The coach has come up with a unique way to treat his squad as they look to deal with the demands of playing twice in less than 48 hours in December
Pep Guardiola has a plan to make sure his Manchester City players cope with playing twice in less than 48 hours in December: “Go home, open the fridge and get inside.”
The reigning champions have been dealt a tricky hand over the festive period following fixture changes for live television coverage, with their trip to Wolves now starting at 19:45 local time on December 27.
They then welcome Sheffield United to the Etihad Stadium on December 29, that game kicking off at 18:00, before a home match against Everton on January 1, 2020.
Asked what he can do to combat such a quick turnaround between travelling to Molineux and hosting the Blades before the turn of the year, Guardiola replied: “Players to the fridge. I’m not joking.
“Go home, open the fridge and get inside for 48 hours. See you at the Etihad Stadium [on December 29].
“When I open the fridge to make an omelette, maybe I can talk with my players. But apart from that, no way.
“It happened in my first season here. I think we played on December 31 at Anfield and then at home against Burnley [on January 2].”
Before needing to be concerned about Christmas plans, however, Guardiola and his squad must focus on closing the gap to a red-hot Liverpool side in the coming weeks.
After missing out by a solitary point in a thrilling title race in 2018-19, Jurgen Klopp’s Reds have started the new Premier League season with eight successive wins.
City, in contrast, have suffered defeats to Norwich City and Wolves to sit eight points off the pace in second. However, Guardiola understands there is still a long way to go, particularly with Aymeric Laporte set to bolster the squad with a return from a knee injury early in 2020.
“For 11 years, no team in England has won back-to-back [titles]. It is difficult, of course it is,” the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss told the media ahead of the trip to Crystal Palace on Saturday.
“But you have a rival that is unstoppable right now. Eight games, eight wins. We lost games, but in Spain the big clubs lost games, in Italy the big clubs lost games, here we are facing one team who are champions of Europe and didn’t lose one game.
“It’s difficult. In some games we could win but we didn’t win. Our mistakes punished us a lot. During the season there are ups and downs. We try to get better and improve.
“From tomorrow [Saturday] and in the Champions League, we try to make an incredible step forward, to win the game against Atalanta [on Tuesday], then in February Laporte will be back, most of the players will be back.
“We will see what happens in the later stages. Normally, when you win what we have won the last two seasons and you arrive in March and April being there, after that it’s more difficult to drop points. But, in the earliest stages of the season, sometimes it’s normal.”
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