He Manchester City is going through a bad time after just having won one of the last ten games he has played, something that Pep Guardiola spoke about in the preview of the derby against United at the Etihad Stadium.
The Spanish coach assured that when Rodri Hernández returns from his injury they will be strong again and advocated for the squads of “45 or 50 players”.
Guardiola is experiencing his worst period since he started training and City has seen its competition for the league title compromised. Premier League and put qualification to the next round of the Champions League in danger. One of the causes of the bad streak that the ‘Sky Blues’ are going through is the plague of injuries, especially for Rodri, who tore his cruciate ligament in September.
“If we need players we will go to the transfer market, but I don’t know what there will be. Rodri is a Ballon d’Or winner. We are playing without the best player in the world last season. That is the problem,” Guardiola said this Friday at a press conference.
“No other team is playing without a player who has been Ballon d’Or. When he comes back, we will be strong again, we will be a great team again. We continue trying to play and win in the same way and sooner or later we will be back,” added the Spanish coach.
“I don’t know what we have to do, but I need players. We have three defenders right now and maybe some winger has to be a winger or maybe we have to play with five at the back. We have to think about what to do, but the soul and spirit of the team remains there. I’m sad for the players. and I understand that the fans are too. This group of players have done incredible things that no one else has accomplished. They have broken records. I only ask the fans to be there until the end,” Guardiola continued.
Likewise, he assured that they have had more injuries than ever and that he has begun to think that perhaps squads of 45/50 players are necessary. “It will be a more expensive summer, but maybe we need squads this big. In the end, the calendar is the problem. The problem is not the physios, the doctors or the players,” he concluded.