Nedum Onuoha has expressed his sympathy with former Manchester City striker Gabriel Jesus, following some comments he made about Pep Guardiola.
The Brazilian made headlines recently for saying that Pep made him cry.
Jesus had been speaking about leaving City last year for Arsenal.
And one of the tipping points for him was when Pep decided to use Oleksandr Zinchenko up front ahead of him, despite being available.
He said (via ESPN): “There was a Champions League game, PSG, at home, in which he put Zinchenko as a false 9. Crazy thing. The day before, he didn’t even use [Zinchenko] in training, he had put me in as a striker. Zinchenko even joked with me ‘that day I felt bad for you’.
“Two hours before the game, there’s a team talk, the team eats, rests for 30 minutes and goes to the game. He told us the team, I didn’t even eat. I went straight to the room, crying, I called my mother to talk: ‘I want to leave.’ I’m going home, because he put [Zinchenko] on, and he didn’t put me on. He put a left-back there. I went crazy.”
Nedum Onuoha sympathises with Gabriel Jesus following treatment by Pep Guardiola
Jesus’ admission has drawn a big reaction from City supporters.
Some feel that Jesus should simply have taken Guardiola’s decision professionally. He is arguably greatest manager ever, and obviously he knows what he is doing.
But others do feel Guardiola was a little harsh with Jesus in not playing him when he ‘should’ have.
Onuoha is Team Jesus, saying in a video for ESPN FC: “In my opinion, from a player’s perspective, he’s got grounds to be upset. Especially if he was training the position up until the day before the game itself.
“I think for Pep… some of his last minute changes, plans and thoughts, they can work out great. And we wouldn’t really know much about it. But it usually comes at the expense of somebody else.
“I’m sure he (Jesus) was hugely disappointed.”
Pep Guardiola’s ruthlessness is why he is so successful
Ultimately, you don’t get to Guardiola’s managerial level and be as successful as him without being ruthless.
We all know that he has a tendency to ‘overthink’ sometimes. But more often than not his ideas work out for the better.
Jesus’ emotions are completely understandable.
It must have been very difficult to take to see Zinchenko of all people operating as a false nine against PSG.
Jesus was great for City and fans shouldn’t be having a go at him for these comments. It’s just how he felt at the time.
In the end he left the club in a deal that suited all parties, and the club have since brought in an absolute killer in front of goal, of course.
