Pep Guardiola has been looking ahead to the match against Newcastle United which is now in nine days time.
Both Manchester City and Newcastle United have a very busy spell, with six games each to play before the next international break.
Those six games for both, start on Tuesday 19 September and end on Sunday 8 October,
The first and sixth matches only 19 days apart.
Pep Guardiola admitting he is resigned to playing youth team players against Newcastle United
Just a case of how many end up playing in this Carabao Cup game at St James’ Park.
When the official Premier League senior 25 man squads were named this past week,
Pep Guardiola only named 21, not 25.
The Man City boss having decided to go with a smaller senior squad that relies on not too many injuries and relying on those still classed as under 21s to fill out the first team squad where necessary.
However, having signed four players in the summer but allowing more than twice that number to leave,
Both on permanent and loan deals, Pep Guardiola has ran into a number of key injuries, including John Stones, Jack Grealish, Mateo Kovacic and Kevin De Bruyne.
Pep Guardiola indicating that in this busy period of games coming up,
He will prioritise the Premier League and Champions League ahead of the Carabao Cup.
Pep Guardiola talks about his squad
The Man City manager also pointing to the crazy number of internationals and the travel involved, especially for South American players.
Newcastle United and Eddie Howe do of course face all the same kind of issues
This September international fortnight, the ones in October and November swiftly follow.
If Newcastle do beat Man City in this Carabao Cup match, then it means they will play EVERY remaining midweek in 2023
If also winning the fourth round Carabao Cup match they would play in early November,
apart from when there are internationals played!
As we saw on Saturday, despite some injuries,
Newcastle United surely have the strongest bench that they have ever had in their history.
So whilst Eddie Howe will have to juggle his options for sure, hopefully he will be able to put out a very competitive team for every single match, including this Man City one.
“The problem when you have a lot of injuries, is maybe not today, but over three, four, five games.
“We have to go away to Newcastle in the Carabao Cup (on 27 September) and I’m sorry,
But we are going to have to play with some players from the second team, because we cannot take the risks.
“Kevin is still out, John is still out, Kova I don’t know, Jack I don’t know.
“When you have all the squad you go to Newcastle with a good team, but now we just have to rest, recover well, train and try to arrive on the day of the game in the best condition possible.
“We cannot waste energy.
“I was on holiday (during the international break) but these guys were playing 90 minutes for their national teams and then travelling back from Bolivia and Brazil.
“It’s so exhausting for them and not just for us, for all teams.
“Look at Edson Alvarez for West Ham, coming with jet lag from South America and playing against us.
“We treat players in not a good way.”
