Pep Guardiola does not often make mistakes. At West Ham, he made a big one

London — For a manager who once said that every defeat feels like “pew, pew, pew” straight to the heart, Pep Guardiola’s admission on Saturday night was startling in its simplicity: “Bad selection, now you can criticise me incredibly.”

Forty-eight hours after delivering a four-minute, 25-second sermon in a Madrid press room defending his right to chase spectacle over safety, Guardiola stood in the bowels of the London Stadium and conceded that the single biggest call in his team-sheet had back-fired. Antoine Semenyo, not Rayan Cherki, started as the central playmaker and Manchester City laboured to a 1-1 draw that, in the Catalan's own words, “feels like the moment the league slipped away.”

The numbers told their own story. City managed only two shots on target in the opening 45 minutes, both from outside the box, and completed none of their six attempted through-balls inside the area. Semenyo, stationed between West Ham’s defence and midfield, repeatedly received possession facing goal but lacked the velvet first touch or peripheral vision to unpick the low block. By the 17th minute the travelling support were audibly calling for Cherki; by the 23rd they were booing a sideways pass.

Guardiola defended the logic on Friday — “I wanted the Bernabeu to feel us” — yet on Saturday he accepted the counter-argument without hesitation. Asked whether Cherki would have been the better option, he replied: “You are right, yeah, absolutely. For that role, absolutely. There is no one better than him.”

The France U-21 international has nine goals and eight Premier League assists this season, second only to Bruno Fernandes for creativity, and has revelled in the pocket behind City’s twin strikers when given licence. But he has started only four of the last ten league fixtures since New Year’s Day, a stretch in which City have dropped 11 points.

Guardiola’s dilemma is old as it is new: how to marry attacking exuberance with the structural spine required to survive 38 Premier League storms. “We learned in the beginning of the season that when we played Erling with Jeremy or Rayan we do not have the stability,” he explained. “I’m still finding the best way to have stability and consistency.”

Against West Ham the equilibrium never arrived. Without Kevin De Bruyne’s metronome and with Phil Foden and Tijjani Reijnders both mired in form slumps, City’s build-up was pedestrian. The “spark” Guardiola demanded never ignited; the “last pass” deserted them; the champions-elect looked suddenly ordinary.

The manager’s post-match tone oscillated between contrition and gallows humour. He joked with Howard Webb, the referees’ chief, that he would “get myself another ban” to enjoy a better vantage point in the stands, and quipped about Erling Haaland’s groin scare. Yet the subtext was unmistakable: Guardiola believes the title chase is over and the rebuild has only begun.

Tuesday’s remontada against Real Madrid now carries season-defining weight. City trail 3-0 on aggregate and must score at least four at the Etihad to advance. Expect Cherki to start; expect Guardiola to gamble again. The mistake at West Ham was not the willingness to attack, but the refusal to unleash the one player guaranteed to create the chaos his side so desperately lacked.

Pep Guardiola does not often make mistakes. When he does, he admits them faster than most. The only question left is whether the correction has come in time to rescue a campaign that is slipping away with every dropped point.

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