Gary Neville has slammed Manchester City Pep Guardiola for naming six substitutes for their Premier League clash away to Burnley.
Guardiola said he had no option but to name six replacements ‘because we don’t have anymore players’ and that the Manchester City Under 23 team played on Friday.
But Neville labelled Guardiola’s decision as ‘a joke’ and ‘really poor’, claiming it undermines the effort of youth team players and coaches at the club.
Gary Neville said Pep Guardiola’s decision to name six subs at Burnley is ‘really poor’
Guardiola said he was forced to name six players because he didn’t have any others to pick
City’s squad cost £732.2million to assmeble
‘I was really hoping he wasn’t going to give the answer that he did,’ Neville said. I think it’s a joke, an absolute joke. If you are a youth team manager at Manchester City ring him up.
‘Forget the second team – even if they played yesterday still bring one on the bench – the youth team are there. Bring a kid, travel with the team, help the kitman, put him on the bench, have the experience of being in a Premier League game and give somebody a boost.
‘If you are an academy manager or reserve team manager at Manchester City you must think I am wasting my time. Forget the fact of how much money they’ve spent, six players on the bench is like a protest. I’m not sure why he is peddling this theme.
‘He’s an absolutely incredible manager, the work he has done with this team is unbelievable and the team performances absolutely outstanding. But things like that let you down, he doesn’t need to do that.
‘He doesn’t have to bring the kid off the bench, he could just bring him for the experience, the feeling. I just feel like the opportunity has been missed again to promote the wonderful youth-team that Man City have got.
Davis Silva went off injured against West Brom in City’s 3-0 victory earlier this week
Fabian Delph is another absentee for City players after sustaining a knee injury last month
‘I don’t know why he is peddling that story. It’s poor to not bring a young player. It’s really poor. I can guarantee you that the academy and youth team coaches at Man City will be really disheartened by that. I guarantee you.
‘He might as well just bring three if you go with the theory about not playing. Just fill your bench.’
City missed out on bringing in Riyad Mahrez late on in the January transfer window, while David Silva, Leroy Sane and Phil Foden, the England Under 17 World Cup winner, are all on City’s seven-man injury list.
Leroy Sane is expected to be out for seven weeks at City with an ankle injury
John Stones also missed out on making the first-team squad for the trip to Turf Moor, while Fabian Delph, Gabriel Jesus and Benjamin Mendy are longer term absentees.
‘We don’t have any more,’ Guardiola told Sky Sports when asked about six subs. ‘That is the reason why. We just have one goalkeeper and five players. We could take one from the second team, but they played yesterday and we don’t have any more.’
City’s Under 23 side, managed by Simon Davies, played on Friday evening and lost 1-0 to Swansea, with the starting line-up consisting solely of teenagers.