Manchester City

Stuart Pearce: 'Pep Guardiola confusing Manchester City players'

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 14 December 2016

Stuart Pearce suggests that Manchester City's players are being held back by Pep Guardiola's reluctance to stick with a settled formation.

Former Manchester City manager Stuart Pearce has claimed that Pep Guardiola is confusing his players due to his reluctance to settle on a set formation.

The Citizens are in the midst of a poor run of form, winning just four of their last 15 in all competitions after a previous run of 10-successive victories.

Guardiola came in for particular criticism after last weekend's 4-2 defeat to a previously out-of-sorts Leicester City side, leaving them fourth in the table and seven points off leaders Chelsea.

Pearce, manager of City for two years upon leaving the club in 2007, believes that former Bayern Munich and Barcelona boss Guardiola must find some tactical consistency if he is to get the best out of his players.

"I was at the Leicester game at the weekend when they got beaten and they started with three at the back and conceded a goal after two and a half minutes," he told Sky Sports News.

"They changed to four at the back after two and a half minutes of a game. You set your team up all week to play in a certain way and then it only takes a goal after two and a half minutes to change your whole tactical approach to the game and personnel.

"The main thing coming out of Manchester City at the moment really from I can gather through friends of mine who are associated with the club is they never know what team is going to be played or what formation is going to be played in any game or at any time during any game."

Guardiola insisted ahead of his side's meeting with Watford on Wednesday evening that he has no intention of changing his style of play or personal tactical methods.