De Bruyne injury relief for City after Guardiola pays for shuffling his pack

Chelsea 1-0 Manchester City

A bad weekend for Manchester City at least ended on a more positive note last night, after an initial assessment on Kevin De Bruyne’s ankle injury showed no significant damage, raising hopes of him playing in Manchester City’s run-in.

De Bruyne was substituted just three minutes into the second half of City’s 1-0 FA Cup semi-final defeat by Chelsea on Saturday that ended their dream of an unprecedented quadruple. The 29-year-old suffered severe swelling to his right ankle, which he twisted after getting his boot caught momentarily in the turf. There were fears of ligament damage, but it is thought the injury is not long-term.

His injury will continue to be assessed as the swelling goes down. De Bruyne may have been rested for Aston Villa in the Premier League on Wednesday regardless, and it will be determined in the next days whether he has a chance for Sunday’s Carabao Cup final. The Belgian was caught slamming a wall in frustration by the tunnel camera at Wembley as he returned to the dressing room.

Guardiola’s post-match analysis of why his side lost included an intriguing observation: “With Phil [Foden] and [Ilkay] Gundogan we improved.” He could say that again.

The arrival of the two midfielders from the bench added a zest and sparkle to City’s play that had been absent from a first half that largely consisted of sauntering up blind alleys. True, even with the pair’s arrival City did not manage to break through Chelsea’s magnificently obdurate defence. But their quickwitted drive and application suggested that had Foden and Gundogan played for the whole game the dynamic would surely have been very different.

These, after all, are two of the most in-form players in the country. Guardiola, however, has a plan. Throughout a truncated, concentrated season, he has studiously husbanded his resources. He has a squad, rather than a team, and rotation is a crucial component of his armoury. Faced with a challenge on four fronts, it is a policy which results suggest has worked well. Or at least it has up to now. But as every competition reaches its business end, and the opposition become inevitably more significant, a system which presupposes that all 25 members of the first-team squad are of equal merit is tested to its limit. And, maybe, beyond it.

Guardiola made eight changes to the side who, by beating Borussia Dortmund three days earlier, had taken City to the Champions League

How Tuchel punished City’s high line

Chelsea exploited City’s high defensive line for their goal, with Mason Mount playing a ball into space for Timo Werner to run onto, before the German crossed for Hakim Ziyech to score.

Move

Shoot

Pass

Linked to City’s high line was Tuchel’s insistence that his wing-backs Ben Chilwell and Reece James drive into the City half.

Direction of play semi-finals for the first time under his stewardship. Here he was boldly challenging the oldest of managerial maxims: never change a winning team. Yet when he was asked whether the tinkering signified that he did not address the FA Cup with appropriate attention, he bristled, accusing the reporter of being wise after the event.

“Say before the game, say Pep doesn’t pay attention,” he said. “Say before, but don’t say after because we lose a game. These guys for 10 months, 11 months fight every game, like never before I’ve seen. [Then] we lose a game against a top side, and now we don’t pay attention or don’t care for this competition? We’re respectful of the FA Cup, we came here to win.”

But it was not mere post-rationalisation to suggest the risk of playing Ferran Torres and Raheem Sterling was sizeable. Few studying the team sheets could understand why players so on form had been left out.

Together with Riyad Mahrez – who watched the entire game from the bench – Foden and Gundogan have been magnificent this season. To replace them with players, like Torres and Sterling, whose contribution latterly has been significantly less elevated, seemed contrary. Especially since Guardiola’s stated reason for changing his side – the midweek Aston Villa fixture – seemed bizarre.

The Premier League title is effectively won, so if his leading lights need careful management, give them a rest in that one. And the FA Cup semi-final was important. Because English football history insists that for the Treble to be completed successfully, the FA Cup has to be won.

For Guardiola, it can now only be a matter of regret that, even if he wins the three other trophies, he cannot now add a historic multiple to his CV.