Manchester Town manager Pep Guardiola has said even compatibility players are suffering as they push through the match schedule and his team now faces a trauma “emergency”.
Guardiola said he has doubts about several players for Saturday’s trip to Bournemouth and then struggled in Wednesday’s 2-1 EFL Cup defeat to Tottenham.
Savinho was stretchered off with an ankle injury, while Manuel Akanji injured his calf in the warm-up.
Later in the game, Guardiola said he only had 13 players fit with long-term absences in Rodri and Oscar Bobb, and trauma issues with Kevin de Bruyne, Kyle Walker, Jeremy Doku, Jack Grealish, Akanji and Josko Gvardiol.
On Friday he did not say who might return for the trip to Bournemouth, saying he had “a lot of doubts”, but showed Brazilian winger Savinho had not suffered any cracks.
Later Bournemouth, Town will travel to Portugal in the Champions League to take on Ruben Amorim’s Carrying and then advance to face Brighton.
“Nowadays, almost all players play with pain,” Guardiola mentioned. “There are times when you have to be careful but sometimes you have to play.
“You have to use it in modern football, otherwise you won’t be able to hold games every three days with a control membership.”
Guardiola used the example of 22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal to show that it is not just footballers who push their bodies to the limit.
“Rafa carried out his entire occupation with pain,” he stated. “He performed and won I don’t know like many Elegant Slams.”
Guardiola also said he was turning to Academy players, adding: “We use them because we are in a situation in certain positions.”
Playmaker De Bruyne is one of City’s stars currently sidelined.
De Bruyne has not featured since injuring his thigh against Inter Milan more than six weeks ago and earlier this week, Guardiola painted a bleak picture surrounding De Bruyne’s likely return date.
However, now the news is more optimistic.
“He’s improving,” Guardiola said. “The last two or three days the doctor said he took a big step forward in pain.”
