Pep Guardiola, coach of Manchester City, confirmed that he will give a number of young players the opportunity to appear in his team’s match against Wycombe, which will be held at 9:15 p.m. Wednesday at the Etihad Stadium in the third round of the League Cup.
Pep Guardiola said: “We will give some of the academy players a chance to participate against Wycombe, Rodri, Laporte, Stones and Zinchenko were injured, and it is unlikely that Gundogan will participate.”
Pep Guardiola added: “I have no alternative but to play the Wycombe match with young players, some players will rest in order to prepare for the upcoming matches, and yes a few academy players will play.”
And he continued, “Rodri was having some muscle problems, not big, but I don’t know how many days, the doctor couldn’t tell me.”
“Also, Robin Diaz and Joao Cancelo played all the matches, I don’t think they will play against Wycombe.”
And he added: “Now we will play the League Cup, we are in difficult circumstances but we will go to London, Paris and Liverpool to play good matches. Football depends on how much we can build and when that happens, the strikers, the wings and the attacking midfielders play better.”
On how the team’s performance improved, Pep Guardiola said: “I will convince the players that this is the way we have done it for many years and that it is good to do it again, when there is something not good in the pressure and the way we play we have to train.”
“Football depends a lot on how well we do our job of building play and when that happens the attackers play better, the wingers play better and our attacking midfielders play better.”
“Against Southampton we fought for that, the players know exactly that, sometimes the opponent plays well and if you analyze why they don’t create chances against Southampton, that’s why.”
On Raheem Sterling’s performance against Southampton, Guardiola said: “He moved a lot and was very active, but the build-up of the play was not good, that’s why he didn’t get a lot of balls, he was dangerous and ready.”
Pep Guardiola concluded: “We are in difficult conditions, and there are injuries, but we will go to London, Paris and Liverpool to play good matches.”