Gary Neville was highly critical of Pep Guardiola’s decision-making in Manchester City’s defeat to Tottenham Hotspur, saying his failed attempts at tinkering is “embarrassing”. The Sky Blues lost away to Spurs without scoring for the fifth consecutive time and Guardiola was blamed for his questionable squad selection.
Rico Lewis started as a makeshift left-back, Kyle Walker started at right-back, Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan were both dropped, and Julian Alvarez started alongside Erling Haaland in attack. Riyad Mahrez, Jack Grealish, Alvarez and Erling Haaland failed to register a shot on target, so the changes didn’t work.
Neville said on Sky Sports: “It’s almost embarrassing saying Guardiola has got it wrong, particularly when he proves himself so right so many times like he did a few weeks ago. But something isn’t right at Man City. It just feels a little bit strange at the moment.
“The Cancelo incident, the leaving out of De Bruyne, Dias and Laporte are still stuck on the bench, Gundogan being on the bench – it all feels a bit odd.”
Bernardo Silva and Rodri created just one chance between them, but De Bruyne managed three after being introduced around the hour mark. The 31-year-old also managed as many accurate crosses (4) in 30 minutes than all of his teammates put together.
It made little sense to drop De Bruyne who’s created nearly twice as many chances (3.3 per game) this season as City’s next best playmaker. The defeat to Spurs leaves City five points adrift of Arsenal in the table while playing a game more.
Guardiola’s men next face Aston Villa on Sunday and can’t afford anything less than a win to stand a chance of catching the Gunners.
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