Pep Guardiola fears the full extent of a mid-season World Cup won’t reveal itself until spring and is worried the tournament could have an effect on Manchester City during their run-in. When players return to their club sides just before Christmas they will have to be carefully managed, with the schedule immediately kicking back into top gear, including a potential Carabao Cup fourth-round tie just four days after the World Cup final.
Pep Guardiola said: “I have the feeling we’ll have to pay a lot of attention to how the players feel after the World Cup, and in March and April when we arrive in the latter stages that the squad who has had longer and will be fresher have more chances to win games in that period. It’s how they come back from the World Cup. I think the target for all the clubs will be the amount of energy they spend in training sessions to be perfect. I have the feeling it will be shower, massage, shower, massage to recover the players for the next game. It’s crazy. It’s a lot of games for the players. For me, it’s not a problem because I have two weeks off and then we’re in Abu Dhabi but for the players, it’s too much.”
Guardiola has also admitted that his players who line up against Chelsea and Brentford this week will do so with one eye on the World Cup and avoiding a cruel late injury.
Pep Guardiola said: “If you got an injury against Brentford it’s not going to change anything in terms of winning the Premier League or not winning the Premier League but I’m going to miss the World Cup because of it,” he said. What am I going to do? How am I going to play? Maybe I will be alert. I have to tell the guys to do it, to be focused – one month ago, okay. But now it’s there, it’s around the corner so we play Saturday and Saturday night they fly because on Sunday they have got to be with the national team so I’m pretty sure that will be a little bit in the players’ minds. It’s normal. I would be the same.”
The next round of the Carabao Cup is scheduled for Thursday, December 22, with the Premier League resuming on Boxing Day, just over a week after the World Cup final. Guardiola will use non-international or academy players for that fixture if they beat Chelsea tonight, even joking he would play “some physios” if it came to it. While the Premier League returns to action immediately, the Bundesliga doesn’t resume until January 20. Guardiola was accustomed to managers of English clubs complaining about the schedule when he was in charge of Barcelona and Bayern Munich. Now, he understands where they were coming from.
Pep Guardiola said: “When I was at Barcelona and manager at Bayern Munich, I listened to the news in England and all the managers complaining about the schedules, the schedules, the schedules. Why you’re playing on Saturday at 12.30 when we’re playing on Wednesday in the Champions League and the teams in the other countries can play on a Friday before the Champions League the next week to be more ready. Always they complain but nothing has changed. The Bundesliga have 18 teams, we have 20 teams, we have one more cup [competition].”
Guardiola has given up hope of the authorities changing the schedule to give the players fewer games to play. The future of the Carabao Cup remains a major debate in the calendar, especially with the expanded Champions League set to offer up 10 group games in 2024. City have won this trophy four times under Guardiola and the Catalan is happy to continue with it, fearing scrapping it will only result in another new competition being created to fill the space in the calendar.
Pep Guardiola said: “If England decide to play this competition we play this competition. Because we don’t play it, UEFA, FIFA are going to create a new competition. They aren’t going to give us long weeks. Call off this one, another one is coming. No official games, friendly games, after three weeks, start another season. Every season is the same.”
