Pep Guardiola admits he made “too many changes” in defeat to Bayer Leverkusen | OneFootball

Manchester City suffered a 0-2 defeat to Bayer Leverkusen at the Etihad Stadium, which saw them move down to 6th in the UEFA Champions League table.

One of the most noticeable aspects of Manchester City’s loss was the number of changes that Guardiola made. The Manchester City manager made a total of 10 changes from the side that lost to Newcastle United on the weekend, but was quick to admit that maybe he got it wrong with the volume of rotation that he made.

He said: “Too many changes. What I’ve said, I believe it’s a long season, every two days, three days, two days, three days, everybody has to be involved, but maybe it was too much seeing the result.”

The defeat for Manchester City saw them drop from fourth in the table to sixth, and depending on the results in the Champions League on Wednesday night, it could see the Citizens fall into a play-off spot with three games remaining.

Guardiola stated how his side would clean their heads and go again ahead of their game against Leeds United on Saturday and wasn’t concerned for what the future held in Europe.

“I don’t anticipate much going to happen in the future. The future is going to happen, don’t talk much and clean our heads and go to Leeds,” he said.

Guardiola also spoke on the busy schedule that the players have and the amount of competitions they play both at club level and internationally. The Spaniard was asked on how he manages the minutes of Erling Haaland and also how he balances giving Omar Marmoush healthy playing time.

He said: “Erling was at the World Cup qualification for Norway and was so demanding against Newcastle, and we need that. I see Omar close to the box, and for the way we play, of course, having attacking midfielders in those positions there.

“Erling cannot sustain all 95 minutes; in teams that make incredible breakups, the association is short, they break the lines, and we need fresh legs.”

With a busy schedule ahead, Manchester City will quickly turn their attention to their game against Leeds United in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon – 3pm GMT.