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A look at Pep Guardiola’s latest comments that saw him namecheck Chelsea’s current recruitment model.
Pep Guardiola has lashed out at football authorities, namechecking Chelsea in his complaints. Manchester City have struggled this season, going into this weekend eight points behind leaders Liverpool having played a game more.
The Citizens have been equally as poor in the Champions League, looking unlikely to automatically qualify for the Round of 16 as things stand, losing to Juventus during the week.
As City prepare to face Manchester United, Guardiola has lamented the loss of star midfielder Rodri to an ACL injury, with the Spaniard suffering the injury early in the season, blaming the schedule for the injury.
“So why is Rodri injured? He played 75 games last season,” Guardiola said. ‘When we finished and I was on holiday, he was at the Euros to win the Euros with Spain, and injured with Spain and came back. And one game, two games. Do you know being fresh you get an ACL? No. I promise. Strong as Rodri, but he came back tired, not on the top, but I needed him against Inter, I needed him against Arsenal, not being at the top. And you are not strong enough and unfortunately it happened.
“The reason why? The schedule. Give him one month and a half, two months holiday, give to Rodri, two months holiday after the Euros, like in the NBA, three months they have, four months they have, tell him, and he would be perfect, and after he can play 80 games if you want. But give him three months. But next season, next season Manchester City, not Chelsea they already have the squad, have to be 30 players, 25 or 30. How do you sustain the club economically, financially? We won’t have revenues next season, impossible. Impossible.
“Why do we have revenue this season? We sold a lot of players, from the academy especially, a lot, and with Julian [Alvarez] and the other ones, a lot. Combine the financials and the demands for the team, it’s tough! We would like to have 17, 18, 19 players, financially the conductor for the team it’s perfect. Today, in modern football, it’s impossible. Impossible. Even with 22, 23-years-old, the young ones, and one team would say, ‘Ah no because we work differently’. We were perfect in the preparation, physical preparation, because our nutritionists are more special than the other clubs. No, because our beds are top for rest. You say that, yeah. Next year, seven injuries. Doing the same. It’s the schedule. Don’t look at another way. Impossible.”
Guardiola’s excuses are an ear-sore
Beyond the fact Chelsea’s model has been highly criticised for the last couple of years - and perhaps rightly so - Guardiola’s excuses are all too hard to listen to given the money City have had available to them over the last decade and a half.
There may be a conversation to be had about the footballing schedule, but it must start with big clubs and how they use - or more accurately, don’t use - their entire squad. City spent £50million to sign Kalvin Phillips to be Rodri’s back-up, but that turned out to be a failed transfer, with Guardiola never trusting the midfielder.
If Rodri is at dangerous levels in terms of fitness, it is up to Guardiola to not play him and to work tactically to ensure the loss of the Spaniard doesn’t hurt his team significantly. Rodri has played so many games because Guardiola has asked him to. Only a fraction of those games were with Spain, with the majority coming with City.
Guardiola may be making the case that the football authorities have put Rodri in a dangerous position, but that can easily be flipped around to Guardiola having put the midfielder in danger. The authorities require teams to play X number of games. They do not require specific players to play X number of games.
The desire for success results in top players overplaying, and especially at the top clubs, where even the back-ups are better than most Premier League players. Not to mention most top clubs always have the option of improving back-up players in any case.
Premier League squads are made up of 25 players, which works out as a back-up for every position plus an additional goalkeeper, two extra players as well as the young players who don’t even count towards that total. Every manager has the option to take a struggling player out of harm’s way at any point, and if Guardiola’s desire to win outweighs that then fine, but he must face himself in the mirror when such injuries happen rather than blaming it on those who help City and others grow their profits each year with a jam-packed schedule.
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