In their Carabao Cup match against Newcastlewill make a rare start for Manchester City as Pep Guardiola admits he is worried about picking up more injuries.
While John Stones, Bernardo Silva, and Kevin De Bruyne are sidelined, Jack Grealish and Mateo Kovacic are available, and Rodri is serving a three-game suspension after getting sent off against Nottingham Forest.
The first of City’s four straight away games, including trips to Wolves, Leipzig, and Arsenal, is on Wednesday at St. James’ Park.
Manchester City is lacking in the midfield as a result of Rodri’s dismissal (Martin Rickett/PA).
When we won this competition a few times, Guardiola said: “We used it, and it’s wonderful because it’s better than training sessions to play a game. At the beginning of the season, there may be four, five, or six players who don’t play consistently.
But we had a good team and everyone was in shape. But things are different just now.
We have a lot of injured players and a lot of guys who have played a lot for the national team and the team. These players 
need to take some time off because Wolves, Leipzig, and Arsenal are far more crucial matches than tomorrow’s.
To try to put up a strong starting XI and fly there to win the game, “the guys who didn’t play much are going to play and see what happens with the rest.”
“There’s no doubt about that, but I have to take into consideration that a lot of effort we have in this period, with many players, and a lot of minutes, and we have to avoid for them to get injured again otherwise we’ll be in trouble.”
Phillips has made just five starts since moving from Leeds in the summer of last year, though he did play almost the whole second half of the match against Forest on Saturday after Rodri was sent off.
Guardiola claimed that due to the necessity for rehabilitation, his team can only train for five to ten minutes at a time.
He remarked, “We’re used to it. The seasons before were the same. Yes, you still have the (Club) World Cup and perhaps two or three more games, but everything else is the same.
“A lack of sleep, particularly for the mind, is the issue. Two or three weeks off between the seasons is nothing. That will be the case in the future when the Champions League has more teams and is longer. I grumble a little bit here on my end, but I soon forget about it and go to the competitions.
City won the Carabao Cup for four consecutive seasons from 2018 to 2021, but their lone setback came last year when Guardiola’s team was shocked by Southampton in the quarterfinals.
Guardiola responded with a smile: “Phil is so young, you realize with time. Phil is so young, you aim for the quadruple as the only way to top last year.
year.
“It’s good to have that desire, but the next game is the ambition, as I told the players. If you are still competing, you might be able to start thinking about it in April or May, but doing so at this point in September would be a grave error.
But if he thinks so, I won’t be the one to make him think otherwise,
Leave a Reply