Manchester City have a busy few weeks coming up and the club have not been helped by the scheduling of one fixture in particular.
The beginning of March is when the season really begins to pick up for teams competing on all fronts and this is certainly the case for Manchester City.
March will see the Premier League title chasers navigate a stacked schedule which includes playing in four different competitions.
Man City kick off the month with a league fixture against Nottingham Forest. This will be followed three days later by an FA Cup tie at Newcastle, before a Tuesday night Champions League showdown in Madrid.
Pep Guardiola unhappy with FA Cup kick off time
With City’s FA Cup fifth round tie against Newcastle taking place at 8pm this Saturday, that means there will be very little time to recover before flying out to Madrid.
This has caused Pep Guardiola to call out the scheduling of his team’s fixture, as he believes this will not allow his team to prepare for their battle with Real Madrid at the Bernabeu.
He sarcastically told Beanyman Sports: “Newcastle at 8pm. Thank you so much for that time. To go to Madrid with less recovery. Thank you.”
Guardiola added: “It’s different arriving at 7PM or 8PM in Manchester than 1AM or 2AM. For Newcastle, it was different when they came from Qarabag in the #UCL, playing at 3PM or 8PM – it’s different!
“Teams in the FA Cup play at 3PM, OK we’ll play at 8PM. Fatigue, little details, make a difference, like a corner, free-kick, throw-in. We have less [time], and after arriving at that time, recover, and travel again [to Madrid].”
There is no ideal scenario for Man City
Guardiola is understandably frustrated by how quick the turnaround will be after returning from Newcastle, only to head straight to Madrid.
However, if Man City’s match against Newcastle had been scheduled earlier, it would have given them next to no recovery time after their clash with Nottingham Forest.
No matter what, City would end up having to go quickly from one match to the next and that is a wider problem with the modern football calendar.
