Pep Guardiola has admitted that some 'off-field' problems made him do squad changes against Newcastle United.
The Manchester City boss left John Stones, Phil Foden and Jack Grealish on the bench, to replace them with by Joao Cancelo, Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling. Speaking in a post-match interview, he was asked about the three changes he made, to which he responded that the decision was down to off-field behavioural problems.“Not rotation, no. I decided for this team because they deserved to play today, these guys and not the other ones," said the Catalan coach on 5 Live Sport. “At Christmas time I pay a lot of attention to behaviour on and off the pitch. And when off the pitch is not proper they are not going to play. “So we have to be focussed all the time because of distractions at Christmas time and everything that happens - you have to still be focussed.”The Cityzens welcomed the Magpies at Etihad Stadium where the ground owners took a 4-0 victory.