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Manuel Pellegrini issued a warning to his below-par Manchester City stars by ringing the changes against Leicester.

The manager has had to take plenty of criticism after demoralising defeats against Barcelona and Liverpool in the last week.

But Pellegrini’s team selection on Wednesday night showed what he thought of the performance of his players in those game.

Samir Nasri and Fernandinho could not even make the matchday squad, while Edin Dzeko, Pablo Zabaleta and club captain Vincent Kompany were consigned to the bench.

The City coach revealed after the game that none of the players were injured, pointing out that “it was important to refresh the team mentally and physically after two difficult games.

“We have the squad we want so it was a good moment to refresh the team,” he added.

Kompany’s relegation to the bench was the most eye-catching part of the teamsheet, having been defended from criticism by his manager only a day earlier.

And while admitting that the skipper took the decision “very well, without any problems”, Pellegrini would not confirm whether Kompany will be restored to his starting XI for their next game.

The response Pellegrini got from the team he put out against Leicester was good enough, leaving the manager satisfied.

“It was important for our team to keep a clean sheet and try and dominate the game from the beginning,” he said.

“Maybe we scored too late the second goal but I think it was a normal game.”

City were the better team on the night but can be relieved that a couple of debatable penalty decisions went in their favour.

Jeffrey Schlupp went down in the box in the first half after contact from Wilfried Bony, while Fernando’s challenge on Andrej Kramaric - given as a free-kick- appeared to be on the line of the penalty area.

Pellegrini was content to “always accept the decisions of the referee” but his counterpart Nigel Pearson did not agree.

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Asked if they should have been given a spotkick, the Liecester boss said: “Yes. Simple answer.

“I’m not talking about [referees] tonight. You can talk about them and ask the relevant authorities.

“It’s the same one we had against Tottenham.

“We are a resilient group so they have to get on with it. Nothing we can do about it. It’s up to the authorities to do something about it - not me.”