The Portuguese super talented star was neglected by Guardiola and became a Manchester City spectator

In the FA Cup final, Manchester City lost to Crystal Palace 0-1 and lost the championship trophy. Guardiola's use of troops has once again been questioned by the outside world. Especially when he sent out an unexpected starting lineup "Waistless Formation" in this game, it is even more confusing. In this game, Guardiola chose a 4-2-3-1 formation, with the midfield composed of De Bruyne, Silva and Marmush. These three players are not traditional direct midfielders. Although Manchester City has a ball possession rate of up to 78% and has as many as 23 shots in the game, they cannot convert the advantage into goals. Instead, they are seized by Crystal Palace to counterattack opportunities and eventually lose 0:1.

Looking back at Manchester City's defeat, the reason why Crystal Palace can effectively limit Manchester City's offensive organization in defense and use the weak links of Manchester City's midfield defense to launch an efficient counterattack has a lot to do with Guardiola's choice of "waistless formation". He clearly sits on the bench to take over the two midfielders Rodri and Nico Gonzalez, but he is stubborn. Rodri's injury has not been cured, so it's fine if he doesn't need it, but Nico Gonzalez is in good health, why not? This is really hard to understand. Nico Gonzalez, who joined Manchester City for a high price of 60 million euros in the winter window, not only did he not get the start in this game, but he also did not even get the chance to make a substitute. This is in sharp contrast to his early treatment.

Gonzalez comes from La Macia's youth training camp. Before transferring to Manchester City, he showed outstanding strength in the Portuguese Super League. The Portuguese Super League started 17 games, contributing 5 goals and 3 assists, and all the data such as steals, interceptions, and clearances are very impressive. He has also grown into Porto's core midfielder with his outstanding performance. Manchester City recruited him for 60 million euros in the winter window, and the transfer fee far exceeded its market value of 18 million euros at that time, which shows how much Manchester City valued and expected him. In the early days of joining, Gonzalez did not disappoint. He quickly integrated into the team and started almost every game. He showed extraordinary talent and ability in the game, especially in the Champions League, where he scored a key goal, helping Manchester City win.

Who knows that the good times will not last long. Since the middle of this season, Gonzalez's playing time has gradually decreased. Especially in the last five games, he was even more neglected, and he only got a 2-minute chance to play, basically becoming a spectator. Such a huge gap inevitably makes people sigh at Nico Gonzalez's personal situation.

Manchester City has a lot of midfielders and has a number of world-class players such as Rodri, Gundogan, Bernardo Silva. After Gonzalez came to Manchester City, although he had his own characteristics, it was indeed difficult to gain a foothold in such fierce competition. Guardiola's tactical system has extremely high requirements for midfielders. Although Gonzalez has solid skills and certain defensive abilities and passing abilities, he may not have completely found the most suitable position and role in Guardiola's tactical system.

From the data point of view, Gonzalez played 14 games for Manchester City this season, only 1 goal was recorded in the Champions League, but in other games, it was not very good. Such a sluggish performance is obviously difficult to satisfy for a player who is far beyond the market value. Therefore, it is actually reasonable that he was gradually neglected by Guardiola. However, Gonzalez is only 23 years old this year, and he still has plenty of opportunities to prove himself. I hope he can finally win back Manchester City's trust.