Guardiola had made an immediate impact at City by dropping Joe Hart and Yaya Toure and on the field his side quickly took the lead with a Sergio Aguero penalty.
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Hart is facing a major decision on whether to fight for his City place or move on for the sake of his England career.
But Guardiola said after the match: “I don’t have any complaints about these names”. But in the end I have a squad and I decide what I see.
“Obviously, the players you have to work with make a big difference, and he has got a really good group of players to work with”.
The report declares that Hart has been told he can leave the Etihad if his new boss is able to draft in a replacement.
Guardiola insisted his lineup was based purely on a tactical decision rather than anything personal. Stekelenburg did play very well in the opener against Tottenham, but that was only one game and Stekelenburg is 33 years-old. “I’m just disappointed”, he said.
“I know they are so professional I saw it”. Never before has a player that has been with the club so always been treated this way with constant media speculation and focus about his future. Every day was wonderful.
“Today I decided the team because of many, many reasons”.
Full-back Aleksandar Kolarov was a surprise starter at centre-half against Sunderland partly because Nicolas Otamendi has a slight tendon injury.
He added Hart could easily return in the Champions League play-off at Steaua Bucharest on Tuesday.
“Hopefully he can play”.
A source close to Bravo said “the deal with City is nearly done” but will Guardiola pay €20-25m for a 33-year-old player? On the contrary, I believe he has been stronger than ever the last two seasons as Manchester City’s backline has fallen off the pace considerably.
And that came amid rumours of a row between Joe Hart and Guardiola over the England man’s adaptation to the new manager’s system.
Excitement surrounded the Etihad Stadium ahead of Moyes’ and Pep Guardiola’sfirst official games in charge of their respective clubs.
He said: “Willy trained in more training sessions than Joe”. He arrived on the first day.
‘That doesn’t mean Joe can’t do that. I know the quality of Joe, he is an wonderful goalkeeper.
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Moyes gave new signing Donald Love and American Lynden Gooch their first starts in the Premier League, and said the young players would be key for the club this season. “The personality, the character, I know about”.
