Pep Guardiola cited the infamous defeat to Lyon in the Champions League as he defended his latest tactical approach.
Pep Guardiola said: “Since I arrived here there are players who played and then don’t play. Ruben Dias in the last games has been exceptional but went two months without playing a minute. Kevin De Bruyne didn’t play some important games. It happened with me – I’m sorry, it’s my fault. But I see the players in training and on the pitch. Maybe I want players now who defend better or do the build-up better. Always I change, it depends on what I see and the mood of the team. I played five in the back in the Champions League against Lyon when I never used it because that year we defended really really poor and when we played four at the back we were incredibly inconsistent. I decided to use this in that moment. It doesn’t work? Overthinking, Pep. If it works, genius. I saw things that made me take decisions. What I tried to do is all the time being fit and asking, there are players that can do it better than the other ones.”
Just as players have been left out after previously being essential, the opposite has been true as people have worked their way into Guardiola’s first-team plans. Nathan Ake is a prime example of that, having made the left-back spot his own since the World Cup to cement a place in the team that he never regularly had in his first two years at the club. As Walker and others will know from their time at the club, Guardiola needs those not in the team to accept the decision and to be ready to play when they are needed.
Pep Guardiola said: “What they have to do is two things. Don’t complain or there will be a problem. And try to do it better and better so when they need me, I will be ready. “Look at Nathan this season. Last season he didn’t play one minute and now he is undroppable. It happens. Nobody has a guarantee with me. They have to earn it and sometimes we need a different shape for the way we build up or defend and some players adapt better than the other ones. It’s simple. They take it personally but we are not against them, we just need something and try to use it.”
