Pep Guardiola says a proper preparation for the Sky Blues’ latest title defence is impossible and expects to head into the campaign ‘undercooked’ as numerous stars are still on vacation recovering from the previous campaign.
City take on Barcelona in their third friendly across the pond in the United States on Tuesday night but will be doing so without 13 stars who remain away after the European Championships.
Guardiola has left it to his England internationals – Phil Foden, John Stones, Kyle Walker and Rodri, among others – to decide for themselves when they return to training.Many are expected to choose to be back in the days before the Community Shield’s Manchester derby on August 10 but Guardiola’s offer does extend to that week if they are still struggling with burn out.
“We will arrive late but not (just) against Manchester United, against Chelsea and Ipswich too,” Guardiola said, pointing towards their opening Premier League fixtures.
“We will be late. It’s about trying not to drop many points, try to compete well. We don’t have players because they have to rest.
“If the big bosses and all the institutions like FIFA, UEFA and the Premier League don’t think about the players then the managers have to think about them, otherwise they will die. It’s too much. That’s why three weeks or one month is necessary, but the competition is there and you have to adapt.”
Given their involvement in next summer’s expanded Club World Cup, City’s campaign is likely to stretch to a full 12 months and Guardiola is mindful of managing the loads of his squad.
City are not new to this annual conundrum, having become accustomed to starting slowly and recovering, with the Catalan predicting similar circumstances this time around.
“There’s no solution, there will not be a solution because there is no intention to find a solution,” he added.
“The clubs have to travel to show our brand around the world, to let other continents and places see our players, and we have to adapt.
“We would like to have had proper preparation but it’s impossible because national teams deserve to play and every institution like FIFA and UEFA and local competitions want to defend their product and make games.
“We have a good squad when everybody comes back. We have three, four, five interesting (young) players just in case we need them. We will do what we have done in the previous seasons when we have had success having the same calendar as this year.”