Pep Guardiola criticised for plea to Man City fans by talkSPORT hosts as Trevor Sinclair points out higher attendance level in Premier League matches than Liverpool

Jamie O'Hara was left annoyed by Pep Guardiola's plea to Manchester City fans this week - and he wasn't the only one on talkSPORT.

Guardiola called on more City fans to attend their Premier League clash at home to Southampton on Saturday after there were a noticeable amount of empty seats at the Etihad Stadium in their win over RB Leipzig.

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The Spaniard has faced backlash from City supporters, who have told him to 'stick to coaching', and ex-Spurs midfielder O'Hara believes Guardiola's comments weren't the wisest.

O'Hara said on the Sports Bar: "It actually annoyed me a little bit because I think it was I wouldn't say arrogant but does he realise what people have gone through? A global pandemic...

"It's not cheap to go and watch teams on Champions League nights and it's not easy for people to get to midweek games at 8 o'clock.

"And form him to come out and say 'come on, we need you there, we need you, we're going to be tired', it annoyed me."

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Meanwhile, Ray Parlour said action is needed from the club in light of their struggles to have a full house during Champions League matches.

Parlour said: "If they're not filling the stadiums, bring the prices down. It's a working class game, it's not every week you can fill the stadium."

Simon Jordan suggested City's inability to fill the Etihad is due to them not being a bonafide big club, but Trevor Sinclair hit back at that.

The former City player added that the club have no issues filling the ground for Premier League matches, and even have a higher attendance rate than Liverpool.

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Sinclair said: "It's expensive to go to Champions League games. They've got 45,000 season-ticket holders so they've got the fans there.

"League games are right up there. Manchester United get near enough 100 per cent, then there's Arsenal, West Ham, Norwich and Manchester City are fifth, 98.7 per cent of their stadium is full which is in front of Liverpool.

"We've just been through COVID, financially it's difficult for a lot of people. You look at Manchester City and you haven't got the tourists that come from all over England, the UK and further afield. It's basically Mancunians supporting Manchester City.

"I don't think the fans' turnout was that bad... I don't think we've got the relationship with the Champions League. Liverpool have won it six times, of course their fans are going to turn out for that.

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"We've not yet got that. I think if we get over the line then that'll get more fans to want to go to the early stages of the tournament.

"I understand where Pep's coming from but it's kind of gone in the face of the loyal fans because they go into work on a Thursday morning after seeing that interview and it's banter, isn't it? They'll have to take some stick for it being 'the Emptyhad'.

"When they were down in the equivalent of League One, they were getting 30,000 in, almost unheard of.

"I think with this tournament, UEFA as well, they aren't overly pleased with the way UEFA have tried to treat Manchester City and some fans will stay away, especially in these early games just for that."

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