The manager of Manchester City, Pep Guardiola has lamented that the schedule of the club could be very depressing and urged his players not to pay attention to it.
Guardiola led Manchester City to Goodison Park to defeat Everton 1-3 in the Premier League on Wednesday. The match ought to have been played in December 2020 but had to be postponed to February 17 due to a high number of coronavirus infections in the camp of City.
After City’s 3-1 victory over Everton, Pep Guardiola praised the team spirit of his players, saying he needs every member of his squad to win the league. He however stressed that the step towards ensuring that his team win the title for the third time in four years is to take it a game at a time.
Our 17th consecutive victory in all competitions! 🌟
— Manchester City (@ManCity) February 18, 2021
Watch the highlights of our win over the Toffees 🎥
🔷 #ManCity | https://t.co/axa0klD5re pic.twitter.com/DAvqOrAUJI
“If we want to win titles, we’re going to need the entire squad,” Guardiola said. “What pleased me today was the solidarity even from the guys who didn’t play. From Benjamin [Mendy] in the stands, from John [Stones] and Alex [Oleksandr Zinchenko]. Everyone is a part of this.”
Pep Guardiola laments over Manchester City depressing schedule
Manchester City are expected to play Arsenal on Sunday, February 21. After their journey to the Emirate Stadium, they will head back to the Champions League to play away against German side Mönchengladbach on February 24.
After the first leg of the Champions League round of 16, Pep Guardiola and his boys will return to the Etihad Stadium to host West Ham United in the Premier League on February 27.
“We have an incredible schedule ahead and we’re expecting a long week”, the City coach added. “We’ve not had a full week to train since the beginning of the season almost, so we’re going to need everyone. We go into every game trying to get the points and with a good performance. This is what makes me grateful to have these players.
“Winning 10 straight games at the start of the calendar year is nice but next is Arsenal. Tonight we celebrate but tomorrow afternoon we will start to think about Arsenal. You shouldn’t see the schedule, otherwise, you get depressed. But at the same time, it’s a beautiful challenge. We will come back here in a few weeks to try to get to the semi-finals of the FA Cup and we’ve seen how hard it will be. It’s not worth looking at the schedule. Just the next one, and that’s Arsenal.
“It’s all about freshening the mind and the body to go again.”
On Manchester City 3-1 victory over Everton on Wednesday, Pep Guardiola said: “It was a really tough game as Carlo organized his team really well defensively. The gaps were closed so perfectly by [Abdoulaye] Doucoure and [Tom] Davies so it wasn’t easy to find the spaces, but we didn’t concede another chance after they scored.
“It was not easy to find the space but we didn’t concede another chance after their goal, We created enough to win by a bigger margin. Goodison is a tough place to come but our mentality is incredible. We’re not playing to keep what we have – we’re playing to get more. Today, that was another three points and a good performance again.
“Football at the highest level, you concede goals but the important thing is to keep creating chances. We reacted really well to Liverpool scoring at Anfield and we did the same thing today.”
Manchester City are currently sitting on the first spot on the Premier League table with 56 points in 24 games, 10 points away from second-placed Manchester United, after recording 17 wins, 5 draws, and 2 defeats.
