Man City: Alan Shearer questions Manuel Pellegrini's 'moaning'
Last updated on .From the section Man City
Ex-England captain Alan Shearer says he does not understand why Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini is "moaning" about fixture congestion.
Pellegrini started six teenagers in Sunday's 5-1 FA Cup defeat at Chelsea, resting his regulars for Wednesday's Champions League trip to Dynamo Kiev.
"Barcelona played on Saturday and they face Arsenal in the Champions League on Tuesday," said Shearer.
"It is the same amount of time as City, but they didn't rest any players."
The ex-Newcastle manager added: "I don't get the talk of resting players. City are - and want to be - a very big club on the global stage.
"They've got more resources than anyone. I never see Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo wanting to be left out.
"It seems a big issue in our country."
Man City's four competitions in 11 days |
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Sunday, 21 February: versus Chelsea in FA Cup fifth round in London |
Wednesday, 24 February: versus Dynamo Kiev in Champions League last-16 in Ukraine |
Sunday, 28 February: versus Liverpool in the League Cup final in London |
Wednesday, 2 March: versus Liverpool in the Premier League at Anfield |
Pellegrini insisted he was "forced" to prioritise Wednesday's Champions League trip to Dynamo Kiev and had previously warned he would select a shadow side for the cup tie with Chelsea.
He was true to his word as goals from Diego Costa, Willian, Gary Cahill, Eden Hazard and Bertrand Traore saw Chelsea ease through.
Senior players Jesus Navas, Samir Nasri, Wilfried Bony, Eliaquim Mangala, Fabian Delph, Kevin de Bruyne and Bacary Sagna all missed the game with injury.
Pellegrini said: "I don't think I need to make a defence of my team selection. We played two rounds before this and won 3-0 at Norwich City and 4-0 at Aston Villa with strong teams."
City wrote to the Football Association to complain about the scheduling of Sunday's match, which was played three days before City travel to Ukraine.
"We did the correct thing and made the right decision," said Pellegrini. "The club tried everything possible to try and play it at a different time.
"We do not think the Champions League is more important than the FA Cup, but we had no choice."
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I don't know where to look any more, awful design.
To be fair though, the Chelsea players had given themselves the first 3 months of the season off to oust Mourinho...and how on earth can you accuse City players of letting their fans down after the disgraceful behaviour of Hazard, Fabregas and Costa earlier this season...
...I wouldn't get too carried away about smashing City U18s
Most premiership side seem to have squads of about 40 - 60 players. You'd think they could put out a competitive team for what is still an important game.
Anyway...bunch of mercenaries!
8 iron or 9 iron......?
I don't know why everyone has to keep lying about this, pretending to show respect to the competition. Ha! The FA and top clubs stopped showing respect to football in general a long time ago. Admit it, THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE FA CUP BECAUSE OF MONEY.
Most of us work 5 days a week for a miniscule of what those players earn!
Asking so-called fit young men to play another game within the space of 3-4 days!
OMG what do they think?
Seriously, MC have spent billions on lots of players If they have not brought quality in order to inter-change, that is the fault of the Managers etc. who have all lined their pockets.
A decent academy would have provided strength in depth and players hungry to play
Is the correct answer. Whether that would be enough to get our clubs competitive again in Europe or help the national team is debatable though. We should probably also scrap the league cup and bring the FA Cup forward.
They won't do any of that because it will kill a few cash cows but they will continue to moan about lack of success in Europe and internationally, as if they care.