Pep Guardiola has challenged his Manchester City players to keep their motivation as their injury crisis shows no sign of improving. The City boss may have welcomed a fully-fit Bernardo Silva and João Cancelo. Sergio Aguero and Ilkay Gundogan got their first minutes of the season against Arsenal. However, Kevin De Bruyne joined Aleks Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus on the sidelines while Aymeric Laporte and Benjamin Mendy have also picked up problems. Asked when he thought his team would be fighting for and able to be at their best for 90 minutes, Guardiola said: “I don’t know. I think it will be when everyone is back, and games, games, games we will have more time to sustain our game. We would love to train but all the clubs will have this situation. We are not the exception but of course all the teams who don’t play in Europe have long weeks. We started our preparations without six important players and the players are not machines, they are human beings. They need time to get the condition." Amid the injury issues, Guardiola has chosen to focus on a key aspect of success. “These players show it for a long time,” he said. “We need players to come back in the best condition. We will be there but in the same time the mind and head can always control the body. “Today always we had the will to make the next run, another effort, another effort, and we did that really well. Sometimes after winning two seasons it drops a little bit but they have come back so competitive in all departments we will do it."
Source: MEN/ *Join us on Telegram!