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Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola forced his players to sleep at the Etihad Stadium campus on Christmas night ahead of their home fixture against Everton in the Premier League the next afternoon on boxing day. The 53-year-old had revealed his plan just before Christmas, hoping for his players to stay at the Etihad Stadium campus because it’s part of their job, while talking about how their current slump of form is new, but the club can get out of it.
Notably, in the last couple of months, Manchester City have managed to win only one match in all competitions, defeating Nottingham Forest 3-0 at the Etihad Stadium a couple of weeks ago. Following their recent defeat against Aston Villa with a 2-1 scoreline at the Villa Park in the Premier League last weekend, Manchester City slumped to seventh place on the standings with just 27 points in 17 matches, collecting just four points in their last eight matches.
We have players coming back and at a certain time we will be better: Pep Guardiola
Prior to their next Premier League clash at home against Everton, Pep Guardiola told the media about his plan to have his players stay the night at the Etihad Stadium on Christmas Day. As per the report from the Daily Mail, the campus at the Manchester City home boasts of 80 bedrooms, with mattresses and pillows costing £150,000, which is expected to provide great comfort to the players ahead of their next league match.
Manchester City manager was quoted as saying about the training plan during the festive period for his players, as per Goal website, “We train today (Tuesday), we train tomorrow (Wednesday) night, we will stay over here and we are going to play on Boxing Day. Hopefully they want to be here, because it’s our job. This situation is new for all of us. It’s about us, everyone. The guys are running and making an effort more than ever.”
“People say we are not running, fighting, it’s this player, this manager - it is not about that. It is about many little details or some big details that make us not as good as we were. But we have another opportunity on Boxing Day. We have players coming back and at a certain time we will be better,” he further added.
