Former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Jamie O'Hara has accused Pep Guardiola of 'disrespecting' Liverpool by selecting goalkeeper Zack Steffen in Saturday's FA Cup semi-final.
Manchester City's decision to start their second-choice shot-stopper proved pivotal in deciding the winner of the tie, with the Reds doubling their advantage on the afternoon courtesy of a blunder at the back from the American. Misjudging a John Stones back pass, Steffen failed to keep the ball under control and saw Sadio Mane swoop in to score.
The City keeper could also have done more to keep out Ibrahima Konate's opener and Mane's second, though failed to keep out any of the aforementioned efforts as Liverpool raced into a three-goal lead before half-time had even arrived.
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Guardiola defended leaving Ederson out of the starting-eleven in favour of Steffen when speaking after the full-time whistle, though O'Hara believes the City boss got it all wrong with his approach. Speaking on talkSPORT, he said: “Typical Pep Guardiola situation where I feel he has ‘over-Pepped’ it again. Just play Ederson, I don’t know why you are not playing Ederson.
"You need to be at completely full strength to get a result against Liverpool. The only team I think in the world I look at and go ‘you can beat Liverpool’ are Manchester City when they are at full-strength.
"But they had no Kyle Walker, no Kevin de Bruyne, they had a real tough midweek clash against Atletico Madrid which would have taken a lot out of them. Liverpool were always going to come flying out of the blocks as they rested players against Benfica. They were at full strength, full tilt, and they were playing Steffen in goal.
"It’s almost like you’re disrespecting Liverpool in the sense that you think you can turn up in an FA Cup semi-final and play your second-string goalkeeper against the best team in the world right now. Like come on, how many times do you want to do this Pep?”
