Pep Guardiola will be worried after ‘very bad’ Man City star savaged by his manager for ‘weakest-ever performance’
Pep Guardiola will be uneasy about the future of one of his emerging Man City stars after he was strongly criticised by an influential figure following a poor performance.
Man City‘s start to the new season has been an inconsistent one, with this latest international break providing Pep Guardiola with a good break to figure out his side’s best winning formula going forward.
They are currently fifth in the Premier League after seven games ahead of the visit of Everton this weekend, but a number of their players are yet to start firing as Erling Haaland continues to carry their title hopes on his shoulders.
Haaland recently returned to Man City early from international duty with Norway after netting a hat-trick against Israel, but no injury was cited, and he simply wanted to take a longer rest to miss their less important friendly against New Zealand.
Guardiola will have still been paying close attention to Norway’s clash against the Kiwis on Tuesday (14 October) as they played out a 1-1 draw, and the Citizens manager will be worried about another of his players following a drab showing.
Stale Solbakken criticises Oscar Bobb after poor Norway showing
Oscar Bobb is a fully-fledged member of Guardiola’s senior City side now at 22-years-old, but his progress has been stunted in recent times after he suffered leg and hamstring injuries which limited him to just six appearances in 2024-25.
He is also a full Norway international, after making his senior debut in 2023, and he was called up to represent his country alongside club teammate Haaland for this international break by Stale Solbakken.
Bobb featured for 77 minutes against Israel last Saturday (11 October), and he was handed a consecutive start against New Zealand on Tuesday, but clearly failed to impress.
The 22-year-old did not create a chance or have a shot on target from three taken against his Oceanic opponents, nor did he successfully complete a dribble, while he also won five of his nine ground duels.
Despite keeping him on for the full 90 minutes, Norway boss Solbakken issued some scathing criticism of the winger in his post-match press conference, saying: “He (Bobb) was very bad in the first half. He lacked everything today; spent a long time with the ball, positioned himself strangely and didn’t hit the pressing game.
“If you ask Oscar (Bobb), I think he’ll say the first half was his weakest performance for the national team. The second half was the next weakest…”
The 57-year-old certainly did not hold back, and City boss Guardiola will surely be concerned now about Bobb’s short-term future prospects in terms of impacting his side in the Premier League if he can not play well against New Zealand, who are 83rd in FIFA’s official men’s national team rankings.
Guardiola has been full of praise for Bobb
Despite this setback, Bobb should take solace in the fact that his manager at club level has stood by him over a massively tough last 12 months.
He burst onto the scene with aplomb in 2023-24, scoring a late winner against Newcastle just three months after his Premier League debut and then signing a long-term contract until 2029, so it is clear that he is highly-rated among those in power at the Etihad, including Guardiola.
The Catalan boss admitted that Bobb had been missed last season after starring in their 4-0 win over Wolves on the opening day of this campaign, as he said: “Now I realise, when I saw him in the first half and the second, I realise how much we missed him last season. He’s sharp and quick and like Phil [Foden] with his qualities.
“I’m so happy he is back. I don’t know how long it is since he played 90 minutes maybe one year but he is so strong, so disciplined in defensive issues, incredible threat in small spaces.
“Hopefully he can be healthy. All I ask for him is to be healthy and strong in his head and I’m pretty sure he is going to help us in that position.”
Bobb was mocked by Tottenham’s Djed Spence online in August after he struggled to make an impact as Thomas Frank’s side won 2-0 at the Etihad, but he has impressed at times too as he continues to return to full fitness.
The main positive for him is that he has been able to stay fit so far this term, but it will be interesting to see how he reacts to this latest development in his short career as he suffers major criticism for the first time in a public setting.