Pep Guardiola accepts 10 changes cost Manchester City in UEFA Champions League defeat to Bayer Leverkusen – ‘Maybe it’s too much’

Nico Gonzalez was the only survivor from the trip to St James’ Park, with the likes of James Trafford, Nathan Ake and Oscar Bobb earning rare starts.

Before the match, Guardiola told TNT Sports that he would have rotated all eleven players if he could have, because his side needed “fresh legs” after a busy period.

But that decision came back to haunt him, as goals from Alex Grimaldo and Patrik Schick earned the visitors a vital three points in the race for a place in the knock-out stages.

Speaking to TNT Sports after the game, Guardiola admitted it was probably an error of judgement to tinker so much with his starting XI.

“I understand your question,” Guardiola said. “Absolutely, I have to accept it. I have to accept that if we win, it will not be a problem.

“I accept that maybe it’s a lot, but I think they’re playing every two or three or four days, we need to… but maybe it’s too much. Seeing the result, maybe it’s too much.”

The defeat means City have lost back-to-back games for the first time since August. It is also the second Champions League game in which they have dropped points this season, and comes ahead of a trip to Real Madrid next month.

TNT Sports pundit Joleon Lescott admitted it was a bit of a shock to see Guardiola rotate his line-up so much.

Ahead of kick-off, he said: “In isolation, any of those players play on a weekly basis. The fact that it’s 10 changes is the surprising element to it. They’re all good enough to play. They have played. He (Guardiola) will expect to win, regardless of who’s performing.”

TNT Sports expert Martin Keown added: “Some of the players these guys are replacing are the kings of football. Are they good enough?

Highlights: Inspired Leverkusen capitalise on Man City changes to seal shock win

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“(John) Stones playing here tonight. He’s a player who plays for England, who doesn’t seem to play the most important games for City.

“He’s another one who seems like he’s on trial, and maybe that’s what we’re seeing here – a trial.”

Either way, if it was a “trial”, it did not work. Guardiola turned to his bench at half-time, bringing on Nico O’Reilly, Phil Foden and Jeremy Doku. By the 65th minute, Erling Haaland and Rayan Cherki were introduced as well.

It was too late though. The visitors had their two-goal cushion, and saw the game out in impressive fashion.

“I think the performance is worse than result,” Lescott added at full-time. “In Champions League football, you can lose any game. The performance is more telling than the result.

‘A lot of things wrong with today’s performance’ – Pundits react to Man City loss

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“There was an opportunity to build momentum with a performance and get a result, but that wasn’t the case.

“I think everyone will take responsibility. I think when you win and lose as a team, you all enjoy the accolades and the praise that you get, but you also have to take the responsibility and accountability when it doesn’t go so well.”

TNT Sports expert Owen Hargreaves added: “City weren’t great, and all the changes affected their rhythm.

“But you have to say, you’ve still got to come here and play, and I thought Leverkusen played the whole game. They probably could have scored more.”

Keown: Pep ‘surprised by how good his opponent was’

Keown believes Guardiola might have been caught off guard by the strength of Leverkusen’s performance in Manchester.

The German side are still in a rebuilding stage, having lost Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid over the summer, and then quickly sacked his replacement Erik ten Hag.

Ex-Denmark boss Kasper Hjulmand is now at the helm, and under his guidance, the German outfit had won eight out of 13 fixtures before their trip to the Etihad.

Speaking of Guardiola’s decision to rest and rotate, Keown said: “He took full responsibility. I think he was surprised by how good his opponent was, and disappointed with his own performances.

‘We need fresh legs’ says Guardiola as he explains his 10 changes ahead of Leverkusen clash

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“He just wants to get out. He wants to look at the Leeds game (on Saturday). He talked about, it was about rest for his players.

“But he would have been shocked and surprised by the level of performance from the guys who came in. That’s why he would have spent so much time in the dressing room.

“He said it can happen, but it can’t happen too often, because then your season starts to fall away.

“Europe starts to look at that and thinks, ‘Are they really as good as they once were?’”

‘Sometimes it happens’ says disappointed Pep

There were still some elements of the display that Guardiola liked. His side had 19 shots over the course of the 90 minutes – 12 more than their opponents, of which seven were on target.

They also enjoyed more possession, but the way they managed some elements of their game was not up to scratch.

“It was not the performance that we thought,” Guardiola said. “Maybe I’ve got to take full responsibility.

‘We weren’t good enough’ – Stones laments ‘difficult’ defeat for Man City

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“Still, I think that the players that started are exceptional players, but we missed something that we needed in the highest level. It was an opportunity to stop, and now we have to fight for the next games.

“They were good and in general, we did also very good things. We had our chances and I would say the chances we had were more than them, but it was half chances; always a block or something was there.

“We didn’t have that to believe that if it’s the moment to attack, attack, if it’s the moment to defend, defend.

“It’s not being in the position. It’s being present in the position, defensively and offensively. We had the determination to say okay, I’m going to make a movement, I’m going to make some situations that we can do. Sometimes it happens.”