Manchester City have had to change plans after being booted out of the Club World Cup at the last-16 stage
Manchester City players with Pep Guardiola
Manchester City players with Pep Guardiola
Manchester City players will enjoy the best part of a month off after being dumped out of the Club World Cup. Pep Guardiola and his squad were hoping to go deep at the US tournament but were dumped out by Saudi side Al Hilal in the last-16.
Defeat in the first knockout round has led to a change in City's preparations for the campaign. Having planned to be in the US until the middle of July, the Blues will now be given back some of the rest that they were denied earlier in the summer as a result of international duty and then the Club World Cup at the end of the 2024/25 season.
City players will only report back for duty in Manchester on July 28, giving them the best part of four weeks to enjoy a rest before starting preparations for the Premier League campaign. They had also been allowed to take family out to the US with Guardiola keen to give everyone as much downtime as possible.
That approach is consistent with the manager, who likes his players to have as much time off as they can. It also marries with the club strategy of not overloading players at the beginning of the season, knowing they will have to be at their peak in the closing months of it.
With no Community Shield for City for the first time in five years, the group will have just under three weeks of training at the City Football Academy before they face Wolves in their first Premier League game. There is a possibility there could be additional friendlies in that time to help tune the team up, although no decision has been confirmed.
Guardiola admitted that the Club World Cup could have a detrimental effect on City's season after criticism from England boss Thomas Tuchel and former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp about the workload of players.
“I try not to think about it, otherwise I will be so anxious,” he said before the Al Hilal game. “We will rest the time the Premier League allows us to. And game by game, month by month, we will see.
"And maybe in November, December, January, ask me, Pep. I may say: ‘So listen, we are a disaster. We are exhausted. The World Cup destroyed us.’
"I don’t know, but it’s the first time in our life that that’s happened [32-team Club World Cup]. So we will see.
“So I try to be relaxed, to enjoy the days here, the good vibes that we have, the competition, to try to win it. And the most important thing, to recover, to find or re-find ourselves what we were. This is my main target in this tournament.”
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