Pep Guardiola hopeful 'open-minded' Kalvin Phillips will take his chance at Man City with Rodri suspended

Pep Guardiola has suggested he has not got the best out of Kalvin Phillips since his move from Leeds to Manchester City.

Phillips joined City in the summer of 2022 but has only made four starts for the Premier League champions.

At Leeds he was a key figure and became an England international as Marcelo Bielsa took the club back to the Premier League.

"Marcelo gave Kalvin the best of Kalvin in his career," said Guardiola.

"I'd love to have done with Kalvin what Marcelo has done to him.

"It is what it is. We have our own specific way to play and sometimes they struggle with a few things, [but] the previous game was perfect.

“But he is open-minded, he always wants to learn, wants to help and this is what we want to try to do.”

Guardiola has confirmed Phillips will start on Wednesday evening when City face Newcastle in the Carabao Cup.

He could also get chances in the coming weeks as Rodri is suspended for three games after being sent off against Nottingham Forest last weekend.

"Rodri has been missed and his consistency is really important, he knows everything in the game,” said Guardiola.

"Of course being outside, sitting [on the bench], seeing players in training sessions and what we are looking for in the training sessions and the meetings helps a lot. But every player has his own specifics.

"We bring Kalvin here for his quality. There are no twins in football. Everyone has their own personality. He has to be Kalvin Phillips.

“He decided to stay this summer, the club spoke with him and even for the fact he didn't have many minutes, he said 'No, I want to stay'. If he wants to stay, it's okay, it's perfect - he's a lovely person.”

The Carabao Cup was the one competition that City didn’t win last season as they were beaten by Southampton in the quarter-finals.

Guardiola says that was the worst game he has experienced since taking charge of the club.

"Against Southampton last season, it was the worst game I played as manager of City by far.

“I didn’t recognise anything about that game. You can lose, of course you can lose and full credit to Southampton in that game. But you have to be a minimum, that is all I want from my team every game, and tomorrow it's going to happen, I'm pretty sure of that.”

Guardiola also revealed that City are set to travel back from the game by bus as they do not have a plane available.

The trip to Newcastle is the first in a run of four consecutive away games for City, who next face Wolves, RB Leipzig and Arsenal.

“We cannot come back by plane because we don't have planes to travel back so we have to take a bus, it's two, three hours later, we arrive here so, so late," said Guardiola.

"Then Friday we have to travel to Wolves. We go to Germany to play Champions League, it's a really, really important game for us because we know what it means to be able to win there for qualification for the next stage. This is what we have to do."

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