Pep Guardiola did not hold back after Manchester City’s 2 – 0 defeat to Bayer Leverkusen and honestly, he was spot on.
Pep made 10 changes for the Champions League game, trusted his squad players, and they responded by playing scared. Not bad. Not unlucky. Scared.
In his words, they played “not to make mistakes” instead of trying to make something happen. And in top-level football, that’s the difference between just existing on the pitch and actually competing.
You could see what he meant: too many safe passes, no one breaking lines, no one demanding the ball under pressure. It was like watching players hide in plain sight.
Pep still insists he has huge faith in them sometimes he seems calmer in setbacks, like in his reaction to the Villa defeat and where City go from here but this time the message was sharper: courage on the ball is non-negotiable.
With City playing twice a week until mid-January and Rodri still out with a hamstring issue (though close to returning), Pep needs this whole squad switched on.
He’s the same manager who’s openly acknowledged the influence of others, even tipping his cap to Tony Pulis for the set-piece arms race he helped spark, so when he questions intensity and bravery, it’s coming from someone obsessed with every tiny edge.
Leeds come to town on Saturday, stuck in the relegation zone and out of form. Expect the big guns to return, the tempo to go up five levels, and City to play with that controlled chaos we know so well.
But make no mistake: this “fear game” in Leverkusen will stay in Pep’s mind. And if there’s one thing we’ve seen over and over when Guardiola takes a defeat personally, the response is usually terrifying for the next opponent.
