Former Premier League striker Chris Sutton has criticised Pep Guardiola for causing a “massive problem” in their 2-2 draw against Monaco on Wednesday night.
Erling Haaland scored either side of a Jordan Teze first-half equaliser for the French side before Eric Dier scored a last-gasp penalty to give Monaco a share of the spoils.
Man City dominated possession and chances but they could not turn that into another three points after beating Serie A champions Napoli in their first matchday.
In the second half, Guardiola decided to substitute Jeremy Doku off for Savinho, despite the Belgium international looking a threat on the wing, with Sutton insisting that the Man City boss should have taken off Bernardo Silva instead.
Speaking on BBC Sport’s Football Daily, Sutton said: “Why is he playing him (Bernardo Silva) out wide? For the life of me, I don’t know why Pep took Jeremy Doku off and kept Bernardo Silva on.
“I am not saying he is a liability out there, but he doesn’t have the ability to go past a full-back. That’s a massive problem.”
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Sutton added: “All the good stuff came on the left-hand side or Foden on the half-turn. Foden was superb in the first half.
“But that right-hand side – you’ve got John Stones, wonderful player as a centre-back, and Bernardo Silva. They are not dynamic anymore; they aren’t at the top of their game.
“I think there is a problem for Manchester City, and I don’t know why he kept him on but I think that was ridiculous.”
Guardiola was happy with the way his team played against Monaco, he told reporters: “We played a really good game. We are trying to create more chances and concede few, that’s what happened.
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“They have fast, fast players. We concede few chances and create a lot in the Champions League so I’m really pleased for that but of course we were close.
“We could not defend well the free kick, and we concede the penalty.
“Football you have to win and it’s down to the result. If you analyse the game, in many things it was really good.
“Step by step we will do better but many things, with the chances we found especially Phil in the first half.
“Many players did really good and we concede almost nothing. They defend so deep, so tight, we didn’t expect it with the way they have played.
“We played really good, this is my feeling. When it’s close, we have to defend the set pieces. We’ll take the point.”
