Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has named his team to face Brentford and overlooked James McAtee despite his weekend hat-trick.
The homegrown product scored a treble in the FA Cup as City hammered Salford City, but it isn’t enough to earn him a starting berth in west London. McAtee has long been on Guardiola’s radar, but minutes have still been hard to come by.
He has a number of stellar names ahead of him in the pecking order but Guardiola has seen first hand the risks of holding back young talent. Cole Palmer opted to move away from Manchester to get regular minutes and is now a leading light at Chelsea.
Even after McAtee’s stunning exploits though Guardiola was still willing to critique his performance – and has opted against throwing him into the starting XI. He said on Saturday: “He’s a special, talented player. The generation of Morgan Rogers, Cole Palmer, Liam Delap, Romeo Lavia, Jadon Sancho. All the players that play really well in the Premier League. He was a main player there and captain and a City fan.
“I’m not going to deny how happy I am. It’s not easy to score a hat trick but he can play better. First half was not his best and he has to do that.”
Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva and Savinho are among the attacking weapons starting for City. Stefan Ortega continues in goal with the likes of Jeremy Doku, Ilkay Gundogan and James McAtee among the subs.
Kyle Walker is absent from the travelling squad has reportedly rejected a move to Saudi Arabia in a bid to keep his chances of playing for England alive. He still holds ambitions of earning 100 caps for England. He has been capped 93 times for the Three Lions so far. Walker’s ideal destination is a switch to Italy.
City needed a Erling Haaland brace to see off Brentford at the Etihad earlier in the season. The Bees took the lead in the opening minute before the champions managed to come back and pick up three points. A win at Brentford on Tuesday evening could see them go into the top four if results go their way.
Despite the return to form Gvardiol admits City are still trying to find top gear. He said: “We are still trying to find our rhythm and today is a new opportunity to get back where we used to be. we need to be ready from the first moment because in the other fixture we conceded early.”
The Croatian has been lethal in front of goal and is among the team’s top scorers, but he doesn’t see that as his primary role. He added: “I don’t feel it (the pressure to score goals), I’m a defender and my job is to protect the goal. We have Erling, Kevin and other strikers to do that job.”
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