PEP’S PICK AND MIX UP

City needed their heavyweights on pitch to slug it out with Reds

PEP GUARDIOLA rolled the dice in the selection stakes and learnt a valuable lesson.

You can’t send in the boys against this Red machine.

You need the main men.

When you are facing arguably the best in Europe at the moment – one brimming with confidence and oozing strength in depth themselves – A-listers are required.

But for whatever reason – and injury played its part – Manchester City’s galacticos were sat on the substitutes’ bench.

With Ederson – more about him later – Kevin De Bruyne, Rodri, Aymeric Laporte, Ruben Dias, Ilkay Gundogan and Riyad Mahrez all looking on forlornly from the stands, their replacements were swept away

Taking any

liberty with this peak Klopp group is something that no manager can do and expect to get off

lightly

by an irresistible red tide. After two dramatic and tiring encounters already this week, Guardiola tried to read the situation at Wembley.

But he failed to take into account the fact that Liverpool’s exertions during the same time period were nothing compared to his.

And taking any liberty with this peak Jurgen Klopp group is something no manager can do and expect to get off lightly.

Canvas

All right, so the scoreline showed that Manchester City dragged themselves up off the canvas after a chastening 45 minutes to take this tie into the final seconds with the outcome still in doubt.

It was a herculean effort. But few inside the stadium believed even they could wrestle this one back.

And certainly not against this Liverpool side who are now 11 matches away from potentially securing an historic Quadruple.

Any team that reaches mid-april with that achievement still within their grasp cannot be taken anything but seriously.

Which makes it even stranger as to why Guardiola acted as he did. There will be valid reasons for some of the changes – such as injury to De Bruyne.

His opposite number Klopp affected just as many – but this was just a step too far.

City may have been physically and psychologically bruised after a testing encounter away to Atletico Madrid.

But you can’t trade punches with more refreshed opponents with almost half your best team sat in the stands. Not when your opposite number has decided to field pretty much all of his first-choice XI.

True, City endured a heavy night out last Wednesday in the Spanish capital. And if it looked like they hadn’t got home after it, then that was right, they hadn’t.

A detour to south London, training at Millwall, was supposed to help.

However, it was no hangover cure. By contrast, Liverpool’s tie against Benfica was over after an hour. We’re repeatedly told that any sport at elite level is about fine margins.

Gulf

But at times – especially during a one-sided opening half – there was a noticeable gulf. Inside the opening 10 minutes, Ibrahima Konate brushed aside Gabriel Jesus and rose

uncontested to nod home the first. Would Laporte or Dias have done any better?

That set the tone for a onesided first half – but for what happened moments later Guardiola has to shoulder the burden of blame.

Manchester City’s boss has favoured No.2 Zack Steffen throughout this competition but the American goalkeeper’s doziness allowed Sadio Mane to close him down and bundle the ball into the net from just a few yards out.

In fairness, it almost cost Ederson last week at the Etihad when Diogo Jota came within a whisker of claiming a similarly easy goal. But it’s difficult to think that the Brazilian wouldn’t have smelled the danger that much more quickly.

Likewise, with Mane’s third.

Refused

And, in the later stages, with the game crying out for change, Guardiola (right) refused to make one.

He did similar at Crystal Palace when the Eagles nicked a goalless draw a few weeks ago.

Mahrez was eventually sent into battle. And within a few minutes he created the second goal that took this to the wire.

It was bizarre. Strange that with an FA Cup Final at stake, he couldn’t have acted with more bravery.

Of course, it is difficult to criticise too strongly, given everything he has done for Manchester City and the game in general.

But it was equally difficult to escape the feeling that in the final reckoning, he’d called this one wrong.