Pep Guardiola has revealed why he took Matheus Nunes off at halftime in Manchester City’s recent Premier League match against Wolves.
The Citizens were handed their first league defeat of the season by getting beat 2-1 at Molineux.
One pre-match talking point surrounded Nunes, who was making his first return to the Midlands club since leaving them to join Pep Guardiola’s side towards the end of the previous summer transfer window.
After getting a hostile reception from the home supporters in the first period of the game, the midfielder was replaced at halftime by Oscar Bobb, a decision which has now been explained by the City boss.
Guardiola addresses Nunes substitution
Speaking to the media after the game, Guardiola had this to say when asked why he took Nunes off at the halfway point.
He said: “I needed more dynamic, I want a little bit more in smaller spaces like Oscar is really good to find in the smaller spaces with the creativity he has to find someone.
“That was the reason why, not because he was playing not good, but I thought Oscar could give us something different.”
During his time on the pitch at his old stomping ground, Nunes had 39 touches of the ball in total, successfully completing 26 of the 29 passes he attempted, but failed to make even one key pass or have one shot at goal.
This shows the lack of attacking dynamism he offered his new side that Guardiola was looking to see from the midfielder.
While the Portuguese international had an overall disappointing return to Wolves, this should fuel the new City figure to become more effective in terms of making things happen in an attacking sense.
Moving forward, with the Citizens in midweek action once again with another Champions League group stage match against RB Leipzig, it’ll be interesting to see if the 25-year-old keeps his place in the starting XI and if he can deliver the sort of dynamism Guardiola wants.
