- Man City beat Crystal Palace
- Squad players seized their moment
- No room for Nico Gonzalez
Pep Guardiola has offered an explanation as to why he did not include Nico Gonzalez in Manchester City’s most recent matchday squad.
It was a job well done at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night. The hosts already led 2-0 at half-time, and Savinho added a late goal to give his team another three-goal victory.
Pep Guardiola rotated his team quite significantly, which saw the Brazilian start along with the likes of Phil Foden and Josko Gvardiol.
However, Nico Gonzalez missed his second match in a row. In fact, the midfielder was not even named in City’s squad.
Pep Guardiola reveals why Nico Gonzalez was absent
When a player is not included in the squad, it is usually due to a previously unknown injury, which was the case with Abdukodir Khusanov last Saturday.
Despite this, Nico was actually fit to face Crystal Palace, but missed the fixture due to a decision made by Guardiola.
“Yeah he’s fine, but I have to leave a lot of players out because we are the whole squad ready, and sometimes they’re there,” the manager told Sky Sports.
“Nico, he brings us to the Final of the FA Cup, right? With his fantastic goal [vs Southampton], and all season he’s played that position.
“But in the last game [vs Brentford], I saw Bernie [Silva], I liked a lot how he played there, and that’s why there I decided to do it again.”
Nico failed to make use of his chance against Everton
Rodri is still yet to recover from his ongoing injury problem, which allowed Nico to step up and be the hero against Southampton.
This led to a Premier League start for the Spaniard at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, but he failed to bring control on what was a chaotic night for Man City.
Subbed after 75 minutes, Nico then missed out last Saturday. And now, he has suffered an even bigger demotion, showing his lowly position in the pecking order.
Guardiola handed the midfielder one shot at showing what he can do in the league, but now he is an outsider.
Saturday will be a cruel day for Nico
It is fair to say that without Nico’s help, Man City might not have an FA Cup final to participate in this Saturday.
Nevertheless, his chances of starting are very slim when he was not given a look-in two games on the bounce.
Nico started against Salford, Newcastle and Southampton, but he was notably benched for the quarter-final tie against Liverpool.
Despite his key contribution, Nico is going to have to settle for a spot on the bench at the weekend.
With such limited opportunities and rumours of a new contract for Rodri, there will surely be conversations about the 24 year old’s future this summer.
