Graeme Souness believes Pep Guardiola is 'deliberately' digging out players in public in order to motivate the squad in their pursuit of Arsenal.
Prior to City's emphatic 7-0 win over RB Leipzig in the Champions League on Tuesday, Guardiola spoke in his press conference on how Kevin de Bruyne needed to start getting the 'simple things' right after finding himself on the bench in two of the last three league matches. His public criticism seemingly did the trick for de Bruyne, as he returned back to his best in the week, which can only be good news for City for the rest of the season.
Having won four of the last five Premier League titles, some City players have perhaps taken their foot off the gas at times this term, with captain Ilkay Gundogan even questioning the side's 'desire and hunger' back in January. That said, they are still very much in the title race as they sit just five points behind Arsenal.
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Writing in the Mail, former Liverpool manager Souness thinks Guardiola has 'dug out' players publicly to get a reaction from the squad as a whole, something which he says Sir Alex Ferguson did during his time as Manchester United boss.
"De Bruyne has been City's best player for the last five years. Yet this season he hasn't played in some important games. I was at the one City lost at Spurs in February, for example, and he didn't start that day. Strange.
"And now Guardiola has dug him out a little in public. This week he said De Bruyne had to get back to doing the simple things well. I have my theories about why this may have happened. It could be part of a deliberate tactic aimed at motivating the whole squad.
"Someone told me that Sir Alex Ferguson used to do this with Ryan Giggs. He would deliberately pick on him and sometimes David Beckham in front of the other Manchester United players.
"It would send the squad a message that nobody - even the two best players at the club - was safe from criticism. It would help to make sure a talented group of footballers kept their feet on the ground.
"So maybe Guardiola is doing that. Maybe he is poking De Bruyne in order to make sure the rest are ready to up their levels ahead of the most important part of a season that has not always felt easy for them. For all I know, De Bruyne may even be in on it."
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