The Catalan made nine changes to the side that drew 1-1 with Southampton on Sunday as he looked to keep things fresh ahead of the trip to West Brom on Saturday and the Champions League match with Barcelona three days later.
Garcia, 19, was superb in a deep-lying midfield role, using his exceptional range of passing to keep City’s play fluid - and Spanish right-back Maffeo gave a stellar display in difficult circumstances.
‘’Aleix was outstanding – Pablo Maffeo as well, fighting with [Marcus] Rashford and [Paul] Pogba,’’ Guardiola said afterwards. ‘’We made a good performance, so there’s no regrets. We were still fighting until the last minute.’
‘’We are a young team. Kelechi is 20, Leroy 20, Pablo 19 - it is a good experience for them. Fernando played amazing and helped the other ones.’’
The result saw City’s winless run stretch to six matches – the first time in Guardiola’s management career he’s gone so long without a victory – but he insisted he is pleased with his side’s performance.
‘’Yeah, it’s six games – not a good situation – but we are out of one competition, we have three still,’’ he said. ‘’We are going to see. I happy with the players and we are going to try in the future.’’
City saw plenty of the ball but struggled to turn possession into clear-cut chances, which Guardiola feels let his side down.
‘’At that level, you have to be precise,’’ he said. ‘’We had many opportunities to make the last pass but we didn’t finish and that’s why we didn’t win.’’
