#PremierLeagueStories – #MicahRichards questions Manchester City Players’ Match Fitness after Leeds draw #MCFC
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MIcah Richards Aston Villa
Micah Richards reckons Manchester City are not yet fully up to speed this season. City have taken four points from their opening three Premier League fixtures. Having beaten Wolves in their league opener, Pep Guardiola’s men were then humbled 5-2 at home by Leicester City. And on Saturday evening, they were held to a 1-1 draw by newly-promoted Leeds United at Elland Road. Afterwards, former City defender Richards said that even though its not a very serious concern but the City team still doesn’t look to be at the races this season.
Micah Richards said “I wouldn’t say it’s a concern. He (Guardiola) would’ve liked it to be nine points, of course he would, but the one thing I have to say is that Man City’s pre-season, they didn’t have a great pre-season. There were teams that finished a couple of weeks before them and have looked more refreshed. Towards the end of the game, Leeds were coming into the game more and looked like they had more energy. The first five games, you never get to full fitness anyway. Of course, he would have liked to have nine points, but I don’t think Man City are truly up to speed yet. I thought he was good (Ruben Dias), I thought he was composed, Like we mentioned before the game, there’s too much pressure on his shoulders, people comparing him to (Vincent) Kompany. I thought he did really well. I think it’s difficult, when you’ve got two full-backs who always want to get forward, you do leave your centre-backs exposed. For his debut, I think he did well. I was critical of Man City last week against Leicester, but I’ve got to give Leeds praise today. I thought the way they approached the game was brilliant, we talked about the tactical analysis before and how we thought we’d see more goals. But fair play to Leeds today, they were on the front foot, they were hungry. In the first-half, the game should have been dead and buried, but it shows the character of what they’ve got in the Leeds squad and a manager who really knows what he’s doing. It was a great spectacle.”
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