13 ‘We have fit players, but we get on with it!’
GUARDIOLA DOESN’T WANT ANY WHINGEING FROM HIS PLAYERS
PEP Guardiola has warned his City players he will not allow their stunted pre-season, or subsequent injury crisis, to be used as an excuse.
The Blues face early Premier League leaders Leicester in their opening home match tomorrow, with the manager saying they have just 13 fit senior players due to injury and positive Covid-19 tests.
City’s pre-season was disrupted more than anyone else’s apart from United, who also started a week later due to involvement in the later stages of European competitions last month.
That, and the two-week international break, meant the squad reporting back in bits and pieces during the build-up to the start of the season – they had a little over a week of training together before kicking off with a win at Wolves.
And after playing Monday night and Thursday night, there is no respite in sight as the Blues face Leicester tomorrow, Burnley in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday and then Leeds away on Saturday, before plunging into another international break.
Asked how the limitations of the pandemic, and the way it has shortened and intensified the season, have affected the way he and his squad do things, Guardiola said:
“We train less. Today the managers - not just for Covid-19 - must use human resources because we don’t have time for training or a practice match.
“We have to recover and in three days we have Leicester, and then in three days or four we have Burnley, and after that Leeds.
“We don’t have time to train, just recover and arrive fresh to the game and that’s all. We don’t have time to practise anything, just avoid injuries. It is what it is.”
But Guardiola made it plain he wanted no whingeing about the problems, even though he will have to stock his subs bench with youngsters.
“I always thought the situations are the situations and right now that’s what it is,” he said.
“We would prefer four or five weeks to prepare but I like to convince these players, especially at this club or the clubs I came from, that excuses don’t exist.
“We have 13 players, we have to win the game. We have many games, we have to win the games. We have to do everything to have control as much as possible.
“Nothing is going to change if we say the opposite - we don’t have all the players or time for training so it is what it is and we have to move forward.
“We have the players in the academy to help us.”