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After Manchester City returned to winning ways against Leicester City, Pep Guardiola admitted he had treated one of his players “unfairly” this season.
Man City Leicester enter their match against City having won just one of their last 13 matches in all competitions.
Guardiola‘s side were far from their best against Leicester City, creating some clear openings to score.
Nevertheless, Ruud van Nistelrooy wasted his chances and Man City punished him. Savinho and Erling Haaland netted as Guardiola’s side secured a priceless 2-0 victory. That left them fifth in the Premier League.
Man City academy product James McAtee made a positive impact off the bench in just his third Premier League appearance of the season.
The 22-year-old was linked with an exit in the summer, but Guardiola wanted him to stick around. The head coach has admitted that the midfielder should have been given more game time this season and revealed the “most pleasing” factor about his performance.
“It’s no doubt – not because of the way we played, but in the past. There are things that sometimes feel unfair,” said Guardiola.
“Sometimes in the situation you’re in you always feel like you give the responsibility to the senior players rather than the young players but sometimes the senior players are under more pressure than the youngsters who have nothing to defend. They want to conquer the world.
“I had a feeling before the game, I said if I had to make a substitution today, James would be the first. I felt It doesn’t matter, he can play wings in the pocket, as a striker.”
“What I’m most happy about is that every action he’s taken has been good. He hasn’t made a single wrong move and defensively he’s grown up so much at Sheffield which has made him so smart – even when he struggled at the end. Minutes also had to be found.
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“He’s a generation of players in our city that’s been incredible – Romeo Lavia, Cole Palmer, Morgan Rodgers, Liam Delp, Taylor Harwood-Bless. They’re incredible players and Mika has come from there and that generation. There are captains.
“That’s why I told Tuskeki (Bigerstein), 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 it’s fair enough but I always had the feeling he could play with us.
“I’m so happy for him because he’s an incredibly lovely guy, he trains really well, never a bad face and he’s won his minutes. It’s easy. All players, if you do something Want to ask, on the green is the best place to show it, Mika proved it today.
The Leicester City match was Guardiola’s 500th game in charge of Man City and he has revealed why he decided not to make wholesale changes for the trip.
“Maybe that period, a month and a half to two months that feels like 500 months, will make you realize how good it was, and hopefully we can come back. Maybe we won’t be who we were but Closer than now,” admitted Guardiola.
“I changed a bit against Everton, today I didn’t change anything we did. That’s one thing I thought about. We have to change more or less in this period – I don’t know. Today was just like what we’ve done in the past but we’re still far from what we need to be as a team.
“I thought about changing a lot, but the substitutions weren’t that good. I thought with that 500 games, that’s why I didn’t change much. It was more to calm players and fit players back and other players. .This is the most important thing.
“In the end, it wasn’t the only reason. The starting XI today was really good, really good against Everton, really good against Aston Villa. It was more in our minds. It’s not easy to interfere in the players’ minds, This is the most difficult task.
