There are times throughout a season when a top team will need to rotate players to keep them fresh. The leading clubs around Europe have great depth in their squads which allows them to rest first team players but still get the job done in games.
However, choosing when to rotate the team is key and that leads us to the question, did Pep Guardiola make a mistake in not selecting his strongest XI for the FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea?
PEP 💬 They played a good first fifteen, twenty minutes and we struggled a little bit. Last ten minutes of the first half we were better - we didn't create much but we were there. Final minutes with Phil and Gundo we created more. Congrats to Chelsea. pic.twitter.com/1bBTzlu3wh— Manchester City (@ManCity) April 17, 2021
PEP 💬 They played a good first fifteen, twenty minutes and we struggled a little bit. Last ten minutes of the first half we were better - we didn't create much but we were there. Final minutes with Phil and Gundo we created more. Congrats to Chelsea. pic.twitter.com/1bBTzlu3wh
Chelsea defeated Manchester City 1-0 at Wembley Stadium on Saturday evening to progress to the final and end Guardiola’s bid to win the quadruple.
The result also ended any chance Manchester City had of matching the treble won by local rivals Manchester United in 1999.
They may yet go on to win the League Cup, Premier League and Champions League, which would be a tremendous achievement but without the FA Cup, the accomplishment does not match that of Sir Alex Ferguson and his team.
Manchester City played in the Champions League last week and face a fixture in the Premier League, the Carabao Cup final and the Champions League over the next 11 days, which is a tight schedule. In that respect, it is understandable that Guardiola chose to make changes to his starting XI for the match against Chelsea.
However, was it necessary to make eight changes to the team from mid-week against Borussia Dortmund?
Manchester City struggled to create any good goal scoring chances and there was a distinct lack of rhythm between the front three players. Gabriel Jesus, Ferran Torres, and Raheem Sterling did not get going at all and the latter has been struggling to capture his form in recent weeks.
There was also a change in the goal keeping position as Zack Steffen came into the team at the expense of Ederson.
The American goalkeeper had played in every round of this season's FA Cup and Guardiola believed he would lose the confidence of his players if he did not continue to select Steffen for the semi-final.
Unfortunately, it was a mistake by Steffen that led to the only goal of the game. He came off his line too early and indecisiveness left him in a position that allowed Timo Werner to comfortably pass the ball across goal and Hakim Ziyech had the simplest of finishes to score.
Manchester City showed signs of improvement, especially in the final 15 minutes of the game following the introduction of Phil Foden and Ilkay Gundogan. Kevin De Bruyne was forced off the pitch with what looked like an ankle problem and perhaps that backs up the reason why Guardiola decided to rotate his team.
It appears as though the Belgian international is going to be out for at least the next a few weeks and that could prove costly with the League Cup final and Champions League semi-final on the horizon.
So, in that respect, you could say Guardiola was right to rotate his team but ultimately, it was that rotation that led to defeat against Chelsea.