Pep Guardiola reveals why £34M Manchester City star was benched against Aston Villa | OneFootball

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has explained why Rayan Cherki was named on the bench in his side’s 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa on Sunday.

City’s two-month unbeaten run came into an end in Birmingham at the weekend as Matty Cash’s 19th minute winner secured a huge win for Unai Emery and co and inflicted the first loss in 10 games for Pep Guardiola’s side.

Fresh from a 2-0 win in the UEFA Champions League in Villarreal in midweek, Guardiola made several changes to his Manchester City lineup and notably started John Stones in the number six position, with Nico Gonzalez on the bench.

Erling Haaland was devoid of service – bar a very presentable chance made by Bernardo Silva in the first-half – and Manchester City’s over-reliance on the Norway international was on show as the visitors failed to test Emiliano Martinez for much of the game and simply kept knocking the ball from left to right.

Manchester City are enduring a period of transition in the backdrop of a sliding doors transfer window that saw newly-appointed director of football Hugo Viana sign off on the notable exits of Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan and James McAtee.

City recruited Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki to help mitigate the loss of De Bruyne, who served as Guardiola’s playmaker-in-chief for the best part of a decade and was allowed to leave on a free transfer at the end of his contract this summer.

Cherki made his long-awaited return to injury last weekend in a 2-0 win over Everton and impressed in a cameo, wherein the 22-year-old France international caused havoc in the Toffees backline and made a very good chance for Haaland, which the forward didn’t put away.

There were questions raised on why Cherki was not named in the starting XI against Aston Villa on Sunday, with Manchester City visibly lacking any creativity in midfield in the absence of their £34 million summer signing from Lyon.

“Cherki, we know that. He’s really good. But they arrive, and there are a lot of things that always we have to consider it, and of course the talent is good, but there are other aspects. Step-by-step he will come in, step-by-step we’re going to do. Step-by-step,” Guardiola said on Cherki’s absence from the starting XI against Villa after the 1-0 defeat.

“I don’t live in October, November thinking, ‘Oh what is going to happen if we don’t win the Premier League?’ It’s game-by-game, now Swansea – prepare well, go there, continue in the Carabao Cup, prepare the last two games plus Champions League before the international break. And when we come back, no more breaks until March, and see what’s going on.

“I have the feeling the Manchester City team is alive, is good. I don’t know how many teams can play here (at Villa Park) the way we played, with courage, possession, chances, conceding less, expected goals, all these kind of things.”

Cherki came off the bench after 76 minutes at Villa Park and straight away assumed creative responsibility for Manchester City, who threw as many men as they could forward in search of an equaliser but were thwarted in their attempts by a resolute Villa backline.