Man City: Pep Guardiola admits he’s ‘unfairly’ treated ‘incredible’ star after deciding to block transfer
After Manchester City returned to winning ways against Leicester City, Pep Guardiola admitted he’s “unfairly” treated one of his players this season.
Man City headed into their match against Leicester City on a run of winning only one of their last 13 matches in all competitions.
Guardiola‘s side were far from their best against Leicester City, who created a few clear openings to score.
Despite this, Ruud van Nistelrooy’s side were wasteful with their chances and Man City punished them. Savinho and Erling Haaland netted as Guardiola’s team earned a priceless 2-0 victory, which leaves them fifth in the Premier League.
Man City academy product James McAtee made a positive impact off the bench in only his third Premier League appearance of the season.
The 22-year-old was linked with an exit in the summer, but Guardiola was keen for him to stick around. The head coach has admitted that the midfielder should have been given more game time this season and he revealed the “most pleasing” factor about his performance.
“It’s not a doubt – not because of the way we played but in the past. There are things that sometimes feel unfair,” Guardiola said.
“Sometimes in the situation you are living always you had the feeling to give the responsibility to the senior players rather than the young players, but sometimes the senior players have more pressure than the young ones who don’t have anything to defend. They want to conquer the world.
“I had the feeling before the game, I said if today I had to make a substitution the first one would be James. I felt it. It doesn’t matter, he can play wings, in the pockets, as a striker.”
“What I’m pleased the most is that every action he has done was good. He didn’t make one wrong action and defensively he grew up a lot in Sheffield making him so mature – even with the struggle at the end he had there to get minutes as well.”
MORE MAN CITY COVERAGE ON F365…
👉 Seven random players brought in from the cold by panicking Premier League clubs during Twixmas
👉 The ridiculous stats of Erling Haaland: More Champions League goals than Mo Salah!
👉 Man City ‘preparing an offensive that could exceed’ £166m for duo with Guardiola ‘willing to do anything’
“He’s a player with a generation that we had in City that has been unbelievable – Romeo Lavia, Cole Palmer, Morgan Rogers, Liam Delap., Taylor Harwood-Bellis. They are incredible players and Macca has come from there and been captain of that generation.
“That’s why I said to Txiki [Begiristain], and I know it’s unfair to say [now] because ‘you asked him to stay and I didn’t give you the minutes you deserved’ so that’s fair enough but I always had the feeling he could play with us.
“I’m very pleased for him because he’s an incredibly lovely guy, he trains really good, never one bad face and he won his minutes. It’s simple. All the players, if you want to ask something, on the green is the best place to show it. Macca today proved it.”
The Leicester City match was Guardiola’s 500th game in charge of Man City and he’s revealed why he decided against making wholesale changes for this trip.
“Maybe that period, the month and a half to two months that feels like 500 months, will make you realise how nice it was, and hopefully we can come back. Maybe we will not be what we were but closer than now,” Guardiola admitted.
“I changed a bit against Everton, today I didn’t change anything that we had done. It’s one thing I reflected on. We have to change a lot in this period or change less – I don’t know. Today was quite similar to what we have done in the past but we are still away from what we have to be as a team.
“I thought a lot to change, but the alternative was not as good. I thought with this 500 games, that’s why I didn’t change much. It was more to give the players calm and players back and other players fit. This is the most important thing.
“At the end, it was not the only reason. The starting XI today was really good, against Everton was really good, against Aston Villa was really good. It was more in our minds. Intervening in the minds of the players is not easy, it is the toughest job.”
