Pep Guardiola believes injury-plagued Manchester City cannot win the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League this season.
He doesn’t want to sell dreams. Before facing Sporting CP in the Champions League, Pep Guardiola sought to put Manchester City’s surprise defeat on the Bournemouth pitch (2-1) in the Premier League into perspective. For the Spanish coach, this poor performance is nothing serious, even if he believes that it shows that his team is not equipped to win all the trophies. The club has already been eliminated from the English League Cup since October 30 (2-1 defeat against Tottenham).
“We are only two points behind Liverpool, who are a top team. We have started well in the Champions League, but I know people expect us to win 38 league games and the treble every year, because these are our standards,” he first declared at a press conference on Monday, November 4.
“To win the hat-trick, everything has to go as planned”
“The reason why it is difficult is that we have had a lot of absences, which can happen in certain seasons. To achieve the treble, everything has to go as planned: no injuries, good dynamics, opponents who drop points at the right time,” added Pep Guardiola. He particularly deplores the unavailability of Oscar Bobb, the “best player of the pre-season”, Jack Grealish, “who is not always in good shape” and finally Rodri, “the best player in the world”, who is out for the rest of the season.
Against Bournemouth, Manchester City presented themselves with the following eleven: Ederson – Walker, Akanji, Aké, Gvardiol – Foden, Silva, Kovacic, Gündogan, Nunes – Haaland. After the match at Sporting, the Skyblues will play in Brighton for the 11th day of the championship. After the break, they will host Tottenham then Feyenoord.
