After Benching Erling Haaland Led to a Loss, Pep Guardiola’s Bus Journey Rant Brutally Mocked by Premier League Veteran

Pep Guardiola’s high-flying Manchester City were humbled last night against Newcastle in the Carabao Cup. Last season’s treble winners crashed out of the competition after losing 1-0 to the Tyneside outfit. This was after Pep Guardiola didn’t start their star striker Erling Haaland. However, City were unable to take a flight to and back from Newcastle and had to travel by bus instead. Something the Catalan boss suggested could impact their season. Now, ESPN FC pundit Craig Burley has mocked Guardiola for his comments about City’s performance being affected by just taking a bus.

It’s common knowledge that players of yesteryear mostly only traveled by bus for games, so Guardiola’s rant may have come across as rather amusing for most former Premier League players. This was perhaps the case with one Premier League veteran as well. The veteran, who most notably played for Chelsea between 1989 and 1997, made a total mockery of Guardiola in a recent podcast episode for ESPN.

Former Chelsea midfielder Craig Burley mocks Guardiola’s bus comments after benching Haaland

In ESPN FC’s latest podcast, Burley sarcastically mocked Guardiola’s comments that traveling by bus to Newcastle and Wolverhampton would derail their season.

On the show, Burley said, “Apparently…. there was no planes, so they had to get the bus from Newcastle to Manchester… I’ve been doing a bit of digging…It’s two hours 45 but I’m gonna give them three hours because a bus doesn’t go as quick as it can. Now what they don’t realize is, the manager, a bus is a great place for a game of cards, nothing better.”

“We used to bus all over! We didn’t fly about.  Then this morning he’s got a game at Wolves so they might have to go on the bus again right Manchester to Wolverhampton. I don’t know how are they going to survive!? It’ll be four and a half hours on a bus in 3 days!”

While referring earlier as to why Guardiola didn’t play Haaland, Burley added, “Well bless him, he needs a rest!”

Burley’s comments will surely result in a few chuckles. But for Guardiola and Man City, it was a night to forget as they were dumped out of the Carabao Cup.

Manchester City suffer 2nd loss of the season against Newcastle in Carabao Cup with Haaland unused

City succumbed to Newcastle after Alexander Isak scored in the 52nd minute. This loss against Newcastle was City’s second loss of the season after their Community Shield defeat to Arsenal.

City had a 100% win record since their Community Shield loss to the Gunners winning 8 games in all competitions. The Citizens also won their last game against Nottingham Forest in the Premier League 2-0, with Haaland getting on the scoresheet.

Also read: Erling Haaland’s Champions League-Winning Gameplay Can be a Lesson to $5,000,000 English Rugby Star, Says Teammate

Haaland scored against Forest but wasn’t involved against Newcastle last night, perhaps because Guardiola wanted to rest his star striker. Nevertheless, City will surely look to bounce back from the defeat and look to win some silverware in the competitions they remain in contention for this season.

What do you think about Burley’s comments? Was Guardiola over-reacting, or did he have a fair point?

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