Pep Guardiola turned to 17-year-old striker Liam Delap, making his Premier League debut, to attempt to stem the tide as Manchester Metropolis slumped to a 5-2 residence defeat by Leicester.
And whereas that was a outstanding vote of confidence within the teenager – who scored on his first look for the Blues within the Carabao Cup on Thursday – it was additionally a daring gamble.
Guardiola took off veteran midfielder Fernandinho, whose passing and management had given Metropolis a lot of their early dominance within the sport, and so deserted the double pivot which served the crew so properly at Wolves final week.
Delap is a 6ft 1in, bodily specimen and he hit the bar with a header, however Guardiola defined why he made that change.
Learn Extra
Associated Articles
Learn Extra
Associated Articles
And he stated that after taking Fernandinho off, he had detailed Kyle Walker to select up Fernandinho’s defensive job of stopping Harvey Barnes from getting a run on purpose.
Requested why he had turned to Delap, Guardiola stated: “To place one participant within the field with a very good presence and a very good header and keep there.
“It was not simple as a result of they’d three centre halfs on the penalty spot. And with Kyle, to regulate Barnes as he had performed many occasions, as a substitute of Dinho.”
The transfer didn’t work. The groups had been tied at 1-1 when Fernandinho went off within the 51 minute, and inside seven minutes they had been 3-1 down.
Chasing the sport, they then conceded a fourth earlier than Nathan Ake bagged hs first Metropolis purpose to provide a faint glimmer of hope which was crushed by Youri Tielemans’ late penalty.
