Pep Guardiola tackles Zack Steffen criticism as Man City seek to bounce back from Liverpool setback

Pep Guardiola has hit back at critics who claim he was wrong to pick Zack Steffen in the FA Cup semi-final defeat to Liverpool. The USA international handed Liverpool their second goal with a dreadful error, allowing Sadio Mane to steal the ball off his toe and bundle it over the line.

Fans were surprised to see Steffen get the nod, as Guardiola had said on the eve of the game he was considering a change to his usual policy of fielding the number two keeper in domestic cup competitions. His opposite number Jurgen Klopp did exactly that, bringing in Alisson rather than sticking with young Republic of Ireland international Caoimhin Kelleher.

Alisson himself afterwards expressed surprise that Ederson was not retained for a clash between the two best teams in the country, and arguably in the world. But Guardiola was adamant that it was the correct call and pointed out that Ederson had made a similar error in the league game with Liverpool six days earlier, and escaped by the skin of his teeth.

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Guardiola revealed he has not felt the need to speak to Steffen about the mistake, adding: “Listen, I’m pretty sure he slept bad - he didn’t feel comfortable. I prefer you go out and worry for the team. I do.”

And he said that to have any regrets about his team selection - in which Steffen, Nathan Ake, Aleks Zinchenko, Fernandinho and Gabriel Jesus all started - would be to claim those players are not good enough - and he simply does not believe that.

He insisted that the 3-2 defeat, with City staging a stirring second-half fightback, was down to other factors, and not the quality of the players he picked.

“I have a lot of respect for them, I’m not saying they don’t deserve to play,” he