Pep Guardiola stated that Manchester City were in a woeful situation following their 2-1 defeat to Tottenham in the Carabao Cup, which resulted in more injuries and left them with just 13 first-team players fit to compete.
Having already missed Kyle Walker, Rodri, Oscar Bobb, Jeremy Doku, Kevin De Bruyne, and Jack Grealish for the fourth-round tie, Manchester City faced further setbacks when Savinho was stretchered off in the second half. The Brazilian was visibly emotional and comforted by his teammates as he was carried off the field in the 63rd minute after injuring his right ankle during a driving run into the penalty area.
Guardiola mentioned that the Brazil winger would learn about the severity of his injury on Thursday. Additionally, City had already lost Manuel Akanji during the warm-up, as the center-back had been a doubt for the match due to a knee problem.
Despite the first-half goals from Timo Werner, his first in 18 matches, and Pape Sarr handing City their first defeat of the season, Guardiola remained calm but acknowledged the growing issues ahead of their upcoming trip to Bournemouth, followed by a Champions League match against Sporting Lisbon.
Rodri, the recent Ballon d’Or winner, has been sidelined for the season due to an ACL injury, and Guardiola indicated that De Bruyne, Grealish, and Walker will not return until after the next international break. Guardiola expressed that the current injury crisis is the most challenging he has faced during his tenure at the club since joining in 2016.
“Tomorrow we have two ‘keepers and Erling Haaland for a training session, the rest we don’t have,” Pep Guardiola said. “Tomorrow we have two ‘keepers and Erling Haaland for a training session, the rest we don’t have,”
“I think when we are in trouble like we are -because in nine years, I’ve never in this situation had this many injuries for this many reasons, in these situations, the players make a step forward. They are more together than ever.” he added.
🚨🔵 Guardiola on Erling Haaland not playing for Man City vs Spurs: “It’s quite simple… the plan was for him not to play this game”.
“He's played a lot of minutes, we knew for this week we’ve no recovery and not much players and I didn't want to waste energy for him”, told Sky. pic.twitter.com/9WPArwuvAJ
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) October 30, 2024
Manchester City lead the Premier League standing with 23 points from 7 games, one point clear of Liverpool with 22.
Tottenham suffer their share of injuries against Man City
Tottenham also dealt injury blows in their League Cup game against City when defender Micky van de Ven was forced off early in te game. The Netherlands international, who started at left-back, lasted only 13 minutes before leaving the field, raising concerns for Spurs right after Timo Werner had given the hosts an early lead.
During a challenge with Savinho, Van de Ven immediately grasped his right hamstring after successfully executing a sliding tackle. Despite receiving treatment from the physios, manager Ange Postecoglou swiftly decided to substitute him, bringing on Destiny Udogie in his stead.
Timo Werner and Christian Romero also faced injury scares and were substituted in the second half. Spurs are also without Djed Spence, Hueng Min Son and Wilson Odobert for the coming weeks. The squad’s resilience will be put to the test as they gear up for their next matches in league and Europe, with hopes that any injuries can be effectively addressed to keep Spurs competitive in their pursuit of trophies this season.
Read More: Tottenham KO Manchester City, Ruud Era Starts With Win and Liverpool Win Thriller: Carabao Cup Recap
Mohd Faisal Hakak is a sports author from Kashmir. He likes to keep tabs on the sporting world with a keen interest in football, motorsports, NBA, and other marquee sports. He is a science graduate from Islamia College Srinagar.
