Old guard working well for Pep
PEP GUARDIOLA has stressed the importance of the contribution of Manchester City’s old guard, even though he acknowledges his squad does not have the ideal age balance.
Twelve of City’s players are over 30, while six are under 22. That leaves just six in the 22-30 bracket that normally forms the core of any title-winning squad.
Of those, Ilkay Gundogan is a longterm injury casualty and Fabian Delph hasn’t made a League start all season.
“We realise that we have a lot of players over 30,” says Guardiola.
“For example, the full-backs (Pablo Zabaleta, Gael Clichy, Bacary Sagna and Aleks Kolarov) are all over 31, but they are so important.
“The heart and the soul of the team are the old players. They are the people who know the club.
“We cannot change absolutely everything in one season, firstly because every new player costs £45-50m but also because it’s not good to change 7, 8, 9 players.
“Sooner or later it is going to change, but not overnight.”
Guardiola has begun to address the issue by introducing Leroy Sane (21) and Gabriel Jesus (19) to the starting XI, while the contracts of over-30s Zabaleta, Toure, Kolarov, Sagna, Clichy, Jesus Navas and Willy Caballero expire in the summer.
But, for now, he knows he must rely on his veterans to help him avoid the embarrassment of possibly missing out of Champions League qualification.
“I understand how important Yaya is now,” he says. “And Kolarov. And how important it is to have the personality of Pablo in the dressing room.
“To climb the table we need to make victories in a row. If we want to fight until the end, we need that.
“Of course, it’s possible we won’t qualify for the Champions League. Today we are not in the Champions League positions.
“We have won more points away than at home. Away we are stable and we compete really well and win in many stadiums.
“On our pitch we have been unlucky in important games like Chelsea and Tottenham but we will become stronger.
“Let us fight until the end. Let me at least try that. Then we will see.”