Manuel Pellegrini says that his Manchester City squad is so injury-hit that they are finding it tough to compete on all fronts.
City lost 2-0 to Stoke on Saturday in a game where they were completely outplayed, and Pellegrini attributes that loss and the defeat to Liverpool a few weeks ago to fatigue in his players.
Speaking to The Mirror, the 62-year-old said:
Losing like we did against Stoke or against Liverpool is not the way a big team must do it. We must find the reason, but I think the most important reason is that we are the only side left in four competitions. The aim of this squad is to be involved in all competitions even with so few players, but we are playing with the same 12 or 13 players evey week, and this is a team that has not recovered from some of the last games. I think the reason all of you are talking about this is because we defended very bad for the first two goals. But it is the same reason why we didn’t create chances. We didn’t have the pace to go forward after we recovered the ball.
City face Borussia Monchengladbach on Tuesday evening and the Chilean coach says he has no option to rotate, not only because he wants to win the group, but also because he has so few players to choose from.
We cannot protect the players because we must try to win the game to finish at the top of the group. If you are asking me what is more important, of course it is the Premier League and to win the title but you need names to make changes and we do not have those [injured players].
After Tuesday’s game, City have a home tie with Swansea four days later, before they get a nine-day break ahead of the difficult away trip to Arsenal.
That game will be a tough one for Pellegrini’s side who have not won a league game away from home since September, but at least they will be able to play it with a team that has had a chance to recover and get healthier.
