Manchester City faced Bournemouth last night in their Carabao Cup tie, winning 2-1. Pep Guardiola declared that the club only has 13 players fit, as he was destined to give the Academy players a chance.
Academy vs Bournemouth
The match saw Liam Delap get his debut, as well as his debut goal, which was brilliantly set up by Phil Foden. The match also saw debuts of Adrian Bernabe, Thomas Doyle and Taylor Harwood-Bellis.
“It was a good game, but all our young players played at a high level, Tommy, Taylor, Liam. All of them were really good,” Guardiola said post-match. “At 17 years old, Liam is a different striker to what we have in terms of physicality. We see in training how good a finisher he is. Now is the time to be calm and keep working. We are delighted with his performance. He played really well.
“With the situation we have right now, we need players from the academy. We have just 13 players fit. With the problems we have up front, he will stay with us. We will use him.” “We cannot forget, like with Phil, he is only 17 years-old. He has a lot of things to improve. We cannot anticipate the progress of every young player.” “We’ve had Phil, Eric, Liam and we have Cole Palmer, who will be an exceptional player.”
Pep was extremely happy with them, “When they have desire, work ethic and the quality is good, they will have chances. Tommy played incredibly well as a holding midfield. Taylor as well. These guys did not play one game of the last three months.” Manchester City now faces Leicester City on Sunday at the Etihad.
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