Pep Guardiola wrecked his tactical masterplan by letting emotions get the better of him
SunSport's Dan King says the Manchester City boss's half-time meltdown ended any hope of progressing in the Champions League and overshadows their incredible season domestically
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MANCHESTER CITY were still in the tie, but Pep Guardiola was out of his mind.
The half-time meltdown was the City head coach’s most personal failing in the third of three defeats which now threaten to take the gloss off what he has achieved this season.
Less than half an hour after Guardiola lost the plot, his team lost a goal to Mo Salah and with it the tie.
You can be the cleverest tactician, the most innovative coach, but it counts for little if, at the crucial moments, you cannot follow some basic principles of man-management.
Just when the City players needed Guardiola to show calm leadership and firm belief in their ability to complete an incredible comeback, he was ranting and raving at referee Mateu Lahoz.
And instead of being on the touchline in the second half to coax and cajole them to victory, he was in the stands, as both he and his team became impotent observers to Liverpool’s progress to the semi-finals.
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Despite Leroy Sane’s wrongly-disallowed goal, at half-time everything was still up for grabs – to borrow a phrase which sends chills down the spine of every Liverpool fan who watched Arsenal snatch the league title in stoppage time of the last game of the 1988/9 season.
City were in control of the game and although they had been unable to add to Gabriel Jesus’ early strike (which itself followed the officials’ failure to punish a clear foul on Liverpool’s Virgil Van Dijk), there was every reason to think they could find at least the two goals needed to send the tie into extra time.
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Liverpool had barely had a sniff of an away goal and were a shadow of the front-foot, aggressive side which had blitzed City in the first half at Anfield.
In short: even allowing for the decision to leave Sergio Aguero on the bench, Guardiola’s plan could still have worked.
His players will also have been upset by the Sane decision but were surely more concerned about hearing how their coach planned to make it irrelevant.
Instead, a man who is supposed to be the most cerebral and rational of coaches behaved in a way which made it the defining incident of the tie.
If a manager acts as if one decision by the match officials has robbed his team of a chance of glory, it can place doubt in the mind of even the most experienced and professional player.
And to the more fragile minds, it gives an unconscious excuse for failure.
That was surely part of Jurgen Klopp’s message to his Liverpool team at half time. They had not only had a lucky escape with Sane incident, but the added bonus of seeing how it had affected Guardiola.
Technology means the City coach could still communicate his thoughts to the bench in second half. But he had lost much of his power to shape what was happening on the pitch the moment he lost his rag with old foe Lahoz.
So, three big games, three big defeats for City and Guardiola.
At Anfield, he was probably too cautious. Picking Ilkay Gundogan ahead of Raheem Sterling was not only tactically questionable but also sent a message to both teams that he was a bit too worried about Liverpool’s attacking threat and not enough about how to oil his slick goalscoring machine.
The result? Not a single shot on target, although the Reds played superbly – as well in the second half as the first, arguably – and deserved to take a three-goal advantage to the Etihad.
How much did Liverpool’s second success of the season against City inspire Manchester United for the derby? Not a lot, judging by the first half which City dominated and should have ended with a four-goal advantage, at least.
Guardiola is not responsible for the individual errors which stopped Sterling converting straightforward chances and his defenders tracking the runs of Paul Pogba and Chris Smalling.
Nor can he be blamed for the referee’s failure to award a penalty and a red card for Ashley Young’s challenge on Aguero.
But he was unable to stop another game, and the once-in-a-lifetime chance to win the title by beating United, slipping away from him.
Despite that disappointment, though, Guardiola and his team girded themselves and grabbed the early goal last night which Liverpool and their fans were dreading.
When Lahoz blew the half-time whistle, they will have been happy to go in 1-0 down yet still desperately nervous about the 45 minutes to come.
But it turned out that man most on edge was Guardiola.
No-one will ever know now whether leaving out Aguero was a masterstroke or a mistake.
Because Guardiola wrecked whatever tactical masterplan he had by letting his emotions get the better of him.
Much of City’s football has been divine, but Pep has shown himself to be all too human in the last week.