Pep Guardiola admits to being unhappy with Manchester City performance after 20 minutes against Chelsea

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has admitted that he was unhappy with his side’s performance after just 20 minutes against Chelsea on Thursday night.

A single second-half goal from Riyad Mahrez was enough to snatch all three points from West London, as Manchester City narrowed the gap between themselves and current league leaders Arsenal to just five points.

While onlookers saw significant improvements in the performance of the visitors in the second period of 45 minutes, the opening half saw the current champions struggle in a system that caught many by surprise.

Pep Guardiola opted to utilise Joao Cancelo in a wide right position, with a back-three of Kyle Walker, John Stones, and Nathan Ake when in possession, as well as Rodrigo and Bernardo Silva in deep-lying midfield roles.

City struggled to create, and were often found gifting chances to the hosts, who ultimately failed to capitalise on Manchester City’s early struggles in the game. Speaking during his post-match press conference at Stamford Bridge, Pep Guardiola admitted that after just 20 minutes, he felt a need to change his initial line-up.

“All the managers try to make decisions to help the team – sometimes you are losing but the team is playing good and why I should change when I have the feeling they are doing well?” Guardiola opened.

“Today, after 20 minutes, because you have to give them a little bit of time to try, I decided I didn’t like what I was seeing. So why wait?

“So I spoke with Rodolfo (Borrell) and Enzo (Maresca), and we said, ‘Okay, we have to change something’, otherwise it would have been more difficult. Everyone could see from the first minute of the second half, it was a different Man City.”

Guardiola closed by heaping yet more praise on his 18 year-old prodigy, as he continued, “And this dynamic from Rico (Lewis) helped everyone to have their freedom. He changed the game from minute one.”

Manchester City will go up against Chelsea once again on Sunday afternoon, as Graham Potter’s side travel to the Etihad Stadium for the Emirates FA Cup third round.

Pep Guardiola is expected to rotate his squad once again, with the fixtures coming thick and fast, and a number of crucial Premier League matches right around the corner this month – including clashes against the likes of Manchester United and Tottenham.