Pep Guardiola names player he should have dropped after making ‘bad selection’ in Man City’s draw at West Ham

City saw their title aspirations take a significant hit as they were held to a stalemate by West Ham, leaving them nine points adrift of the league leaders. The Catalan coach opted to start Antoine Semenyo and Omar Marmoush on the flanks to support Erling Haaland, but the front three lacked the fluidity required to break down a resilient West Ham side. The game shifted significantly in the second half when Rayan Cherki was introduced from the bench. Alongside other substitutes like Phil Foden and Jeremy Doku, Cherki provided the creative spark that had been missing for the first hour. His ability to manipulate the ball in tight spaces frequently unlocked the Hammers' backline, though City ultimately failed to find a winning goal.

Reflecting on the result and his personnel decisions, Guardiola was blunt in his assessment of his own performance on the touchline. “Bad selection,” the City manager explained. “Now you can criticise me incredibly, for the selection, now I deserve it. It’s sometimes for the balance. We learned in the beginning (this season) that when we played Erling with Jeremy [Doku] or Cherki that we are incredibly unbalanced, we do not have the stability that teams in the Premier League have to have.”

Despite the dropped points, the City boss remains optimistic that his squad is heading in the right direction, even if they are still find-tuning their identity. He defended his use of Semenyo while acknowledging that Cherki offers a unique threat that is hard to ignore, especially when games become stretched in the latter stages.

“It’s a team that is growing, I think that from the beginning we’ve grown a lot but still it is not finished business. It is like that sometimes but I will not say that I don’t love playing with Rayan, especially when he came from the bench, always the impact is unbelievable. But sometimes he has not the speed, the team is always stable when Semenyo and Nico O’Reilly play in the winger position and go inside, arrive to the box, they are really, really good. I’m finding still the best way to have stability and consistency in the team,” he added.

City now have little time to dwell on their domestic setbacks as they prepare for a high-stakes European encounter. They must turn their attention to Real Madrid in midweek, where they face the daunting task of overturning a 3-0 deficit in their Champions League knockout tie.