Man City Learn Hard Way as Pep Guardiola’s Tinkering Backfires vs Bayer Leverkusen

Manchester City were well beaten by Bayer Leverkusen in Tuesday night’s Champions League clash at the Etihad.

It finished 2-0 to the Bundesliga giants thanks to goals from Alejandro Grimaldo and Patrik Schik but the three points heading back to Germany was not the only talking point from what was a difficult evening for Pep Guardiola and his men.

Guardiola made some significant changes to his starting lineup before kick off and it showed the Spanish head coach clearly has plenty of faith in the depth of his Premier League title chasing City squad. Erling Haaland was among the heavy hitters to be dropped to the bench to accommodate Omar Marmoush in just one of the TEN changes on the night.

Pep may not be known as the Premier League’s tinker man as such, but the boss does have history of making big calls on personnel and making good use of his squad that he has obviously paid handsomely to cultivate.

The likes of Phil Foden, Jeremy Doku and Rayan Cherki were all left in the dugout for the beginning of the game as City hoped to be able to make good use of some fringe players while also finding a win from the action.

As it transpired, they found themselves a goal down thanks to Grimaldo in the first-half before Schick’s brilliant header made it 2-0 and that is how the game ended.

It was an embarrassing defeat for Guardiola, but not because of the level of opponent. No, the manager would have felt his lads had enough about them to see off their foes only to be beaten and force the boss to meet the media with his tail firmly between his legs.

What Pep Guardiola said about Man City’s 10 changes vs Bayer Leverkusen

“I have to accept it,” Guardiola told TNT Sport when asked about potential criticism coming his way over the number of changes he made. “If we win it wouldn’t be a problem so I have to accept it that maybe it’s a lot.

“I always had the belief of the long season and everyone had to be involved but maybe it was too much. They played not to make mistakes instead of doing what we had to do.

“It was not the performance that we thought. I take full responsibility. We missed something. We missed an incredible opportunity and now we need to fight in the next games.”

City had actually dominated proceedings for the most part as they tested visiting goalkeeper Mark Flekken between the sticks for Bayer. They had 18 efforts on goal with eight of them testing the stopper. Add to that their 54 percent of possession and they should certainly have won the game based on stats alone.

Bayer had just two shots on target and they scored both of them to make the journey back home with a serious scalp to talk about on the plane. The result takes the Germans up into 13th in the League Phase while City sit sixth in the table which, in all honesty, leaves them in a strong position, still.

What changes did Pep Guardiola make?

It was no shock to see the coach make some tweaks to his lineup who lost 2-1 at Newcastle United on Saturday but fans would have been fearing the worst when they saw the team sheet before kick off on Tuesday. Again, not because they lacked quality, but Haaland was benched and they were set to watch players who have struggled slightly for game time this term take to the field.

That is never usually a recipe for success, and so it proved at the Etihad.

From the starting XI vs the Magpies last weekend, only one player was on the field from the beginning and that was Nico Gonzalez in the middle of the park.

James Trafford replaced Gigio Donnarumma and there were starts for Abdukodir Khusanov, John Stones, Nathan Ake, Rayan Aït-Nouri at the back. In the midfield was Gonzalez alongside Rico Lewis and Tijjani Reijnders while Marmoush played through the middle with Oscar Bobb and Savinho on either side.

Man City XI vs Newcastle United: Donnarumma, Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly, Silva, Gonzalez, Foden, Doku, Haaland, Cherki.

Man City XI vs Bayer Leverkusen: Trafford, Ait-Nouri, Stones, Ake, Khusanov, Lewis, Gonzalez, Reiijnders, Marmoush, Bobb, Savinho.

What did City’s loss prove about changes?

It is difficult to tell whether or not the result and flat performance was a one-off. It could have been. However it could also prove to the manager that he is perhaps right to take the blame for making the changes only to rip up the game plan in the middle of the action to bring on a number of key men who should have played from the start.

City have an overreliance on Haaland and that could become problematic if things do not change. Marmoush up front had no shots on goal throughout the 90 minutes, albeit he was eventually subbed, while the Norwegian record breaker had a handful of opportunities that he missed, but was in the position to make them happen.

It is not the first time Guardiola has got shouts wrong, it won’t be the last. As a manager at elite level, these things are inevitable and the reason he makes the big bucks.

However, his presser at full-time proves that he understands his shortcomings and he will have to rectify that moving forward… and ditch the tinker man ideal.

Other examples of managers making big changes

Pep is not the only boss to try and make good use of his squad numbers. We looked earlier this season at Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca making changes and lots of them so far throughout the campaign.

The Blues have a clear rotation policy under the Italian and he has had to defend that from criticism this term. Even this month following a 2-2 draw with Qarabag did the 45-year-old shut down doubters including Wayne Rooney when he spoke on it.

Maresca has made as many as 85 changes to his starting lineups throughout the season so far and that blows Guardiola’s decisions out of the water. But it seems to be working. Chelsea sit third in the Premier League, ahead of City, and they are fighting on three fronts including the Champions League (fifth in table) and the Carabao Cup as they saw off Wolves to qualify for the quarter-finals. All this before the FA Cup has brought the Blues in.

Roberto de Zerbi a little further afield in Ligue 1 has enjoyed making good use of his Marseille squad too, for example.

De Zerbi has named a fresh combination of players in his starting lineup 18 times from 18 matches.

Again, OM sit second in the division and are still alive (19th) in the League Phase so far. It works for some.