‘Hard to believe’ - Graeme Souness questions Pep Guardiola’s ‘strange’ team selection in Man City v Spurs

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Graeme Souness believes Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola was trying to prove a point with his team selection in Sunday’s visit to Tottenham Hotspur.

There was some surprise when the City lineup was revealed an hour before kick-off after the Spaniard named Aymeric Laporte, Ruben Dias, Kevin de Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan among his substitutes. There was a major show of support for young defender Rico Lewis as he switched to left-back to allow Nathan Ake to partner Manuel Akanji at centre-back.

Annual salary: £19m. Current position: 2ndAnnual salary: £19m. Current position: 2nd
Annual salary: £19m. Current position: 2nd
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Souness questioned whether Guardiola was ‘trying to send a message’ to some members of his squad in what the former Liverpool manager suggested could be a lack of application in training ahead of the game.

He told Sky Sports: “I find it strange. You talk about big games, this is a big game.

“The next game is the big game. They saw what Arsenal did yesterday and this is an enormous game for them. I find it strange. I have to believe, given the last game was nine days ago, that the changes they’ve made, there’s at least three, maybe four substitutes that would be in my strongest Manchester City team.

“I just wonder if he’s trying to prove a point to some people, whether he feels some people aren’t at it. I think the emphasis on having to train properly with Pep and I just wonder if he’s seen a slackening with some players and he’s trying to send a message because this is a big game for him.”

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He continued: “How can you player Alvarez instead of De Bruyne? Four goals in 15 games. De Bruyne for me, on his day, is as good as there is in the world as an attacking midfield player. But what you will get from Alvarez is the hard yards and maybe that’s what De Bruyne is not giving them at this time.”