Leeds United manager Daniel Farke has suggested that Gianluigi Donnarumma’s injury suspension allowed Pep Guardiola to give Manchester City more tactical direction after their 3-2 defeat at the Etihad.
Leeds United manager Daniel Farke has accused Gianluigi Donnarumma of faking an injury to give Pep Guardiola an opportunity to give impromptu Manchester City team talk. With Dominic Calvert-Lewin reducing the lead to 2-1 and the Whites taking the lead, Donnarumma collapsed just before the end and required treatment.
While the Italian player was being treated by medical staff, Guardiola gathered all 10 of his outfield players and issued new instructions. Leeds’ tactical changes meant City struggled and although the visitors were able to equalize, Guardiola’s side managed to halt the momentum and Phil Foden grabbed the winning goal in stoppage time.
Falke insisted he was not criticizing Guardiola, but said it was clear why Donnarumma left the club and called for rules to be changed to prevent such incidents from happening in the future. “Everyone knows why he fell, right?
“It’s not like the elephant in the room. Ask me what I think about it and why he fell, I think it was obvious,” he said.
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“It’s within the rules. It’s the sensible thing to do. If I like it, from a fair play point of view, this is how it should be, I’ll keep it to myself and leave it to the authorities to find a solution. It’s within the rules. I asked the fourth official if he wanted to do something and he said, ‘No, our hands are tied, we can’t do anything.’
“If we don’t educate our players on what to do in terms of fair play and sportsmanship, if they try to bend the rules to their advantage, if they can fake an injury for further team consultations, I don’t personally think that’s a good thing, but if it’s within the rules, I can’t complain.”
“If that were to happen, I would recommend going every 50-50 to the away team instead of the home team. I would have blown the whistle after 90 minutes at 2-2 instead of going all the way to overtime.”
“There are tools that can be used to prevent something like this from happening. There’s a reason the goalie goes down and not the outfield player, and the outfield player needs to go down.
“I want the authorities to find a solution, but in terms of fair play I have my doubts. I’m not criticizing my colleague. He (Guardiola) hasn’t collapsed. If he had that time and there was an injury, I would do it.”
“We have a very good relationship and Pep is by far the best manager in the world. There is no better manager to adjust things in the game. There is not one percent of criticism against Pep. The fact that something like this happened is known to everyone.”
When Falke’s comments were relayed in Guardiola’s own press conference, the City manager claimed he had no idea why Donnarumma was dropped and suggested the Premier League would fine City if they broke the rules. He also pointed out that the press conference was delayed because Farke took too long to speak.
“To be honest, I didn’t talk to Gigio about anything,” Guardiola admitted. “When that happened, I turned around in the dugout and said, ‘James, warm up.’ I don’t know. You can ask me at the next press conference, and I’m going to ask Gigi.”
“Of course I would like to take a time-out. If I do it again, I’m sure the Premier League will fine me again. It’s better not to do it.”
“If you’re five seconds late after half-time, you always have to pay a lot of money. Daniel had to speak, so you have to wait 30 minutes to get here. After that, it’s fine, but I hope they don’t fine you for being 30 minutes late. That’s because Daniel Farke was here. In the Premier League, you’d know by now.”
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