Guardiola criticises Manchester City for cautious approach in Bayer Leverkusen loss

Pep Guardiola criticised his heavily rotated Manchester City squad for adopting a "playing safe" mindset during their unexpected Champions League defeat against Bayer Leverkusen earlier this week.

The City boss experienced the consequences of altering 10 positions in his starting eleven, resulting in a 2-0 victory for the German outfit at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday.

Guardiola believed his team displayed excessive caution as they endured a second consecutive loss after their Premier League setback at Newcastle last week.

Commenting on the Leverkusen match, he stated: "We did not attempt enough. In football, when you step onto the pitch, you must experiment, yet we held back."

He continued: "I feel they focused on avoiding errors rather than taking initiative, which proves challenging. In this sport, you need to attack and experiment, but they opted for safety."

Guardiola, preparing his side for a match against relegation-threatened Leeds on Saturday, indicated that the players selected against Leverkusen suffered from low assurance.

"I remain fully confident in them, even now," he affirmed. "I hold immense regard for their abilities as footballers, possibly more than they do for themselves."

Manchester City will still miss midfielder Rodri in the upcoming Leeds fixture, though Guardiola assured that the Spanish star would return imminently.

Guardiola's squad occupies third place in the Premier League standings, trailing leaders Arsenal by seven points.