According to the Manchester Evening News, Pep Guardiola believes that the main reason for Manchester City’s injury crisis is that the players are not getting enough rest time relative to the number of matches they play.
Guardiola said, “If we had five more days to prepare for the match against Bournemouth, our performance might have been better, but it also might have made no difference, who knows. I don’t want to blame the schedule for the loss; it sounds like an excuse. The actual reason we lost is that Bournemouth won the game on merit, and I congratulate them.”
“Last season, we played too many matches. If our players participated in the World Cup and reached the later stages of the knockout rounds, their total number of matches could approach 70. This number almost rivals the NBA, yet the NBA has a four-month off-season, while we only get three days.”
