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pep guardiola Admits he made “a lot of changes” as he takes blame for Manchester City’s 2-0 defeat Champions League necklace at home bayer leverkusen,
Guardiola made a surprise change to 10 players after the weekend’s 2-1 defeat at Newcastle. erling holland, Phil Foden and Gianluigi Donnarumma, among others on the star-studded bench.
But those who came into the team failed to take their chances as Alejandro Grimaldo finished off Leverkusen’s quick counter-attack in the 23rd minute and, despite Guardiola introducing Foden, Ryan Cherky and Nico O’Reilly at the break, Patrik Schick added a second eight minutes after the restart.
“A lot of changes,” Guardiola said. “I always believed in a long season every two days, everyone had to be involved, but maybe it was too much. Looking at the result, they played not to make mistakes rather than doing what we had to do.
“When you’re thinking about avoiding punishing a team you’re not free to be carefree – with or without the ball. We were close but not aggressive enough and they’re a really good team…
“I take full responsibility but I looked at them and I like everyone involved. It’s tough when you’re a football player and don’t play five, six, seven games but maybe it was too much.”
Guardiola acknowledged that his regular starting players would probably have played with more confidence, but when asked if this performance raised questions about the depth of his squad, he denied.
“It’s impossible to think that they are not good,” he said. “I need everyone as part of the group.
“I felt in my gut, in my gut, that the team is training well, they have incredible enthusiasm so let’s go – the Champions League on home soil, we are in a good position.
“For the next games we have Fulham, Sunderland, (Real) Madrid, a lot of games at once. We can’t play 95 minutes all the time, Erling. It was too much. It was the first time in my life I did that and I realized it was too much.”
Asked whether Guardiola’s team selection showed he underestimated his squad, Leverkusen coach Kasper Hjulmand said: “I don’t think so. It’s a very strict schedule for all teams. I think the normal rotation in the Champions League is 5.5 players.
“This time it was a bit much but it doesn’t matter who they put on the pitch it’s a quality team.”
City loanee Claudio Echeverri was an unused substitute for Leverkusen, amid suggestions the 19-year-old could be recalled in January due to a lack of game time, having made only three starts in eight matches all season.
“We like Claudio, we’re happy to have Claudio,” Hjulmand said. “I think when he came to us he had only played 110 minutes all year… We’re trying to develop a young player with big potential.
“We like Claudio, we like him in the dressing room, we like him on the pitch. We can see the potential so let’s see.”
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