Carabao Cup: Why I didn’t play Haaland during the entire game despite loosing
Manchester City boss, Pep Guardiola has explained why he did not play striker Erling Haaland during his side’s Carabao Cup Round of 16 defeat against Tottenham Hotspur.
Guardiola watched as Tottenham Hotspur eliminated his team from the Carabao Cup last-16 on Wednesday
The Spanaird opted not to feature Haaland who sat at the bench during the duration of the encounter.
Two goals from Timo Werner and Pape Matar Sarr ensured Tottenham advanced to the last-8.
Matheus Nunes did score for the Premier League champions.
Speaking after the game, Guardiola said he didn’t play Haaland against Spurs because the Norway international has played a lot of matches so far this season.
“It’s quite simple… the plan was for him not to play this game,” Guardiola told Sky Sports about Haaland.
“He’s played a lot of minutes, we knew for this week we’ve no recovery and not many players and I didn’t want to waste energy for him.”
Haaland will now hope to feature for Man City when they face Bournemouth in the Premier League this weekend.
City were knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Tottenham on Wednesday.
Man City fans starting to turn on crowd favourite and say ‘this isn’t the real him’ after Spurs horror show
Manchester City fans criticised one first team player after their 2-1 defeat to Tottenham in the Carabao Cup.
City boss Pep Guardiola fielded a largely second-string side at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium amid the club’s ongoing injury crisis.
The Spaniard commented in his post-match interview that City only have 13 fit outfield players, as well as goalkeepers Ederson and Stefan Ortega.
Savinho also appeared to suffer a potentially serious injury during the defeat, which knocked City out of the Carabao Cup at the last 16 stage.
But despite the injury issues, City fans were still not happy with the team’s performance in north London. And one player received significant criticism.
Captain Ilkay Gundogan, who started the fixture but was taken off at half-time, didn’t impress supporters.
One fan wrote: “No wonder Barca wanted Gundogan off the books.”
A second said: “Gundogan and Foden… we need you to step up in the next three games badly. Especially Gundogan who had a stinker of a game before he got hooked at half time today.”
A third added: “Unfortunately Gundogan is not the same player.”
A fourth stated: “Nunes should be starting over Gundogan in midfield when Doku and Grealish return from injuries.”
While a fifth opined: “Not much to take away from that game with so many youngsters playing. The two main worries – Gundogan’s performance and Savinho’s injury.”
Gundogan re-signed for City in the summer on a free transfer after spending a season at Barcelona.
The 34-year-old has been a regular starter in all competitions, and scored his first goal of the season in City’s 4-0 win over Slovan Bratislava in the Champions League last month.
It remains to be seen whether he will start City’s Premier League away clash at Bournemouth on Saturday, with Guardiola well-stocked in midfield compared to other areas of the pitch – particularly with Mateo Kovacic and Bernardo Silva on the bench against Spurs.
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