Agbonlahor: New Jack Grealish blunder may tarnish Man City legacy
Pep Guardiola will not win the Champions League with Man City if he continues to tinker with his tactics, according to Gabby Agbonlahor.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the ex-Aston Villa and England attacker claimed Guardiola made a mistake by not starting Jack Grealish in the 1-0 loss to Liverpool on Sunday (16 October).
Man City lined up in a fluid formation at Anfield with Phil Foden, Erling Haaland, Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne leading the line.
Guardiola only made one substitute as Julian Alvarez replaced Ilkay Gundogan in the 89th minute.
As quoted by club media after the game, the 51-year-old insisted he was happy with his side’s performance.
“Man City complicated it again and if Pep wants to win the Champions League he’s got to stop this nonsense,” Agbonlahor told Football Insider‘s Connor Whitley.
“Foden on the left wing when you’ve got Grealish there. Grealish would have done a lot better against Milner than Foden did. Foden wasn’t really running at him, Jack would have ran at him every time.
“De Bruyne was playing sort of onnthe right and it was very predicable what they were trying to do.
“De Bruyne got the ball and Gomez and Van Dijk were very tight to Haaland. City looked one dimensional, they got the ball to De Bruyne and he crossed it from anywhere to Haaland.
“It worked a lot this season but teams know to get extra tight to Haaland when De Bruyne gets the ball and drop so he doesn’t get a free header.
“It looked very easy to play against. The best formation would have been Foden on the right, Haaland in the centre and Grealish on the left with De Bruyne where he normally plays, coming from deeper.
“Pep changed the tactics once again and it cost him the game.
“The had no pace in behind to get at Liverpool, they didn’t make subs at the right time. Jack didn’t even get to come on, Mahrez didn’t come on either.
“Pep needs to stick to what’s working. He changed too much and it didn’t work.”
In other news, Guardiola is set for an FA punishment after a controversial Man City reveal.