Pep Guardiola "should apologise" to every Manchester City player for his arrogant team selection in the Champions League final defeat to Chelsea, claims one ex-Tottenham player.
The City coach revealed a surprising starting XI in Porto on Saturday night, as he benched Fernandinho and Rodri, leaving his side without a traditional holding midfielder. City had chances in an end-to-end first half but never really controlled the game and lost to a Kai Havertz goal.
Afterwards, Guardiola's selection was branded "a disgrace" and he was accused of costing City victory by former Spurs midfielder Jamie O'Hara on talkSPORT.
"It's one of the worst performances I've seen from Manchester City in a long time," said O'Hara. "Bottle jobs. And an absolute disaster of a team selection from Pep Guardiola.
"I cannot believe he got it so wrong in such a big moment... with no holding midfielder. If Timo Werner could shoot, it would have been 3-0 at half-time. They [Chelsea] were all over them.
"I couldn't believe what I was watching. It was a disgrace from Pep Guardiola."
Even before kick-off in Portugal, it was pointed out that at least one of Fernandinho or Rodri had started 59 of City's 60 games this season. So Pep's starting XI was definitely a surprise.
But O'Hara claims the error was compounded by Guardiola's refusal to change his team at half-time and by the dynamic performance of N'Golo Kante, showing City exactly what they were missing.
"Guardiola's arrogance at half-time to not hold his hands up and say, 'I've got this wrong, we're still in the game, I need to bring Fernandinho on now and get it sorted'," added O'Hara.
"He waited until the 64th minute to change it and then they were in control, but you can't break down this Chelsea team in half an hour. You need a longer period of time. It was too little, too late.
"Pep Guardiola should go in that dressing room and apologise to every single player because he's the one that's cost them the Champions League."
:rage: "I can't believe Pep's arrogance to not hold his hands up & say he got it wrong at half time."
- talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) May 29, 2021
:triumph: "Pep Guardiola should apologise to every #MCFC player. He cost them the #UCLFinal !"
Jamie O'Hara slams Pep Guardiola & says he's to blame for Man City's loss pic.twitter.com/Ky5iPesnhV
Guardiola defended his choices post-match, claiming that Ilkay Gundogan did well as City's deepest-lying midfielder for much of the night. However the German international definitely didn't have the impact that he's had in so many matches for City this season.
Whether Guardiola really owes an apology to the player's he's coached to Premier League and Carabao Cup success this season is quite another matter, of course.
All imagery: PA Images
Topics: Manchester City, Pep Guardiola, Champions League
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