Pep Guardiola explains Erling Haaland plan to hand Man City title race boost over Arsenal
Pep Guardiola, the manager of Manchester City, has shared that he has a strategy in place to maintain the fitness of their top scorer, Erling Haaland, during a chaotic period in the season. Manchester City is striving for a treble that includes the Premier League, Champions League, and FA Cup, but they face some obstacles.
One of these obstacles is Arsenal, who currently lead the league by six points, having played one more game than Manchester City.
The two teams will need to perform flawlessly in the final stages of the season to have a chance at winning the title.
Arsenal has an advantage in that they are only competing in the league and can focus on keeping their players fit for the remainder of the season, with manager Mikel Arteta eager to have all of his players available for the run-in.
“We want our players to be as fit as possible and available,” the Spaniard said when asked if his side were reaping the rewards of not featuring in Europe in midweek. “We’ve had some issues in the past few months with some important players and we want to have everybody fit and available to help the team.”
Up north, Manchester City continues to compete in three competitions, which has resulted in an already congested schedule becoming even more packed.
As a result, Guardiola faces the challenge of ensuring that his players remain fresh, particularly their crucial striker Haaland, who has been a prolific scorer since joining the team in the summer.
Guardiola has a strategy that he believes will give his team an advantage in the race for the title. He shared this plan ahead of his team’s match against Leicester City.
Guardiola mentioned his past experiences with injury concerns while managing Borussia Dortmund and stated that they are taking exceptional care of Haaland at Manchester City.
He expressed confidence in his team’s medical staff, stating that they are constantly monitoring Haaland’s well-being and providing him with the necessary support around the clock.
“It’s difficult to understand why you spend a lot of money and then leave them – I don’t know what the other clubs do. Today with this demanding schedule of games every three or four days we have to take care of them [the players]. It’s so demanding today, with nutrition, rest, sleep, food.
“For the training – how many minutes [they play]. There is data [which may say] they cannot train more than 10 or 15 minutes. People say why was he subbed against Leipzig when he had scored all the goals [five] but then he was injured after the Burnley game and could not play with us against Liverpool or [for] Norway.
“So we know we have to be like a watch because he’s so big – physios, massage, backs, shoulders, tendons, everything. He works so much time inside the training centre, much more than on the pitch. Today in modern football, players train more behind the scenes than on the pitch.”
It is uncertain whether the comprehensive care provided by Manchester City’s medical staff will be sufficient to secure the title over Arsenal in the upcoming weeks. However, it could improve their prospects of having their vital players, including Haaland, fit and ready for crucial games.
Pep Guardiola explains Erling Haaland plan to hand Man City title race boost over Arsenal