Manchester City have had their Club World Cup journey ended sooner than they expected, so will they arrange games in their place?
Pep Guardiola
Pep Guardiola
Manchester City's pre-season may have turned out better than expected. They wanted to go all the way in the Club World Cup and won't escape the humiliation of being beaten by Al Hilal any time soon, yet the players now have nearly four weeks off to rest up before returning to the City Football Academy to begin preparations for their Premier League campaign.
It is a backwards summer though, with the rest after the friendly games before they have to wind up again in the first few weeks of August. It could be better than had they played another three games in the Club World Cup, but it still isn't what they're used to.
One of the remaining questions around their summer is if they will arrange any more fixtures before they head to Molineux to take on Wolves. No final decision has been made, but there is the possibility of extra matches once the players return in order to tune up their match sharpness.
It isn't uncommon for City to tag extra games onto their main block of friendlies. They headed to Iceland in 2017 after returning to the United States and have played both Girona and Barcelona in non-competitive fixtures once the season has begun.
They also took on Girona in December 2022, just before their domestic calendar was about to resume following the 2022 World Cup. And there is also evidence of quickly arranging games after unexpected events.
City expected a Manchester derby to be part of their 2016 warm-up, only for the game to be farcically called off hours before kick-off in Beijing. Guardiola has grown more comfortable with being critical as the years have gone on at City, but he certainly didn't hold back in his first summer.
“The pitch was unacceptable," he blasted. "We don't travel all the way to China just for holidays or a training session.
“We came to play two friendly games so I think it was the first time a game has been cancelled here. They are looking for hotels, inviting players, but at the end, if the pitch is not good enough, all that doesn't matter.
“For them, the pitch doesn't matter, but for us it's the most important thing. All the players and the coaches want to play as well as they can. Maybe there was a concert on the pitch 10 or 15 days before. Our groundsman was there for 10 days to try to take care of the pitch.
“It wasn't the water, it wasn't the rain. It was just the state of the pitch. We have played in really bad conditions in our careers, but that pitch two days ago was impossible to play on.
“It wasn't just about avoiding injured for the players, it was about the fans. They buy tickets to watch players of quality from City and United.
“But if we had played on that pitch, the fans would have said 'what is that game?' because it was unacceptable.
“The pitch [turf] would have moved two metres. Believe me, it was the right decision not to play on it.”
It meant City played just one game on their China tour and when they returned to Manchester an extra game against Scottish side St Johnstone was squeezed in at the training ground. They then headed off to Sweden to play Arsenal in a game that had already been arranged to round off their pre-season.
Guardiola will have been expecting more fixtures this summer in the US, so another emergency friendly or two may be required when the squad regroups ahead of their Premier League start.
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