Pep Guardiola was clearly so desperate to sign Riyad Mahrez so the Algerian could sit on the bench. After all the Manchester City manager could only name six substitutions for his side's game against Burnley, and no one was buying it.
There's not much that Manchester City or their manager have done wrong this season. They've just been absolutely brilliant and blown the competition away to build up a 15 point lead over Manchester United.
Being in the Carabao Cup final and still in the FA Cup and Champions League means they could realistically still win the quadruple and they've only lost two games this season, against Liverpool and Shakhtar Donetsk.
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However perhaps for the first time this season Guardiola was being roundly criticised. The former Barcelona boss could only name six player on his bench against Burnley and claimed it was 'because we don't have anymore players.'
City are currently missing David Silva, John Stones, Leroy Sane, Fabian Delph, Gabriel Jesus and Benjamin Mendy but the lack of a youth player to fill the seventh spot meant no one was buying it.
On Sky Sports Gary Neville said, "I was really hoping he wasn't going to give the answer that he did. I think it's a joke, an absolute joke. If you are a youth team manager at Manchester City ring him up.
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"Forget the second team - even if they played yesterday still bring one on the bench - the youth team are there. Bring a kid, travel with the team, help the kitman, put him on the bench, have the experience of being in a Premier League game and give somebody a boost."
And Twitter agreed with the former England defender:
Probably could have just picked an extra youth player Pep!
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Manchester City, Football News, Pep Guardiola, Premier League
