Man City FC boss Guardiola - 'Behaviour', not rotation, made me drop these England internationals.

Jack Grealish and Phil Foden all dropped to the City subs bench because of their attitude off the pitch.

Guardiola was disappointed with the behaviour of Grealish and Foden [Sky Sports Screen Shot]

Guardiola says rotation wasn't the main reason why he dropped Three Lions duo.

Pep Guardiola has revealed why he decided to drop Jack Grealish and Phil Foden for Manchester City’s clash against Newcastle on Sunday.

It is believed Guardiola and the club are unhappy with the condition they were in when they took part in a recovery session on the Wednesday.

Reports initially suggested that the Cityzens manager Guardiola was resting players due to the busy festive schedule.

But the Spaniard has quashed those reports, saying it was bad behaviour from the England internationals that made him drop the duo from his starting line up at St. James’ Park.

Despite the two stars being dropped to warm the bench, the Premier League defending champions went on to beat Newcastle United 4-0, thanks to goals from Ruben Dias, Joao Cancelo, Riyad Mahrez and Raheem Sterling.

Speaking to 5Live, Guardiola said: 'It was not rotation, no. I decided for this team because they deserved to play today, these guys and not the other ones.

'At Christmas time I pay a lot of attention to behaviour on and off the pitch. And when off the pitch is not proper they are not going to play.

'So we have to be focussed all the time because of distractions at Christmas time and everything that happens - you have to still be focussed.'

Phil Foden [Sky Sports Screen Shot]

The win over the Magpies helped extend Guardiola’s lead at the top of the Premier League table to three points as Liverpool later played out a 2-2 away draw with Tottenham.

Man City return to action on Boxing Day to play Leicester. City at the Etihad Stadium.

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