Richards accuses Pep overthinking United tactics

Micah Richards has accused Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola of overthinking tactics in their 1-0 defeat to Manchester United in the second leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final.

“For me, [City] had a good 15 minutes and then United worked them out,” Richards said in his role as a pundit for Sky Sports.

“I saw Raheem [Sterling] receiving the ball in his own half. I saw Bernardo [Silva] doing the same on the opposite side. I’m thinking – why not play 4-3-3? It felt like a training game for City at times.

“The game is still 1-0, you’ve got to make changes early. I’m no manager, and I don’t want to go on about Pep’s tactics and style of play, but you’ve got Kyle Walker, who’s arguably one of the best right-backs in the league, playing as a centre half.

“You’ve got [Joao] Cancelo playing left-back. You’ve got Rodri dropping into centre-back and you’ve got this box in midfield where they’re all doing similar jobs.

“You’ve got Eric Garcia and John Stones on the bench – what does that do for their confidence?

“We’ve seen it time after time; when Pep gets it right, it’s incredible because he and Klopp are the best managers in the world. But tonight I felt he was overthinking little things he didn’t need to do.”

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