RALPH Hasenhuttl confirmed the reasoning behind Samuel Edozie’s absence in the 4-0 defeat at Manchester City as through illness but praised his present young players.

The Austrian had revealed in the build-up to the contest that a couple of players had missed training during the week due to an unspecified illness.

Each week, Hasenhuttl has to select one player to miss out from the matchday squad due to the number of first-team players he has at his disposal.

On this occasion, it was 19-year-old Edozie – who signed from City on a permanent basis on deadline day, and awaits his first Premier League start after two substitute appearance.

Gavin Bazunu and Juan Larios, both Edozie’s former academy teammates, did feature at the main stadium of their former side, with the goalkeeper starting and impressing heavily despite the goals.

“Some young lads coming in today were also okay and it was a big experience for them to play against such a team,” the under pressure manager said, asked about Bazunu at full-time.

“The back four and goalkeeper was good most of the time and tried to defend what they could defend,” Hasenhuttl added.

“We had two goals conceded from the first-half after losing the ball in possession and this was the bigger problem I think.”

Joao Cancelo, Phil Foden, Riyad Mahrez and Erling Haaland all got on the scoresheet for Guardiola’s slickers to make sure the scores looked comprehensive by the close of play.

Bazunu, however, continually denied Norwegian international Haaland – who has 15 Premier League goals already this season – and eventually made four strong saves, to Ederson’s none.

The 20-year-old is still looking for a first clean sheet of his Premier League career but it was never likely to come at Etihad Stadium, and is still working on improving his distribution at the top level.

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