Manchester City was drastically altered by Pep Guardiola before their Carabao Cup loss to Newcastle.

Pep Guardiola insists there is no disappointment that Manchester City’s quadruple chances fell short at the start of the game and instead points to three players who seized the opportunity at Newcastle in the Carabao Cup.

Oscar Bobb

Sergio Gomez

Rico Lewis

Kalvin Phillips

City made a number of changes against Newcastle due to injury, suspension and illness, leaving the likes of Erling Haaland, Kyle Walker and Ruben Dias on the bench. In their place, Julian Alvarez played upfront, Oscar Bobb impressed on his full debut, and Sergio Gomez played in his natural right-wing position for the first time.

And those players left a mark on Guardiola, as well as midfielder Kalvin Phillips who made his first start of the season.

“Oscar was more than brilliant, in all departments, defensively, offensively,” the manager said. “The game he plays is unbelievable. Sergio played really good, Rico [Lewis] as well, everyone did really well.”

Oscar Bobb was the person with the highest score in Man City’s loss

Pressed on Bobb’s performance, where he stood out in the first half, Guardiola praised his versatility but bemoaned the youngster’s decision to pass to Alvarez in the first half when a shot was on.

“He played number ten, striker, winger. We know he moves in the pockets. We know his intensity,” Guardiola said. “The work without the ball, the tempo is amazing, the first half was an action with Julian where he was a little bit shy. The way the defender defends he should have finished the action but at that age it’s normal.”

And Guardiola also praised Phillips, saying he has put himself in contention to start against Wolves on Saturday in the Premier League.

“He played really good. It’s not easy when you play a lack of rhythm or minutes. He did it and played really good,” the boss said.

“Everyone has the chance [against Wolves]. We have time to think about it.”

City’s defeat means any hopes of a quadruple are over at the first hurdle, but Guardiola insisted that the season’s success will not hinge on whether the club better last season’s incredible achievements.

“We have incredibly positive things, many players,” he said. “The other competitions, we have the Super Cup, have three more competitions to play.

“You think the target was to win the quadruple? Honestly, it’s not. We compete really good, that’s what I saw and we are more than satisfied to win the treble. Our expectations are high but not high enough to make the other ones satisfied for that. Never was in our minds, we play and compete really good.”