City manager Pep Guardiola hinted at another start for Rodri as Kevin Phillips is still not ready to feature.
Guardiola was asked about Phillips ahead of their game against Sheffield United. The 27-year-old was signed from Leeds United last year for £45m. But he has barely played for Manchester City this season through combination of illness, injury and lack of form.
Phillips featured against Leicester City from the bench last week for 38 minutes. This was his highest minutes played for City this season.
Phillips was hoping to feature against Sheffield United on Saturday, particularly Guardiola taking about how exhausted everyone who featured against Bayern Munich was. As a result, training session on Friday was only for 20 minutes.
When Guardiola was asked about Phillips readiness, the manager said he still haven’t seen the best of him. Rodri will continue in his role as he has played more minutes than anyone else. He said :-
“He still needs a bit of rhythm in short spaces,
“We miss the best of Kalvin, that’s the reason why sometimes he doesn’t have a lot of minutes.”
“I’ve rotated a lot (for semi-finals) in previous seasons and it wasn’t good. I have many doubts. Of course the players are going to say they want to play but at the same time we have to be sure that the people are in the right condition.
“We cannot complain. If you don’t want (a rest), OK get out of the competitions, you don’t have long weeks. If you want it like we have proven we want it, that is the reality. Accept it and fight for that.
“We are young, we are well cared for, with nutritionists with many things, with good things and we have to be ready.”
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