Lack Of Minutes Playing Layer Players Becomes Manchester City's Mistake

Pep Guardiola has learned from Manchester City's two consecutive defeats (Instagram/@mancity).

JAKARTA - Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola agrees that his team needs to try many players to have a good depth.

The lesson comes as The Citizens lose twice in a row in all competitions when Guardiola changed the composition of the starter.

Surprisingly, Manchester City lost 0-2 to Bayer Leverkusen in the middle of this week at the Etihad Stadium. Before that, they were also beaten by Newcastle United 1-2 in the Premier League.

Guardiola had to pay dearly for making 10 changes to the core line-up against Leverkusen.

No wonder, he felt that the players who were brought in were too afraid to take risks and failed to take the initiative, which caused a second successive defeat.

"It's not about one result, it's about performance. Of course, the results help performance, but I'm not too disappointed with (the defeat) against Newcastle."

"Lastly, yes, because of my decision and because we didn't try, that's as simple as that. In football, when playing on the gridiron, we have to try things, and we don't try them."

"I don't think they played to make mistakes, not playing to do something. That's a good lesson for me. Because I have experience as a manager, it's a good lesson for me for the future," said Guardiola on Friday, November 28, 2025, local time.

Erling Haaland, Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden, and Gianluigi Donnarumma are among the players Guardiola reserve for the match against Leverkusen.

Meanwhile, players such as Rayan Ait-Nouri, Rico Lewis, Abdokodir Khusanov, Omar Marmoush, and James Trafford were given the opportunity to appear from the early minutes.

Guardiola stated that he felt the core players lacked confidence.

"Maybe I have a theory to rotate because it's impossible to keep it, but I really believe in them and I still believe."

"I really appreciate them as football players. Maybe I think they are higher than they think of themselves," said Guardiola.

Meanwhile, Manchester City is still without key midfielder Rodri as they host Leeds United who are struggling on Saturday, November 29, 2025, western Indonesia time.

The Spaniard has missed eight of the last nine games due to a hamstring injury and it remains unclear when he will return.

"Not yet, but he will be soon," Guardiola said when asked about Rodri's condition.

Leeds United will travel to Manchester City after five defeats in the last six games. That puts Manager Daniel Farke under pressure.

Even so, Guardiola was reluctant to look into his opponent's eyes.

"I have an extraordinary opinion about Daniel. I have a very good relationship with him."

"I know the Premier League is always like this--you can get good results or bad results and keep going because the opponents are tough."

"Every opponent has a long week to prepare and it's very demanding. We have to be ready," said Guardiola.