season. Right now we have less injuries but the depth is similar to last season.
"You will not have my headlines, I’m sorry."
Slot himself rowed back on his midweek comments when holding his own press conference on Friday ahead of Liverpool's Premier League game with Aston Villa.
"We miss nothing," Slot said on his squad depth. "I am completely happy with the team and with all the quality that we have."
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