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| Manuel Pellegrini upset Wilfried Bony by leaving him on the bench against Arsenal as they lost 2-1 |
WILFRIED BONY will have showdown talks with manager Manuel Pellegrini today as Manchester City's fragile title bid threatens to implode.
Bony was left fuming on the substitutes' bench at the Emirates Stadium on Monday as Pellegrini blundered and picked a clearly unfit Sergio Aguero ahead of him.
The gamble backfired as City crashed 2-1 to Arsenal, and an ineffective Aguero was hauled off after just over an hour.
And now Pellegrini's squad are beginning to question their manager's selections and tactics as they sit six points off the top of the table.
A fully-fit and in-form Bony had scored against Swansea last week to make it two goals in two games but was relegated to the bench as Pellegrini brought Aguero back after four games out with a heel injury. The Ivory Coast striker was left steaming.
"I'm disappointed that I didn't start," he said. "I'm not the coach. The coach does what he thinks is best for the team. Everyone on the bench wants to play. He has to choose 11 players. But I think I deserve to be playing.
"Aguero is coming back from injury. He hasn't played for a couple of weeks. My feeling is that I will say this to the manager today.
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| Manuel Pellegrini selected a clearly unfit Sergio Aguero ahead of Bony |
"I will continue to work hard, prepare very well and then it will depend on the coach who he puts in.
"When I come on I just try to do my best to try to score or to give an assist to the other players to score to help the team to win."
City have won only twice in six games and are struggling particularly on the road. Since winning their opening three away games at West Brom, Everton and Crystal Palace without conceding a goal, they have failed on their last five trips.
Bony denied that City lack leaders on the pitch in the absence skipper Vincent Kompany, and said: "We can control our emotions, our feelings in the game and talk more to each other, but it's not about that. It's about if you are not playing well you find better ways in the next game. It's not about leaders.
"Arsenal played well. We struggled. We were lucky because it should have been worse. Joe Hart saved a lot of chances from them so you have to say that they deserved to win.
"We are not losing confidence. We just didn't play well. We will find our way again in the next game. There are still a lot of games to go.
"When the team win everything is going well. If you lose it's like this. We win together, we lose together. We will work, see what is going on and try to find a better way."
Former Gunners defender Bacary Sagna denied Monday's result proved Arsenal are better equipped for a title challenge, despite the £140million City spent on new players last summer.
Sagna, whose side now face a must-win game against Sunderland at the Etihad on Boxing Day, said: "We are not inferior to Arsenal. With their first shot they scored. After that it was difficult. We managed to come back, but they scored another goal.
"We are still involved in all competitions. We have just had a bad moment, when we conceded too many goals.
"We know Vincent is a quality defender. He is our captain and we miss him of course. But we have the quality, we have the players to replace him."
That is a debatable point, with Eliaquim Mangala badly at fault for Theo Walcott's opening goal, and Nicolas Otamendi also exposed as Olivier Giroud scored Arsenal's second.
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