Pep Guardiola’s focus wasn’t on his team’s fine performance on a miserable day against Watford, it was on the festive fixtures.
Manchester City returned to winning ways with a 3-1 defeat of the Hornets at the Etihad Stadium, but Guardiola says something has to be done about the congested fixtures.
[ RECAP: Man City 3-1 Watford ]
And for a man whose side has dropped points just twice this season, it’s not like he’s talking sour grapes from losing matches.
No sugarcoating, from the BBC:
“We’re going to kill the players. The federations don’t think about the players but they have to. They play 11 months in a row. They have to protect them and play with quality and not quality. We have to think about the artists. But I know it won’t happen.”
There won’t likely be a winter break in England, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see fixtures given a little more breathing room in the future. Two matches in three days is tough for the depth of so many sides.