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Manchester City Are Not Prepared For the New Season

By David Crook

LISBON, PORTUGAL - AUGUST 15: Gabriel Jesus of Manchester City looks dejected after the UEFA Champions League Quarter Final match between Manchester City and Lyon at Estadio Jose Alvalade on August 15, 2020 in Lisbon, Portugal. (Photo by Alex Livesey - Danehouse/Getty Images)
LISBON, PORTUGAL - AUGUST 15: Gabriel Jesus of Manchester City looks dejected after the UEFA Champions League Quarter Final match between Manchester City and Lyon at Estadio Jose Alvalade on August 15, 2020 in Lisbon, Portugal. (Photo by Alex Livesey - Danehouse/Getty Images) /
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Usually football clubs enjoy a break between seasons for squad rest and recovery and for first team planning and recruitment, however this year Manchester City may find themselves ill prepared.

Since the conclusion of the 2019/20 football season on Saturday evening, following their elimination from the Champions League by Lyon, Manchester City had been playing for over 12 months.

Sure there was a COVID related break in the middle but at the time no one really knew how long that would be. Still, the effect was the same- a long hard season for the players ending ultimately in disappointment.

Manchester City face the prospect of the Premier League resuming on the weekend of  the 12 September – less than a month away. However, the Premier League may well give City a concession to start later, given their European involvement in the later stages of the Champions League.

Given City players are now likely to go away on holiday for 3 weeks, the first team squad are unlikely to resume training until a few days before the resumption of the League.

Quite what situation the players will then be in to face a long and drawn out new season is unclear, and at the very least they will require careful support and easing into the physical requirements to avoid injury.

Other Premier League sides have been enjoying their player breaks and have now returned to action and are deep into pre season in preparation for the rigours ahead. City are understandably some way behind.

We know new players are required at City, both to refresh the squad and replace those who have departed in recent seasons. Yet, our continued involevement in European football has not allowed us to fully pursue our targets so far.

So City’s preparation for the season ahead is doubly impacted. Our players are tired and potentially about to expwrience a shorter break than others, and our recruitment to bolster the first team squad is delayed.

Simply put, any cavalry coming over the hill to reinforce our embattled troops may not arrive in good time.

So what will this mean for our title challenge? Hopefully, Pep Guardiola will be able to citcle the wagons and create enough of a team focus to use these trials and tribulations to motivate the players. Guardiola may have to squeeze more out of what we have until things settle.

The fixture list looms like a spectre though over any City planning. The prospect is that a delayed start to the campaign for City consigns them to twice  weekly football throughout the whole season.

This is a season unlike any other, where the physical demands alone will require significant rotation of players. Without more incoming, Guardiola will have to rely upon the Academy players.

So maybe there is a silver lining after all. This could just be the season where a young player breaking through changes the whole course of a campaign. How exciting would that be?