‘We need a player who keeps the ball!’ 🗣️ ‘After (he went off) we did it better…’- Pep Guardiola defends early Kevin De Bruyne substitution after touchline spat with Man City midfielder in Liverpool draw
Pep Guardiola has now explained why he took Kevin De Bruyne off when Manchester City played Liverpool on March 10.
Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp played their last Premier League game against each other at Anfield. The reigning champions were there. The Spanish coach started with Erling Haaland and De Bruyne, who are known for being great together.
The Belgian was very smart and helped the Citizens take the lead in the 23rd minute. People on the Liverpool team were waiting for the player to take the corner kick. While they were waiting, he found John Stones at the near post and sent it in.
In the 50th minute, Nathan Ake’s loose backpass made Ederson hit Darwin Nunez, ending the lead. No mistake was made by Alexis Mac Allister from the start.
Many people were surprised when Guardiola took De Bruyne off in the 69th minute and put on Mateo Kovacic in his place. The game was still very close.
Guardiola talks about why he took De Bruyne off the pitch.
This made the City number 17 very angry, and as his boss walked by, he told him what was going on. Guardiola went to De Bruyne’s spot on the bench to explain his choice, as seen on replays.
The former Barcelona manager said after the game that he didn’t feel bad about taking off his star player and insisted that it was the right thing to do because City was having a hard time getting back in charge.
“That makes me happy!” It’s good for me if he’s mad. He’s glad now. I knew we were missing; we didn’t keep the ball. We did it better after he left. “Once we had Mateo [Kovacic], we could make more passes when he came on,” he said, as shown on the NFL website.
Now that the game is over, Arsenal and Liverpool are tied for first place in the Premier League with 64 points each. Arsenal is ahead because they have scored more goals than Manchester City. City is only one point behind Arsenal.
At the end of the month, Mikel Arteta’s team goes to the Etihad Stadium to play.
At the same time, Sports Brief said that Liverpool was not given a late penalty against Manchester City.
There was a claim that Jeremy Doku put his foot on Mac Allister’s chest, but judge Michael Oliver waved it away.
Late in extra time, there was a tackle that could have led to a second penalty for Liverpool.
