Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola had more complaints for the media on Saturday, despite plenty going his team’s way lately.
In spite of his team’s 1-0 win over Leeds United on Saturday, following a week-long rest before the game, Pep Guardiola had plenty to complain about with regards to the schedule.
“We have three days [until Nottingham Forest]”, Guardiola began.
“And then after in the FA Cup, thank you so much for letting us play at 8pm instead of 3pm, so we have less recovery to play Real Madrid. So again, thank you so much.”
Guardiola is starting to get into the habit of moaning about how things are going for his team. He complained in January that “everything since the new year is against (us)”, despite being allowed to spend more than £80m on a pair of new signings.
The manager then had plenty to whine about with regards to the League Cup final, complaining about the venue and the fact the EFL wouldn’t change the rules to allow Marc Guehi to play in the match (something he knew was the case the day he signed the centre-back).
Now it’s the schedule, which is indeed packed as City compete on four fronts.
But it’s the same for Guardiola’s title rivals Arsenal (if not worse, as Arsenal have a day less to prepare for Brighton this week), and there were no complaints when City got a midweek off last week, whilst the Gunners travelled to Wolves days before the north London derby.
Playing Saturday-Wednesday is as forgiving as it gets in the Champions League. There are often weeks where you play Saturday-Tuesday or Sunday-Wednesday, so City’s schedule is better than it could have been.
Guardiola seems to be trying to push an “us against the world” narrative with City recently, but there’s really very little substance to what he’s saying.