Three things we learnt during Manchester City’s stalemate with Stoke

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Rotation policy and changes for both sides

With Manchester City in the midst of a fixture pile-up, with key matches in the FA Cup and Champions League to come in the next seven days, it was little surprise to see Pep Guardiola rotate his starting line-up.

The Spaniard elected to drop David Silva and John Stones to the bench whilst Raheem Sterling was omitted from the match day squad entirely. However, the Manchester City team had more than enough talent on display on Wednesday to offer a much better performance than they produced –  the starting line-up still included the likes Sergio Aguero, Kevin De Bruyne and Ya Ya Toure. Guardiola may well regret leaving Sterling out of the squad and Silva on the bench with his team lacking the pace and creativity to break down the massed ranks of Stoke City defenders.

Mark Hughes also decided to ring the changes, albeit with more success than his opposite number. Stoke changed to a 4-4-2 formation with Jonathan Walters, Mame Biram Diouf and Saido Berahino, who was handed his first start since a £12,000,000 transfer from West Bromwich Albion, all included in the starting line-up. The switch in formation and playing personnel were a categorical success and The Potters looked much more solid and competitive than they did at White Hart Lane two weeks ago when they suffered an embarrassing four-goal defeat against Tottenham Hotspur.