Guardiola is satisfied with his words, but his movements are very honest.
"There will be five substitutions next season and you will see how talented I am."
After Manchester City's Premier League triumph last year, Guardiola put down the phrase – indeed, he kept his promise that he would not need a single substitution.
In the early hours of the 23rd, Manchester City's 1-1 draw away at Leipzig may not be a bad result, but Guardiola once again made the world wonder with his tumultuous maneuvers.
He didn't use a single substitution in the game, and watched Leipzig, who were constantly mobilizing troops, equalize the score while leading the way...
Mahrez hit the far corner to give City the lead.
The draw turned out to be very satisfied
After the game, Guardiola had his own tone as always: "I can change five people but it doesn't mean I have to change people, I'm a really good coach, I can decide what has to be done, I'm happy with everything I see. ”
Perhaps to convince the doubtful media, Guardiola simply resumed the game with everyone, "Against an opponent like Leipzig, you need to increase your control of the ball, there are six people in the front of the opponent, they are fast, we can't compete with them in the ball, we have to have more control, especially in the first leg. ”
Pep Guardiola's understanding of football can often be empowering, but this time it sounds like a fallacy – his team has played four games in 10 days and is exhausted from an expedition to Germany.
De Bruyne suffered another injury at the heart of this game, and it stands to reason that the manager should have made better rotations in the personnel and used all the substitutions to ensure that the team had enough energy on the field to support the game, and he preferred to use a set of starters to death.
Gervadior's header equalised for Leipzig.
Tired and indifferent?
The course of the game also proved that Manchester City had a strong prosperous decline - in the first half they had 74% possession and 94.6% success in passing, only allowing the home team to hit the goal.
By the second half, City's possession had plummeted to 49.2 per cent, and the success rate of passing had also decreased, only 84.7 per cent, and it was shot six times by opponents. It can be said that the first and second halves are like two teams.
Guardiola said that he wanted to control his opponent, but he was indifferent to the constant pressure of his opponent.
Henrisis came close to scoring in the 55th minute before Guevadior's header equalised, and as a half-time substitute, he won the ball at the far end and slid off the post with an unmarked shot.
In the 66th minute, the injured Nkunku also came on, and then Manchester City conceded the goal...
In fact, even after being equalised, Manchester City still had more than 20 minutes to adjust and even win, but Guardiola himself took the lead in evaporation - his bench clearly still had attackers such as Alvarez and Foden, but Leipzig manager Rozee replaced three players in the final stage, including two central midfielders.
Pep Guardiola encouraged the players after the game.
"You guys played very well"
The last time a team made zero substitutions in the Champions League was back in October 2018, when Manchester United lost 1-0 to Juventus in the Champions League group stage, when the Reds made no adjustments at home.
It is worth mentioning that in 2018, there were only three substitutions per game, and now it has increased to five, and Guardiola's behavior in this game is bizarre in terms of the rules, the current situation of the team and the dynamics on the field.
Interestingly, when the Manchester City players were dissatisfied with the game one by one with their heads down, Guardiola ran to them and said, "Why are you keeping your heads down, you are playing well." ”
Guardiola is really incomprehensible, and after the game he mentioned to the media that his expectations for this game were not high, "I have a feeling that the first leg will be tied, and the result will be decided in the second leg. ”
'There are 180 minutes in the game and I don't want to lose 0-4 or 3-4 away again, that's all in my expectations and I'm happy that we played like this.'
To tell a joke, Guardiola's game should be performed according to the script he wrote in advance, for fear that Leipzig would not be able to tie the score.
What exactly was Guardiola thinking?
Do nothing
The draw comes with City's last three consecutive draws in their last three away games, with Copenhagen, Borussia Dortmund and Leipzig, and the last time City suffered a three-game winless away from home in the Champions League, dating back to September 2016 to February 2017.
If three consecutive wins in the group stage can retain strength on the road, then in the life-and-death knockout stage, Guardiola's lack of dominance is really a bit too much.
It is true that Guardiola is an excellent coach, but the command of many key games is always incomprehensible - some previous focus battles, rotating the lineup and adjusting the formation have been considered a regular operation for him.
On February 6, Manchester City lost 1-0 to Tottenham Hotspur, Guardiola put De Bruyne, Gundogan, Laporte and other important players on the bench, many English football celebrities and media believe that Guardiola's overthinking sometimes hurts the team, and now Guardiola has gone to the other extreme - do nothing.
Haaland's recent form is no longer hot.
Haaland's Loss
To be fair, managers can be relatively steady without completely losing control, but you have to know that this team has played too many games in less than two weeks, many people have empty tanks, and even if they don't think about goals, they need to make sure they have enough on-field running to compete with their opponents.
In this game, Haaland had only 22 touches in the game, zero touches in the opponent's penalty area in the first 60 minutes, and only one shot on target in the game.
Norwegian forminess seems to have slipped as he enters 2023, with four goals in his last seven Premier League games, but that includes a hat-trick against Wolves, and Haaland has been a bit out of the way in some other games.
Liverpool legend Carragher believes that Haaland has spent his honeymoon period with Manchester City and that his integration with the whole team has had some problems.
However, Guardiola reiterated his trust in Haaland: "He is 100% adapted to Manchester City and we need to pass the ball to him more. ”
The problem is precisely that when the midfielder can't keep feeding Haaland, the brilliant finisher disappears.
He is undoubtedly City's best centre-forward in recent years, but he does not have the frequent running and transposition ability of those small forwards, which sometimes makes him look out of place on the pitch, and Guardiola himself first has to figure out how to use such a player.
9 strikers on the next leg?
Manchester City, who left with a draw at the end of the first leg, are still favourites to qualify, but City's goal is by no means just the first round of the knockout round.
City were number one in institutional odds to win ahead of this round, and given this, how to play their next home game and go further is a top priority for Guardiola.
In the interview, Guardiola was clearly angered by media doubts about his non-substitution, with the Manchester City boss saying: "Even if people don't like the way I play, that's okay, maybe in the second leg I'll be a little crazy and play nine forwards. ”
This is a joke by Gua Shuai, but I believe everyone is worried that Guardiola will once again play the "crazy experimenter", which is only a 1/8 knockout match, don't play smashed.