Pep Guardiola said that Ruben Dias didn't want to risk a yellow card when he allowed James Maddison to beat him and get Leicester back into the game.
Manchester City racked up four goals inside the opening 25 minutes to seemingly end the contest early, even if the Foxes were still a threat going forward. Maddison got them on the scoresheet in the 55th minute when he took advantage of an Aymeric Laporte slip near the halfway line before beating Dias too easily and exchanging passes with Kelechi Iheanacho and firing past Ederson.
That goal sparked a resurgence from the depleted Leicester side, who scored three goals in 11 minutes to get to within one of City before the hosts pulled away again to run out 6-3 winners.
However, the comeback may have been over before it had begun if Dias had cut out the challenge but Guardiola indicated that the fact he was one booking away from missing the Brentford game on Wednesday meant that the City centre-back did not do what he was expected to when Maddison approached.
"They changed in the second half," Guardiola said of Leicester. "The way they played they didn’t play to press high. They were close. The game was so dangerous.
"We didn’t play bad[ly] in the second half. Ayme slipped and Ruben had one yellow to be suspended and was not aggressive enough. Then 4-1 and 4-2 and the mindset of the players changed. 4-3 the game was close to an equaliser.
"We were more patient and they had two more chances and we had chances too and with set-pieces we won the game."
