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By BEN WILLCOCKS, ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR Published: 11: 01 AEDT, 18 December 2025 | Updated: 11: 01 AEDT, 18 December 2025 2 View comments Pep Guardiola called out two of his Manchester City players for criticism as he praised the impact of his bench after guiding his team to the Carabao Cup semi-finals on Wednesday. Goals from Rayan Cherki and Savinho secured a comfortable 2–0 victory over Brentford at the Etihad, with the Premier League giants now set to face Carabao Cup holders Newcastle in the two-legged semi-final. Guardiola made several changes to City's lineup, giving important first-team stars Erling Haaland, Gianluigi Donnarumma and Ruben Dias well-earned rests ahead of Saturday's clash with West Ham. After calling on Phil Foden to replace Oscar Bobb after the youngster's injury early on, the manager made four substitutions in the second half as City fought to protect their lead. Explaining why he made the changes after the match, Guardiola criticised his two goalscorers, Cherki and Savinho, for not 'doing their jobs' defensively. He said: 'I'm really pleased for the impact from the guys who came from the bench, because in the second-half Rayan Cherki didn't do the job he should defensively - he had no energy, Savinho neither. Pep Guardiola called out two of his Manchester City stars for criticism after beating Brentford The Manchester City boss criticised his two goalscorers, Rayan Cherki (above) and Savinho, for not 'doing their jobs' defensively after his side's 2-0 win over the west London club Despite being criticised by Guardiola, Cherki scored a stunner on the night to give City the lead 'That's why the impact from Josko [Gvardiol], Matheus [Nunes], especially Bernardo [Silva] helped a lot to increase rhythm! 'I didn't want to play Nico Gonzalez, Nico O'Reilly 90 minutes again - they've played a lot and we have Saturday; a massively important game against West Ham. 'Same like Phil [Foden] - I didn't want him to play the minutes he played but the injury from Oscar [Bobb] happened. But everyone that came from the bench was really, really good! ' Despite criticising Cherki defensively, Guardiola only had positive things to say about his stunning opening goal on the night. City's £31million summer signing smartly brought the ball down on the outside of the penalty box and majestically curled a long-range effort past Hakon Valdimarsson to give the hosts the lead just after the half hour mark. 'What a goal, ' the Spaniard said. 'After that, he didn't play the match well but before and with the goal, it was fantastic. ' Asked to elaborate on why it was such a good goal, Guardiola added: 'Even a blind guy, a blind woman, can realise it was a special goal. You do not need to be a manager to understand how good it was. '
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