Pep Guardiola lost for only the second time to a Tottenham Hotspur side managed by Ange Postecoglou, as they beat Manchester City 2-1 in the Fourth Round of the Carabao Cup.
It seemed like Manchester City were all set to stage a heroic comeback after Matheus Nunes’ late goal in the first half.
However, in a chaotic second half of football where both teams could have sealed the clash, Tottenham came out on top.
Pep Guardiola would have wanted to go through to give his City side the chance to win the Carabao Cup.
Having won the competition four times during his tenure, Guardiola may have well had an eye on doing so once again.
But Spurs avenged their 1-0 defeat to Manchester City in the FA Cup from last season to emerge victorious in a box-office encounter in the Carabao Cup.
- Carabao Cup 2024/25: Fourth-round draw ball nymbers, Man City opponents, full schedule & more
Jamie Redknapp makes Erling Haaland claim about Pep Guardiola after Man City vs Tottenham
The Sky Blues are still alive and kicking in the Premier League, the Champions League and the FA Cup, which is yet to begin for them.
Losing one game in all competitions indicates how strong their start to the season has been.
After Manchester City lost to Tottenham, Jamie Redknapp claimed that Pep Guardiola’s seriousness towards winning the clash was summed up by his decision not to bring Erling Haaland off the bench.
Redknapp said on Sky Sports: “No disrespect to Tottenham winning but you could see who wanted it more. When he’s not bringing on [Erling] Haaland with 15 minutes to go, that really showed you where Man City were in terms of he had a couple of injuries, he didn’t want to get any more injuries.”
“He felt with the players that he had on the pitch he could still do it and they did certainly have their chances, but for Tottenham, it’s a big one.”
Haaland was rested in favour of Phil Foden, who started as a makeshift false nine.
James McAtee replaced Foden after he was taken off at half-time, with the Norwegian still watching the game from the bench.
As Jamie Redknapp stated, even when City were searching for a goal, Haaland remained on the bench as an unused substitute as Pep Guardiola decided to make a maximum of five changes anyway.
Guardiola admitted before Spurs game his “main target” is not Carabao Cup
Ahead of Manchester City’s latest loss to Tottenham, Pep Guardiola already admitted that his priority was not the Carabao Cup and he aimed to ensure his side picked up no more injuries.
Guardiola said via Manchester City’s official website: “I would love to have everyone [fit], it’s not the position we’re in, we are few people and we’re going to do what we have to do.”
“I’m going to think about Spurs, maybe some players from the academy. We will see tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, we have four days not three.”
Pep Guardiola added: “Of course, we will go there to compete but the main target is Bournemouth, Sporting and Brighton before the international break, this is the focus.”
“We will take a decision and if the players are fine we will play them against Spurs but if there are any doubts I’m not going to take a risk against Spurs, that’s for sure.”
Manuel Akanji and Savinho suffered injuries, with the former sustaining one in the warm-up before the game that led to a surprise start for Ruben Dias and the latter being stretchered off.
With Rodri, Kevin De Bruyne, Oscar Bobb, Kyle Walker, Jeremy Doku and Jack Grealish already sidelined with injuries, the latest setbacks suffered by Akanji and Savinho would not have done much to ease Guardiola’s concerns.
As Jamie Redknapp pointed out, the Manchester City boss seemingly did not wish to take any risks and a potential knock to Haaland would have been yet another devastating blow for his side.
