By John Wenham

6th Feb, 2023 | 1:30pm

Pundit left baffled by 'incredible' Pep Guardiola move at Man City - 'really strange'

Pep Guardiola’s decision to bench Man City pair Aymeric Laporte and Ruben Dias for Sunday’s loss to Tottenham was “really strange”.

That is according to Spurs expert John Wenham, who regularly breaks news about the club on his Lilywhite Rose social media channels.

Man City lost 1-0 to Tottenham on Sunday (5 February) as they failed to gain ground on league leaders Arsenal.

Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake started the game but failed to stop Harry Kane from becoming Spurs’ all-time record goalscorer.

Wenham was baffled by Guardiola’s decision.

“Man City have gone from a back four of Walker, Dias, Laporte and Cancelo to Walker, Akanji, Ake and Lewis,” Wenham told Football Insider correspondent Ben Wild.

“You can’t compare the two. How has that happened? Against Tottenham, Ruben Dias and Laporte were on the bench.

“You have two of the top five centre-backs on the bench in a game where you are up against some of the best attackers in the league.

“Cancelo has now gone for whatever reason and he has been one of the best players in the league for the past two seasons.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for a young English kid like Lewis getting a chance but the drop off from those four players I have just named, it’s incredible.

“They look so poor. Dias and Laporte could play for any team in world football.

“To have them on the bench in place of Ake and Akanji, I found that really strange.”

In other news, according to Kieran Maguire, ‘backlash’ looms as Man City could soon set up English ‘feeder club’.