December 21 (THEWILL) – After being benched for Man City’s 4-0 win against Newcastle on Sunday, Pep Guardiola has issued a warning to Phil Foden and Jack Grealish about their future conduct.
City cruised to a 7-0 victory over Leeds United at home on Tuesday, after which the pair were seen on a night out, which Guardiola plainly disapproved of.
Foden and Grealish then arrived at training on Wednesday looking a little worse for wear and members of the staff, including Guardiola, were not impressed.
Against Newcastle, both were listed on the bench, with many presuming they had been rotated. In an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live, Guardiola justified their absence.
“Not rotation, no. I decided this team because they deserved to play — these guys and not the other ones,” he explained.
“At Christmas time, I pay a lot of attention to behaviour on and off the pitch. And when (behaviour) off the pitch is not proper, they are not going to play.
“So we have to be focused all the time because of distractions at Christmas time and everything that happens – you still have to be focused.”
COVID-19 instances are on the rise in the Premier League, resulting in a slew of postponements. Last weekend, only half of the scheduled fixtures were able to go ahead, and more cancellations are expected over the holiday season.
As THEWILL reported, the Premier League teams considered temporarily suspending the season on Monday. However, majority of clubs are in favour of continuing as scheduled. Some have suggested rescheduling a round of games for later in the season, but there is currently no support for a complete break in the schedule.
Clubs are desperate to avoid games being played behind closed doors again. This has wreaked havoc on their finances in the previous two seasons, and they are hesitant to refund season tickets a second time.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
