Pep Guardiola claims his much-changed Manchester City team “didn’t try” in midweek and has learnt a lesson from their surprise loss to Bayer Leverkusen.
The City manager paid the price for making 10 changes to his starting line-up as the German side won 2-0 at the Etihad Stadium in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Guardiola felt the players brought in were too risk-averse and failed to grab the initiative, leading to a second successive defeat after last Saturday’s Premier League reverse at Newcastle.
Guardiola, who admitted after the game he got his selection wrong, said at a press conference on Friday: “It is not about one result, it is in the performance. Of course, results help performances but I’m not very disappointed about Newcastle.
“The last one, yes, because of my decisions and because we didn’t try, it’s as simple as that. In football when you play on the green you have to try things and we didn’t try.
“I think they played not to make mistakes, not to play to do something.
“It was a good lesson for me. As experienced as I am as a manager, it was a good lesson for me for the future.”
Erling Haaland, Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden and Gianluigi Donnarumma were among the players benched by Guardiola for the game as the likes of Rayan Ait-Nouri, Rico Lewis, Abdukodir Khusanov, Omar Marmoush and James Trafford were given chances.
Guardiola suggested he felt those who started lacked confidence in themselves.
He said: “Maybe I have a theory to rotate because it’s impossible to sustain but I had a lot of confidence in them and I still do.
“I have a huge value of what they are as football players. Maybe I think higher of them than they think about themselves.”
City are still without key midfielder Rodri as they host struggling Leeds on Saturday.
The Spain international has missed eight of the last nine games with a hamstring injury and it remains unclear when he will return.
Pep 💬 (On Rodri's fitness) Not yet [ready to play]. Not much further. Hamstring. pic.twitter.com/4Mfk76lBon
— Manchester City (@ManCity) November 28, 2025
“Not yet but he’s not far,” said Guardiola when asked about his condition.
Leeds travel to City after five defeats in their last six outings and with manager Daniel Farke under pressure.
Guardiola said: “I have an incredible opinion of Daniel. I have a really good relationship with him and I know the Premier League is always like this – you can make a good run of results or a bad run and continue, because the opponents are tough.
“Every opponent has a long week to prepare and it’s so demanding. We have to be ready.”
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