Pep Guardiola has now shared how he is planning to deal with the imminent fatigue “problem” at Manchester City as a number of key players are injured.
The 52-year-old was quoted on the matter by Beanyman Sports.
So, what did Pep Guardiola say? Let’s take a look…
What’s the story?
Well, the Spaniard hinted that he is going to play a heavily rotated XI in next Wednesday’s Carabao Cup clash against Newcastle United, to deal with the mini injury crisis at the Etihad Stadium amid a congested schedule.
Manchester City are pencilled in to play four more games in September – with only 12 days remaining in the month – and already played twice before the international break.
Guardiola said: “When you have a lot of injuries, the problem is not today, the day after, it’s in three, four, five games. In the Carabao Cup we go to Newcastle. I am sorry, but there are games we’re going to have to play with some second team players.”
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Manchester City are currently without Jack Grealish, John Stones, Mateo Kovacic and Kevin De Bruyne, with the latter expected to be missing until 2024 after undergoing surgery to fix a hamstring injury.
Who could feature in Manchester City vs Newcastle?
As Guardiola states, some “second team” players are likely to start against Eddie Howe’s side.
In our view, that means talents such as Oscar Bobb and Rico Lewis could be handed a rare start – both came off the bench in Saturday’s win against West Ham.
Stefan Ortega could also be given an opportunity to start ahead of Ederson, while there might also be rare chances for the likes of Kalvin Phillips and Sergio Gomez to be involved in the starting XI.
While injuries to the aforementioned quartet are not ideal, Guardiola certainly has the depth to deal with it.