Manchester City’s unbeaten start to the season was ended by Liverpool on Sunday and Gabriel Agbonlahor blamed Pep Guardiola for the defeat. The talkSPORT host believes Guardiola was ‘tweaking’ the side too much and made selections decisions that didn’t benefit his players.
City lost 1-0 at Anfield and their starting eleven raised eyebrows as Guardiola completely changed the side’s shape. He opted for three central defenders and four in midfield, using Phil Foden as a makeshift wing-back while leaving Riyad Mahrez and Jack Grealish on the bench.
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The shift in tactic didn’t work and Agbonlahor pulled no punches on talkSPORT, saying: “The formation was wrong. You had Phil Foden on the left. I know Foden’s played on the left and done very well, but I thought it was the perfect game for Jack Grealish to start against James Milner. He’s gonna run at him.
“(I’d have played) Foden on the right, Erling Haaland down the middle, Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne and Rodri (in midfield). (Against Liverpool), I felt it was Pep tweaking the tactics too much – he does that. If he does that in the Champions League, they won’t win that either.”
The defeat left City second in the Premier League table with 23 points from 10 games, four points behind Arsenal. Guardiola’s men have managed just one victory in their last four away games and will be desperate to bounce back on the weekend.
Guardiola might revert back to a familiar system when Brighton & Hove Albion come to the Etihad on Saturday, so it’s unlikely he’ll go with three central defenders against the Seagulls.
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