Stefan Borson: Pep Guardiola has ‘paid a heavy price’ for ‘inexplicable’ Man City decision
Pep Guardiola has been questioned following his approach to Manchester City’s defeat against Bayer Leverkusen last week.
Erling Haaland started on the bench after Guardiola made 10 changes for the Champions League clash against the Bundesliga side on 25 November.
Leverkusen secured a 2-0 victory at the Etihad Stadium, with Alejandro Grimaldo and Patrik Schick grabbing the goals for the visitors.
Guardiola has been criticised for his team selection after many felt he made too many changes.
Pep Guardiola slammed after Man City decision
Former Man City financial adviser Stefan Borson exclusively told Football Insider it was a “completely bizarre” approach from Guardiola against Leverkusen.
The Manchester giants slipped to ninth place in the Champions League table, with only eight teams qualifying automatically for the last 16.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, Borson said: “I think it’s a completely bizarre approach to the game.
“If you think about the current position, the importance of qualifying without a play-off from the fixture list perspective, the value of a win versus even a draw, it’s worth more than €2m (£1.8m).
“I think it’s basically inexplicable that he would change 10 players for the game and he paid a heavy price. But it was pretty foreseeable. It’s very hard to understand what he was thinking.”
Man City have picked up 10 points from their opening five games in the competition, but they currently will have to take part in a play-off game to reach the last 16.
Man City face Champions League issue after fixtures analysed
Borson insisted Guardiola’s side have tricky games coming up in the Champions League, with Real Madrid, Bodo/Glimt and Galatasaray their final three fixtures.
“I think there are knock-ons because City have got Real Madrid next,” said Borson.
“You would expect at best a draw. It’s very likely that they won’t be able to get anything in Madrid, so they then have two games left. But one of them is away in Norway on a plastic pitch in January. I mean, it’s obviously a very winnable game, don’t get me wrong. Bodo/Glimt are a tiny club, but there are other factors there.
“Also, if you look at the fixture list in terms of where these games fit, they come after very difficult games and before very difficult games, so it’s a very strange approach. Look, he’s not going to be worried about the financial side of things. That’s not his primary concern.
“But he is probably going to be worried about the fixture list and the direction of travel, and it’s not good. I don’t know. It’s very hard to understand what his thinking was, and I suspect he just got it wrong.”
Man City got back to winning ways with a 3-2 victory over Leeds United in the Premier League on Saturday (29 November), helping them move up to second in the table.
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