Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola acknowledges that he does not want to “waste energy” in the Carabao Cup.
City advanced to the fourth round with a generally straightforward 2-1 win over Watford at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday. Guardiola made nine changes for the match, which came just two days after Sunday’s contentious and grueling encounter with Arsenal, and he concedes the competition is far from his top priority.
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He stated, “In the next round, I believe we will play the players at the last minute or the second team.” We will not squander efforts on this competition, for sure. I don’t know what will happen.Reported By Mirror.
“If I have a lot of injuries, I’m going to play the second team, but we will have all the squad ready and it’s a good competition (for some players) to take the rhythm, that’s for sure.”
Pep Guardiola’s action is justified after dismissing a plea during Arsenal clash.
Jeremy Doku and Matheus Nunes’ first-half goals were enough for City, who controlled and created numerous chances to defeat the Championship Hornets. Tom Ince gave the visitors late hope with a magnificent strike in the 86th minute, but it was only a consolation.
Watford manager Tom Cleverley was disappointed to see Doku open the scoring after only five minutes, but thought his team performed admirably after that.
He explained, “As a coach, there’s not much you can do about handing the ball away in such a simple situation, and you dread the worst after that. But it is not something I want to dwell on. The goal was to be more resilient, and while not in the first five minutes, I think we shown backbone and true tenacity, valuing the art of defending today.
“I made nine changes, and it demonstrated that everyone is willing to step up. Those players wanted to be the best version of themselves tonight, and they surely did, giving me some nice problems for the weekend.
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