Pep Guardiola has been an absolute revelation for Manchester City over the years, but one particular trait of his now risks holding the club back.
Manchester City have been the best English club over the past 15 or so years, winning eight Premier League titles, three FA Cups and six League Cups, plus one Champions League title.
However, the Citizens were in poor shape last season, and things haven’t exactly picked up this term.
And a lot of the issues within the squad at present effectively boil down to one thing that Pep Guardiola simply refuses to do.
Pep Guardiola’s penchant for a smaller squad is showing signs of backfiring
Guardiola has always preferred working with a smaller squad and, earlier this year, the Spaniard hinted that he threatened to quit over the principle.
“I said to the club I don’t want that [a larger squad],” Guardiola told reporters in May.
“I don’t want to leave five or six players in the freezer. I don’t want that. I will quit. Make a shorter squad, I will stay.
“It’s impossible for my soul to [tell] my players in the tribune [stands] that they cannot play.”
However, just three games into the season, this policy is already showing signs of backfiring.
Man City currently have 10 players on the sidelines and it remains to be seen how many will be fit by the time Manchester United come to town.
Rayan Cherki is out for around two months, and Claudio Echeverri would have been a good replacement – except he’s on loan at Bayer Leverkusen.
More recently, John Stones pulled out of the England team due to injury, and Man City fans are fuming over the lack of alternatives at hand.
Vitor Reis, Manuel Akanji and Juma Bah have all been loaned out, so City can’t call upon them to replace the injury-prone Stones.
Pep Guardiola risks being left behind in the game
Football is a fast-changing environment, and what works in one particular era (or year, or even month) may not work the next.
One thing that has increased over the years is the workload for the top teams, which takes its toll on the players.
A regular starter for a club competing on multiple fronts who is also a key player for a strong nation could easily wind up playing 70-plus games per season.
According to Opta – via BBC Sport – Man City’s players have clocked up the highest average amount of minutes for club and country since 1 June 2024 (3,780).
Ahead of the new season, Tijjani Reijnders had clocked up just over 6,000 minutes of football since 1 June 2024, while Josko Gvardiol was on 5,733 and Bernardo Silva was on 5,231.
Put simply, bigger squads are becoming crucial for clubs to merely tread water, never mind compete on multiple fronts.
And if Guardiola doesn’t realise this, then he will get left behind.
And no player or manager, no matter how big they are or how well they’ve done, is too big to fall behind in the game.
