John Giles has had his say on the disappointing showings by Manchester City and Liverpool in this week’s Champions League action that saw both sides stumble to group stage defeats.
Speaking on tonight’s Off the Ball with Ger Gilroy, Giles said there was no need for Brendan Rodgers to rest players as the Tuesday-to-Saturday recovery time is an ample window for players to regain their edge.
“You’re playing in the Champions League, you can’t say the priority is Saturday. And it’s only Tuesday, don’t forget” he said this evening,
“I don’t see any reason why the players who could’ve played last night, wouldn’t be rested and fit enough to play against Chelsea on Saturday, but it’s the comments that Rodgers made that’s baffling most people, Ger, because what he said was ‘I wanted to shake up the team from the display against Newcastle on the weekend.’”
Giles also spoke about Man City’s despondent loss at home to CSKA Moscow last night, citing the Blues’ inconsistency as the main reason behind their stuttering continental form.
“A team like City could go six weeks without losing a goal, but the next match they could lose three goals or four goals, depending on the day” said the former Leeds and Manchester United manager.
Pellegrini has to make alterations to how his team are approaching matches, says Giles:
“He’s got to get the urgency back in the team that hasn’t been there all season, he’s got to get the defensive things right which wasn’t right last night and he’s got to get the discipline right which wasn’t there last night. It was a really, really poor performance.”
You can listen to the entirety of tonight’s discussion with John Giles on Off the Ball using the player below.
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