PEP’S LOOKING FORWARD TO A BUSY CHRISTMAS
THE Carabao Cup is a priority for precisely zero clubs and the Christmas fixture list has irked Pep Guardiola in previous seasons, but the City manager talked up the qualities of both as his team prepare for another busy period.
With the Premier League turning into a two-horse race, every extra day of Liverpool rest is being seen as potentially pivotal in the title race. Should they get past Rotherham in the FA Cup, the Blues will have 11 games between now and the end of January.
For Guardiola though, a packed schedule gives him the opportunity to keep his squad happy that he would not have if his team were not as successful as they have been.
“The Carabao Cup is amazing in that sense,” he said. “It’s another competition, I know that, but for that competition everybody is involved. I think the last month more or less everybody plays and plays a lot of minutes. It’s the only way to sustain the locker room, and to keep the people fresh mentally and physically for the future. For example, in the last game against Leicester, John Stones played holding midfield position in for Fernandinho and was incredible in the way he played.
“That’s important for me and my staff, to see the players in different positions. When we have problems we can give time. John came in, Vinnie [Kompany] and Nico can play as central defenders. We needed to do that.
“If not, then in February we will die. When everybody is involved it’s much better, especially in that period. Until the end of January, it’s incredible the amount of games we have. In February and March we can breathe a little bit. We try to arrive in February in the competitions, being there. After that, we see what happens in the important games, the knockout games. Are we in or are we out? We are going to see.” Sergio Aguero and Kevin De Bruyne came through unscathed from their run-outs at Leicester and could feature again for the Palace game despite Guardiola planning changes from the youthful side that won the Carabao Cup quarter-final tie. The City manager has been impressed that his team have kept their identity through their injury problems, and those that have stepped in have done enough to earn more time. “Now we are in the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup, two games, so everybody is going to play a lot of minutes,” said Guardiola. “We will make a few changes, compared to the last game against Leicester, but the way we play, we are going to do the same.” Pep Guardiola