James Maddison reveals what Pep Guardiola said to him during their deep conversation after Leicester vs. Man City
James Maddison has revealed what Pep Guardiola said to him after they were deep in conversation following Leicester City vs. Manchester City.
Guardiola's side climbed above Arsenal to the top of the league after beating the Foxes 1-0 at the King Power Stadium on Saturday - thanks to Kevin De Bruyne's sensational free-kick.
The hosts were fairly reserved in the first-half, but opened up in the second-half as they chased an equaliser, with Youri Tielemans rattling the cross-bar moments after the opening goal.
After the final whistle was blown, Guardiola approached Maddison and spoke in great depth as they left the field.
Asked what his conversation with Guardiola was about, the Leicester star replied: "He was asking why we didn’t play like the last 15 minutes for the whole game.
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"I think he realises it’s not as easy at that. But he’s a top manager with a top team so it’s always going to be tough."
Rio Ferdinand defended Leicester's approach, claiming if they had expressed themselves, then they'd be picked off by Man City.
"If they go out there and start playing like they did in the last part of the game then it’s probably 3-0 before half time most times because there be open bigger spaces for City to run into and opportunities to punish them," he said on BT Sport.
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Speaking after the game, Brendan Rodgers bemoaned the lack of belief as he praised his team's defensive output.
"The players carried out the game-plan as well as we could have asked them to. You have to still be in the game with 20 minutes to go," he said. "Defensively we were very, very good but we lacked belief at times and that let us down.
"We had good chances in the game and we were unfortunate not to nick something. You have to concede that you are playing arguably the best team in the world, they can play through you and around you.
"There are lots of elements we can be better in. But the spirit of the team and the mentality was we kept fighting."
Topics: Pep Guardiola, Leicester City, James Maddison, Football, Man City
Nasir Jabbar