Pep Guardiola told two Man City players are being 'held back' by his management

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has been told two players are currently being 'held back' by his style of management.

Guardiola joined City in 2016 and has turned the club into a global powerhouse.

They've won five Premier League titles, four League Cups, two FA Cups and the Champions League in eight years.

Along the way, Guardiola has assembled a team of superstars that'd thrive in any era of football.

Despite that, the Spaniard's been criticised for not letting his forwards express themselves.

Erling Haaland has dominated the goalscoring charts since arriving from Borussia Dortmund in 2022, but several pundits believe their other attackers could be doing more.

During a recent appearance on 'Football's Greatest' with Jeff Stelling, Matt Le Tissier said Guardiola should let Jack Grealish and Phil Foden 'off the leash' more in games.

Grealish joined City from Aston Villa in a £100 million deal two years ago and is much more regimented in how he plays.

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The England international was given freedom at Villa Park as captain and talisman under Dean Smith. That's all changed at City, which is reflected in Grealish's stats.

He's scored 14 goals and registered 17 assists in 115 games for the club, although this season has been ravaged by injury.

Foden was handed his City debut by Guardiola in 2017 and established himself as one of the world's top talents.

He scored a hat-trick in a 3-1 win over Brentford earlier this month, proving he's capable of becoming a leading man.

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Le Tissier explained: "The Aston Villa Jack Grealish, without the amount of goals was similar [to me] in terms of the effect he had on his team, how important he was to his team, how different he was to everyone else. He was one of the best dribblers in the league.

"At Man City, it's kind of been coached out of him a bit. He doesn't dribble as much as he used to. He plays the way Pep wants to play and that's fine, he's winning trophies, but it's not quite the same at the moment, in terms of his individualism.

"I love watching Phil Foden play as well. Those guys have a real natural ability. Sometimes, I do wish Pep would let them off the leash."

Topics: Pep Guardiola, Manchester City, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Premier League

Daniel Marland

Daniel is a social editor for SPORTbible after moving from the writing team. Nearly scored past Stormzy at Old Trafford once.

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