“His decisions last night were borderline crazy.”
In a season of so many superlatives for Manchester City, this past week has really plunged them into despair. Well beaten by Liverpool over two legs in the Champions League, dumping them out at the quarter-final stage as well as squandering a two-goal lead to lose the derby against Manchester United, it’s been a rough few days.
Pep Guardiola, the architect and mastermind behind one of the most dominant Premier League campaigns ever, looked on from the stands at the Etihad Stadium last night as his players failed to overturn the deficit against Liverpool.
Sent off for over-zealously remonstrating to the referee about the Leroy Sane’s ruled out goal, Guardiola looked forlorn high up in the terraces of City’s fortress which, in the space of three days, was penetrated twice by two of the club’s fiercest rivals.
Guardiola’s tactics and team selection were questioned, too. Leaving Vincent Kompany and Sergio Aguero out of the starting line-up on Tuesday night raised a few eyebrows when the teams were released prior to kick-off, but became magnified when Nicolas Otamendi struggled against Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino in the first-half and Gabriel Jesus went missing after his early goal.
Eamon Dunphy, speaking on RTE on Wednesday evening ahead of Real Madrid’s clash with Juventus, questioned Guardiola.
“Before the tie started I thought Manchester City would beat them, over the two legs. Then, at Anfield, City didn’t turn up and Liverpool won it that night, no away goal, which is vital as Roma proved last night.
“Again last night, City got a dream start, Jesus got the goal, but when you saw the City team before the game started and Kompany and Aguero were out, the questions began then. This is not really very sensible, there are too many attacking players and it’s unbalanced. Otamendi would be the linchpin in a back three.
“No, I didn’t think that was possible and you have to say, James Milner played Sane onside. It would have been 2-0 and had it been 2-0, Liverpool would have been vulnerable, but the ref didn’t see that, the decision was wrong. But if you reflect on the two legs, Liverpool deserved it, they won three out of the four halves of football.
“I think many of Guardiola’s decisions-making were poor in many areas and his decision last night was borderline crazy. To leave Kompany and Aguero out, their best scorer and leader in defence was a huge risk, and it did not pay off.”
'I thought Man City would beat Liverpool' – Eamon Dunphy on Liverpool's win over England's champions-elect #rtesoccer pic.twitter.com/98LId0LYRz
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) April 11, 2018
You have to say Dunph makes a very compelling case. Jesus scored after two minutes but struggled to impose himself on Virgil van Dijk and Dejan Lovren after that.
As for leaving out Kompany, while the Belgian doesn’t quite have the legs anymore, he’s as organised and commanding at the back as anyone for City. But Pep will be left wondering ‘what if?’ While he launched a scathing attack on last night’s referee for failing to spot that Sane was onside for the disallowed goal, the two games against Liverpool are a rare blemish on an otherwise immaculate season.
