Guardiola said he felt he owed other players a chance to be in the squad instead

If Pep had an English speaking coach as his No. 2, he wouldn't have to be so close or get sentimental with the players.

Instead, Lilo speaks in a foreign tongue, needing an interpreter (or player) to communicate with the team, if he does at all. (I've only seen him on the bench gibbering non stop in Peps earhole)
 
I think we shouldn't take what a manager says to the press at face value. What do you expect him to say? "Last time I started McAtee he did fuck all so I'm dropping him?" "All of the available transfer options were shit, so we figured we could thrash Kev, Rodri and Gundo for another year, but it blew up in our face?" "We were awful over Christmas, so we had to panic buy a bunch of players and it turns out they aren't really good enough?"
I understand your point of view. But he also could simply say that the choice was made for technical reasons; we needed different skills to deal with this match, or we needed players who were physically ready.
I think we shouldn't take what a manager says to the press at face value. What do you expect him to say? "Last time I started McAtee he did fuck all so I'm dropping him?" "All of the available transfer options were shit, so we figured we could thrash Kev, Rodri and Gundo for another year, but it blew up in our face?" "We were awful over Christmas, so we had to panic buy a bunch of players and it turns out they aren't really good enough?"
I totally understand your point of view. But he also could simply say that the choice was made for technical reasons; we needed different skills to deal with this match, or we needed players who were physically ready.
 
I wouldn't normally have said this as he's not filled me with much enthusiasm this season, (like many others) but to not have Lewis in the squad when he half got us to the final was an insult to the lad, Pep really is a mind fuck at times.
 
In answering the question of why some players (Lewis and McAtee) were missing from the selection team in the FA Cup final, Guardiola said he felt he owed other players a chance to be in the squad instead.
Do you agree with the concept that the manager owes all players participation regardless of the nature and importance of the game? I find it quite strange, especially to apply this concept in the FA Cup final.
The coach doesn't owe any player the right to participate, especially in crucial and important matches. The player may have the right to know the reasons for their absence to give the player a fair opportunity to train, develop, and compete for a starting spot, but I don't believe this is an absolute right.
This isn't the first time Pep has spoken about this matter. He has previously said he feels that he owes the old guards the right to play more. I believe this is one of the reasons Pep objected to signing players last summer and, thus, one of the biggest and most important reasons for our poor season-ending trophyless.
What do you think?
I agree 100%.
 
Echeverri not given 1 minute of football in all competitions since january but throws him on when we're desperate for a goal with 14 minutes left.
One of Pep's best and boldest moves all season. Like Bobb vs Newcastle last year.

Almost worked too!
 
Lewis has a right to feel frustrated. But we didn't lose that game because of who was or was not on the bench.

If we convert that penalty or Henderson is sent off, and we go on and lift the trophy, nobody gives a toss about the team selection. We're all wound up because we lost, because the media are loving it even more with the incorrect refereeing decisions, and tot op it off we all paid hundreds to get down to London for the privilege of losing at Wembley yet again.

I have a bigger problem with Pep drifting away from a winning team to accommodate returning players. I genuinely think Akanji and Haaland should have been benched, being then on of we need, especially as we're not seeking out the big man with any direct passes right now anyway. Easy to say now, but I hope neither start tomorrow. Akanji for tactical reasons and Haaland because if he's not hungry then he's not useful. Have less issue with Echeverri playing on Saturday, or tomorrow, as he looked hungry, skillful and positive. Also reckless on they challenge, but some fire please City.

But it's not worth getting upset about, we have to pull together to win tomorrow, from the manager right through to the fans. If Echeverri or Bobb or Postman Pat start tomorrow I don't care, I'm getting behind them 100%, because that's all I can do now to push us on to at least save the season in some form.
 
I wouldn't normally have said this as he's not filled me with much enthusiasm this season, (like many others) but to not have Lewis in the squad when he half got us to the final was an insult to the lad, Pep really is a mind fuck at times.
Especially as Rico can cover about 4 positions from the bench and Pep has gone out of his way to start him so often when most people thought otherwise.

One of Pep’s maddest decisions of a very mad season
 
Lewis has a right to feel frustrated. But we didn't lose that game because of who was or was not on the bench.

If we convert that penalty or Henderson is sent off, and we go on and lift the trophy, nobody gives a toss about the team selection. We're all wound up because we lost, because the media are loving it even more with the incorrect refereeing decisions, and tot op it off we all paid hundreds to get down to London for the privilege of losing at Wembley yet again.

I have a bigger problem with Pep drifting away from a winning team to accommodate returning players. I genuinely think Akanji and Haaland should have been benched, being then on of we need, especially as we're not seeking out the big man with any direct passes right now anyway. Easy to say now, but I hope neither start tomorrow. Akanji for tactical reasons and Haaland because if he's not hungry then he's not useful. Have less issue with Echeverri playing on Saturday, or tomorrow, as he looked hungry, skillful and positive. Also reckless on they challenge, but some fire please City.

But it's not worth getting upset about, we have to pull together to win tomorrow, from the manager right through to the fans. If Echeverri or Bobb or Postman Pat start tomorrow I don't care, I'm getting behind them 100%, because that's all I can do now to push us on to at least save the season in some form.
I felt Akanjis’ position was pivotal to a big part of our build up play on Saturday. He seemed to have an awful lot of the ball but, unfortunately, I can’t recall him playing a single pass forwards, everything was back inside. I think Lewis, maybe because he’s naturally a midfielder rather than defender, would have at least tried to be creative and move the ball forward.
 
Did Palace not have a lot of injuries / missing players at the back when we played them when we beat them 5-2 ! Think that team would have performed even worse on Saturday !
 
I don’t know about owing players he owes us for our day out watching that, get your hand in your pocket baldie
That supposes that Pep is at fault. How about we are just not as good as we were because of the aging process. Tomorrow we say goodbye to KDB at the Etihad.

All things considered, we owe Pep for a wonderful era.
 
I felt Akanjis’ position was pivotal to a big part of our build up play on Saturday. He seemed to have an awful lot of the ball but, unfortunately, I can’t recall him playing a single pass forwards, everything was back inside. I think Lewis, maybe because he’s naturally a midfielder rather than defender, would have at least tried to be creative and move the ball forward.
Akanji has to play. He's the only player with any kind of pace and physical presence at the back. Without him we'd have been undone on more than the 1 occasion that led to the goal for Palace. Nunes is also a total liability.
 
Wonder if Pep feels he owes Grealish anything ? Or maybe the fans who spent a fortune getting there?
 

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