After Pep Guardiola’s complaints about the tight schedule this season, Luis Enrique wanted to come out and defend the coach from criticism.
Luis Enrique is one of the few people who understood Pep Guardiola’s recent complaints about the calendar. For many, the Manchester City manager was already conceding defeat this season in every competition. He basically said that the players don’t have any time to prepare or practice and this hinders his ability to prepare matches. Perhaps only Marcelo Bielsa has the opportunity to study his opponents due to his obsessions with this aspect of the game.
But for a club like Manchester City playing four different competitions, there really is no time to prepare for every match. Add the always concerning fear of players getting injured, and you get Guardiola’s recent statements taken completely out of context. But other managers who know how this grind truly works are the ones coming out to defend Pep.
Luis Enrique also coached at a club level.
During his press conference as he announced the new Spain list for the international break, Luis Enrique told Sport what he thinks about Guardiola’s assessment.
“I think that what Pep is clearly doing is an open criticism against the calendar. This is logical and normal because they don’t stop competing every three days. We are talking about pre and post-match activity. Those are training sessions in which you can’t really work due to the physical state of the players that prevents you from improving anything.
“I believe that’s what Pep meant. Clearly, every club manager who has coached European competitions lived through this. As a national team manager who gets the same days like any other, I can’t complain about anything. My work consists of considering the time available I have and try to get the best out of it. We will try to do the same we did in October.”
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