Speaking after the 1-1 draw with Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday night Pep Guardiola said his side improved in the second half despite some ‘problems’ during the first period. The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss selected a front three of Gabriel Jesus, Bernardo Silva and Raheem Sterling but despite that array of attacking talent being on the field the Cityzen’s were unable to find a winner having conceded an equaliser a little over 20 minutes from time.
The performance was far from spectacular and after his impressive performance at the weekend versus Chelsea these supporters made their feelings known regarding Riyad Mahrez’s omission from the side – some even attributing the result to his absence from the starting eleven.
The consequences of keeping Mahrez on the bench ?????
— Çalhanogluuu (@FethiAmar_) November 26, 2019
He just need to play Mahrez the magician & nobody won’t complain.
Mahrez won us away the game in just the First HT with 8,8 rating
Bernardo today worst City player rated 6.6
Playing out of position & That’s Fraudiola’s mistake— h. grimes (@es_grimes) November 26, 2019
Difficult for you but not for Mahrez.. You always bench him after he was beeing MOTMonth or MOTM. Why Pep? Why?
Vs Shakhtar AWAY MAHREZ MOTM with G+A rated 8.8
HOME ???? BERNARDO worst rated player 6.6— h. grimes (@es_grimes) November 26, 2019
No mahrez no party chahhhh ?
— mayaa sissi (@mayaasissi) November 26, 2019
No mahrez no win
— Hammadi Abdelhakim (@HammadiAbdelha7) November 26, 2019
if you want to win.. let mahrez play -_-
— Nadir Ehs (@Nadir_ehs) November 26, 2019
What do we think?
Pep Guardiola will no doubt believe that with the quality he has in those attacking positions he is entitled to rotate without many questions being asked and when City are winning it isn’t an issue. Mahrez scored a wonderful goal at the weekend but with a busy Premier League schedule coming up the boss will no doubt call it rotation. However, it’s clear Guardiola isn’t as fond of the former Leicester winger as some of the supporters are.
Is Mahrez good enough to start every game for City?
Yes
No
Since joining the club in July 2018 for £60m, the 28-year-old has struggled to establish himself as a regular starter. Mahrez has made 59 appearances for City to date, scoring 16 goals and providing 20 assists which is by no means a poor return but the standards at the Etihad Stadium have been so high over these past two seasons, that in order to make one of the forward positions your own, you need to be outstanding pretty much all of the time – just like it can be argued Raheem Sterling has.
In Manchester, the Algerian is likely to win more titles but depending on how much he values his game time – if things don’t change in the near future he could be forced to look elsewhere for more regular football.