Manchester City suffered their fifth consecutive away defeat to Tottenham Hotspur without scoring and questions are being asked of Pep Guardiola for his squad selection. The City manager opted against starting Kevin De Bruyne and instead named Julian Alvarez alongside Erling Haaland.
But with Alvarez failing to register a shot on target while De Bruyne created more chances than any of his teammates despite playing 60 minutes less, Greame Souness believes Guardiola got it wrong. He said on Sky Sports (h/t Mirror): “It’s a mystery to me…
“How could you play Alvarez instead of De Bruyne?! (Alvarez has) four goals in 15 games. For me, De Bruyne is as good as there is in the world as an attacking midfield player. But what you get what Alvarez is the hard yards.”
De Bruyne has scored three goals with 12 assists from 19 Premier League games this season. The 31-year-old is 1st in the City squad for chances created per game (3.3) and nearly has double City’s second-best playmaker (Jack Grealish – 1.7 chances per game), so it’s little wonder they failed to score against Spurs.
Alvarez has high levels of industry and can’t be faulted for his work rate, but he’s scored just one league goal since November and only has two goals since August. He bagged a goal and played a full 90 minutes in City’s 4-2 win over Spurs last month but wasn’t able to repeat the feat in North London.
In other news, Pep Guardiola criticised for ‘crazy’ decision in Man City defeat
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