Pep Guardiola explains surprise decision on £34M Manchester City star in Liverpool win | OneFootball

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has explained why he took Rayan Cherki off in the 53rd minute of his side’s 3-0 win over Liverpool on Sunday evening.

City put the reigning Premier League champions to the sword at the Etihad Stadium as goals from Erling Haaland, Nico Gonzalez and man-of-the-moment Jeremy Doku secured a monumental three points for the Blues over the Reds.

Pep Guardiola was handed a special performance by his players in his 1,000th game in management as City dominated the lacklustre visitors and cut Arsenal’s lead at the top of the Premier League to the four points after the Gunners were held to a 2-2 draw by Sunderland on Saturday.

The win over Arne Slot’s side makes it 11 victories in 14 games in all competitions for Manchester City since September as the Blues enter the forthcoming international break in the best form they have shown in 12 months.

City welcomed Liverpool to the Etihad Stadium in the backdrop of back-to-back home triumphs over Bournemouth and Borussia Dortmund in the previous week – underscoring the manner in which the Blues have turned a corner and gotten their act together since a slugging start to the 2025-26 campaign in August.

After scoring late on against Dortmund off the bench in midweek, Rayan Cherki replaced Tijjani Reijnders in the starting XI as Manchester City’s architect-in-chief in midfield – who joined the Blues for £34 million from Lyon in June – was tasked with breaking down the Liverpool defence.

However, even as Manchester City took the visitors to the cleaners, Cherki gave the ball away cheaply in the first-half and looked far from his best as he continues to adapt to the demands of the Premier League in his debut season in England.

As a result, the 22-year-old was replaced by Savinho in the 53rd minute as City looked to hold on to a two-goal advantage and retain the ball better against a Liverpool side that grew into the game soon after the restart.

With eyebrows raised over Cherki going off as early as he did, Guardiola was asked to explain the reasoning behind taking the France international off with less than an hour on the clock.

“It was more difficult for Rayan (Cherki) because the space was more on the left side not on the right side today for the way they defended,” Guardiola said in his post-match press conference.

“But Bernie (Bernardo Silva) Nico, all the back-four but especially Bernie, Nico, and Phil (Foden) – they were outstanding, keeping, and doing it there.”

For all his trickery, raw talent and ability on the ball, Cherki needs to pull his weight in defending and running out of possession if he is to succeed at Manchester City, who have achieved unparalleled success in English football under Guardiola owing to a collective desire to do the dirty work right at par with playing beautiful football.