As Manchester City fought their way to a [2-all draw](https://esteemedkompany.com/2024/12/07/manchester-city-2-crystal-palace-2-city-player-ratings-as-citys-depleted-side-leave-london-with-a-point/) against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park yesterday the toll City’s injury crisis has taken on Pep Guardiola’s squad was clear to see. The world champions are reliant on a key group of players who have so far avoided injury issues this season. That is a reality Pep Guardiola was [quick to acknowledge](https://www.mancity.com/citytv/mens/pep-guardiola-post-match-crystal-palace-december-7-63869194) yesterday. But as Manchester City’s squad is pushed to breaking point you do wonder did they misread the situation surrounding the size of their squad last summer?
Entering the season it did appear that Manchester City had the ideal squad for the 24/25 season. The additions of Ilkay Gundogan and Savinho did look like shrewd business. Julian Alvarez was the only major departure over the summer. The champions started the season strongly but then injuries have curtailed City’s season so far. But while that was unexpected, the toll of such a heavy workload should’ve been foreseen.
Last summer Manchester City had a host of players play in the European Championships and Copa America. There was also the prospect of the expanded UEFA Champions League and the expanded FIFA Club World Cup added to the equation. It is well known that Pep Guardiola prefers to work with a smaller squad. But entering this season with a small squad was playing with fire. Now Manchester City has been burnt, playing too close to the flames.
It wasn’t hard last summer to see that this could occur. This season was always going to be one like no other. An expanded schedule off the back of a busy summer of internationals was always going to expand the workload required by Pep Guardiola’s squad. All it was going to take was one major injury to increase the workload on City’s squad. That’s exactly how it’s played out.
The moment Rodri went down with an ACL injury against Arsenal the equation changed for the world champions. His injury increased the workload on Ilkay Gundogan, Bernardo Silva, Mateo Kovacic and others. Factor in Oscar Bobb’s fractured leg on the eve of the season and you could see what was coming. Add that to the persistent fitness issues that plague Nathan Ake and John Stones and you end up where we are now. Same with Kevin De Bruyne who has just returned to City’s starting lineup after a long injury layoff. There were enough warning signs that this Manchester City squad could break down, and that is what has occurred.
The Manchester City hierarchy should have seen this coming. It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that the situation the City is currently facing could happen. The clues were all there. Manchester City should’ve entered this season with a bigger squad. Not a mammoth-sized squad like Chelsea’s but one with one or two extra players would’ve sufficed. In hindsight, that’s something the City hierarchy should’ve seen coming and planned for. Instead, they didn’t and now Pep Guardiola’s side is paying the price.
Manchester City did misread the situation surrounding squad sizes last summer. There’s no escaping that fact. It may be too late to rectify that in January. But going forward it’s a lesson they must learn. A small squad has merits as Pep Guardiola has explained, but with a busier schedule it is perhaps time to increase the squad size to prevent an issue like the world champions have faced this season.