Pep Guardiola criticizes Manchester City players after narrow FA Cup win over Salford City: ‘It was boring’

Pep Guardiola was critical of his players after Manchester City’s narrow win in the FA Cup.

Pep Guardiola is always a headline in every press conference he attends. He normally backs his players no matter what, but his tone was different after Manchester City’s narrow FA Cup win over Salford City.

The FA Cup is the oldest competition in the world for a reason; there is always room for exciting matches between teams from very different levels. This time an emphatic score was expected, with a powerful Premier League side facing a League Two team.

It was only a 2-0 victory, which prompted the criticism. Guardiola said he wasn’t pleased with how they performed: “We didn’t read the spaces. It depends on how they defend it and we didn’t read it. That is the reason why the match was boring. The only good news is that we went through. That’s all.”

Guardiola says the calendar isn’t an excuse

Salford City currently play in the fourth tier of English soccer. The most dominant club in the country in recent years shouldn’t have had problems posting a big score. That looked possible when Manchester City opened the scoring in the 6th minute with an own goal.

It’s true that Guardiola named a lineup that included nine changes compared to their most recent match against Fulham in the Premier League last Wednesday. Even so, Marc Guehi’s goal to extend the margin wasn’t enough to please the manager.

Guardiola also said that the short turnaround isn’t an excuse: “It would be easy for me to say mentally we’re exhausted, we’re tired, that it has been a tough two or three weeks for many reasons. But it’s our job. The calendar demands we play every few days. We just didn’t read where the spaces were and everything was flat, slow and not good.”

Manchester City’s bright note

There was one positive from the match for the Spanish manager in the return of John Stones to the team. The defender had been out for over two months with a thigh muscle injury.

Guardiola was cautious about his inclusion in future lineups: “He’s back. He still needs time; he’s not the John Stones we knew, but his body language was really good in terms of pressing and aggression. It’s important that he played 65 minutes.”