Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has blamed the lack of adequate pre-season encounters as the main reason for the lack of fitness of his arsenal. Due to the World Cup in Russia, City didn’t get much time to prepare themselves for the new season and Guardiola feels that his side is enduring the lack of sharpness.
Goalkeeper Claudio Bravo, whose heroics during the penalty shoot-out helped Manchester City in knocking Wolverhampton Wanderers out of the Carabao Cup during the previous campaign, has suffered an Achilles tendon injury in the training session earlier this week, is set to be sidelined for quite some time.
Besides, talismanic midfielder Kevin De Bruyne has already been ruled out for between two to four months owing to his knee injury. Although the Cityzens have started their season in a brilliant fashion with wins over Arsenal and Huddersfield Town, injury to two of their key players would be a major concern for them in the coming games.
While speaking to the press about the injuries prior to his side’s clash against Wolves this weekend, Guardiola said: “The problem is that now – while we are not far away – we are still not fit. We see how much the players spend for regeneration after the game. Normally it’s quicker – one or two days – now they need more time. It’s because we didn’t make a pre-season.”