Pundit swipes at Pep Guardiola after new Man City rant – ‘I’m not feeling sorry for him’
Noel Whelan has insisted he “isn’t feeling sorry” for Pep Guardiola after he claimed Man City will be forced to field a below-strength side in the League Cup.
The former Leeds striker, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, claimed players like Ederson, Jack Grealish, and Kalvin Phillips should have returned to training after their limited involvement at the World Cup in Qatar.
As quoted by the Daily Mail (17 December) Guardiola hit out at the “big brains of football” with Man City scheduled to take on Liverpool in the League Cup just four days after the World Cup final.
He claimed Man City will have just “four or five senior players” available for the home clash on Thursday (22 December).
City had 16 players playing at the World Cup – the most of any Premier League side.
It has been claimed that Ederson, Aymeric Laporte, Ruben Dias, Joao Cancelo, Bernardo Silva, Julian Alvarez, Kyle Walker, John Stones, Kalvin Phillips, Phil Foden and Jack Grealish are yet to return to training after their tournaments came to an end.
Whelan told Football Insider’s Ewan Kingsbury: “This is what comes with having quality, international players.
“To say that they’re struggling for players… I can’t see it.
“Players like Ederson, Grealish and Kalvin Phillips should be back training by now. They’ve barely had any game time.
“They’ve been training just the same as all of the other players who weren’t involved in the tournament.
“I find it difficult to understand, to be honest. Maybe Pep is just taking a dig because there are so many games to catch up on.
“They’ve got more to choose from than every other Premier League club, in terms of young players and fringe players.
“I’m not feeling sorry for him in the slightest.”
In other news, pundit claims Julian Alvarez doesn’t fit in at Man City after what he has spotted.