Manchester City midfielder Fernandinho has admitted that the players have struggled to come to terms with maintaining the same level of intensity that manager Pep Guardiola demands from game to game. The Catalan manager expects a certain level of intensity in every game and it all unravelled in the Champions League on Wednesday night.
City’s perfect 100% winning start to the season came to an end when Celtic, managed by former Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers, held them to a 3-3 draw at Celtic Park in their Group C encounter. The 31-year-old Brazilian had managed to get on the scoresheet in a see-saw game that saw City come from behind three times.
City had won all their games in all competitions until Wednesday and this was the first game where they dropped points. The draw saw the Sky Blues slip to second place with four points while Guardiola’s former side Barcelona moved up to six points in what has been termed a group of death.
“We saw that against Celtic when the team, especially in the first-half and at the start of the second-half were not paying attention a little bit,” Fernandinho explained.
“But he (Guardiola) is working very hard and I hope we can all reach the level we want to reach our targets. We try to win every game but unfortunately we conceded three goals and had to come from behind three times.
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City missed the services of Belgian duo Kevin De Bruyne and Vincent Kompany who are nursing hamstring and groin injuries respectively. And they were clearly missed as defensive lapses saw Celtic score three goals while the attack was not at its best without De Bruyne who has two goals and four assists this season.
Not easy to maintain EPL intensity in every game: Fernandinho
Fernandinho also spoke about how difficult it was for the side to have such intense focus both on the training pitch and inside the stadium and that the players were unable to cope with the pressure.
“We're working very hard every day and the level of intensity is very, very high in training sessions and during the games,” he said.
“Everyone knows that in the Premier League it's tough to keep at the same level until the end of the season. It's not easy to keep at that level of intensity in every game. Sometimes you're a little bit down, sometimes up.”
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Manchester City are currently top of the Premier League table and they next take on Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday at 18:45 IST. And Fernandinho knows there is no room for error against Mauricio Pochettino’s side that will play with a similar level of intensity
“Now we just need to rest and think about the next game and play the same way on Sunday,” he said. “Of course, with all the mistakes we made, it's not easy.”
“We need to organise a little bit more in the training sessions for the next games.”
