The manager of Manchester City, Pep Guardiola, said his team does not have a weapon ahead of his meeting with Thomas Tuchel of Chelsea on Saturday, September 25. The match is expected to kick off at 12:30.
The Spanish tactician insisted that his team lacked the kind of strike force that a team like Manchester United, Chelsea, and Tottenham Hotspur have.
While lamenting that Manchester City miss the services of Argentine striker, Sergio Aguero, Pep Guardiola stressed that he would make do of what he has.
Recall that ahead of the 2021-2022 season, Manchester City tried to sign a striker to replace Aguero who has moved to FC Barcelona during the summer transfer window. Unfortunately, the club could not get a replacement.
The striker that Manchester City almost signed was Harry Kane of Tottenham Hotspur. City had made a £100 million bid for the services of the English striker but Tottenham Hotspur rejected the offer.
After a series of back and forth, Harry Kane decided to remain at Tottenham Hotspur leaving Manchester City with no choice but to rely on Gabriel Jesus who is the only natural striker at the club.
Aside from him, Pep Guardiola sometimes relies on a false nine by using his winger, Ferran Torres as a striker. He sometimes uses Kevin De Bruyne as a striker instead of his natural attacking midfielder’s role.
“A striker is a striker – they live a little outside the bubble,” Pep Guardiola said. “Along with the goalkeepers they are the most specialized players.
“These are the most difficult players to get. We were privileged to have Sergio for so many years but unfortunately the last year he had bad injuries.
“We survived without him in a way, but when we played with him we had something extra. We have exceptional players but we don’t have this weapon that other teams like United or Chelsea or Tottenham have.
“We have to use what we can as a team. We do not have a player who can score 25 goals for himself so we have to do it as a team, and that is what we will try this season.”
Pep Guardiola acknowledges the firepower of Romelu Lukaku
Chelsea football club beat Manchester City 1-0 in the final of the UEFA Champions League last season. They did that before the arrival of Romelu Lukaku who has made Chelsea more purposeful this season.
Since the arrival of Lukaku, Chelsea are yet to record any defeat and Lukaku has scored in three of the four league games he has featured in for Chelsea this season.
Pep Guardiola said: “I’m not going to deny what a player Romelu Lukaku is. Chelsea are the champions of Europe, already a strong team, and with him, they are even stronger of course.
“You see how he handles the long balls, he supports the attacking midfielders and the wing-backs and with the quality of players they have in the middle, he puts balls between the lines.
“Of course they are a stronger team than last season but this is the challenge.”
On the status of the current Manchester City squad, Pep Guardiola said: “I am not going to say we are disappointed with the squad that we have. We are the champions, we were runners-up for the Champions League, we won the Carabao Cup, and were in the semi-finals of the FA Cup.
“We just want people to come back fit and to have the squad as high as possible. When they are all fit I know what we can do because we have done it for many years.
“You will not hear me complain that we don’t have this player or that player because the players we have and what they have given to the club, wow.
“When an opponent is better and wins, all I’ve said all my career is congratulations to them and then we try to improve. Always it is a new challenge.”
Manchester City are currently sitting in the 5th spot on the league table with 10 points in 5 games. While Chelsea are sitting on the second spot with 13 points in 5 games.
If Manchester City beat Chelsea later today, City can climb as high as the second spot on the league table. On the other hand, Chelsea could top the league table if they beat Manchester City.
