Pep Guardiola’s tactical training is leaving Man City players exhausted, says fitness expert Raymond Verheijen
Dutchman blasts intense training methods as Barcelona drubbing extended winless run to four matches
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THE warning signs are flashing bright red at Manchester City.
And Raymond Verheijen can already see the dangers of Pep Guardiola overtraining his men in an attempt to arrest their slide.
City’s 4-0 hammering at Barcelona on Wednesday extended their winless run to four matches.
Star striker Sergio Aguero has just returned from a calf problem — with more injuries hitting the side.
Pablo Zabaleta limped off at the Nou Camp; Bacary Sagna and Fabian Delph are crocked; while Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling are not long back from spells out.
Vincent Kompany also had long-running injury problems prior to Guardiola’s arrival. But fitness guru Verheijen claims history is repeating itself for Guardiola, as his former side Bayern Munich went from having the best injury record in Europe to the worst — with the team’s displays suffering as a result.
The Dutchman said: “Tactical teachers often have a poor injury record.
“You can see Manchester City are already dropping and accumulating fatigue and players are picking up muscle injuries. Now you can see the performances are starting to dip.
“The patterns of his past are starting to develop again.”
Verheijen highlighted Guardiola’s three-year stint as Bayern boss where he feuded with his medical team.
Influential club doctor Hans-Wilhelm Muller-Wohlfahrt quit after he was allegedly blamed for a Champions League loss at Porto and was followed out of the door by his son, Kilian, Peter Ueblacker and Lutz Hansel.
Verheijen added: “Pep went to Bayern and the players were totally unfamiliar with his playing style and tactics.
“When he was coaching at Barcelona, most of his players came from the academy so they were familiar with the style and he didn’t have to do much tactical training.
“But at Bayern he had to start from scratch. He had to do much more training to teach them the playing style. He over-trained the players. This is not an opinion — these are facts.
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“People should not argue with me. Pep Guardiola’s injury record at Bayern Munich is a fact.
“Before Guardiola went there, the Uefa injury study by Professor Jan Ekstrand showed Bayern were No 1 in terms of the best injury record in Europe for Champions League teams.
“When Guardiola arrived Bayern dropped dramatically and became one of the worst during those three years.
“He did too much too soon. He rushed things.
“He wanted the players to understand the playing style in a short space of time so did a lot of tactical, long training sessions.
“They accumulated more fatigue and started to pick up injuries.”
Guardiola is now preparing for City’s Premier League clash at home to Southampton on Sunday — the start of five games in just 13 days.
And Verheijen, who worked at City during Mark Hughes’ reign at the Etihad, insists it is imperative Pep understands the differences between the top flight on these shores and Europe.
He added: “Pep’s proven as a top coach and clearly one of the best in the world who focuses on developing the playing style in training.
“At City you saw a lot of intense training in pre-season although he is working with very good players who pick up quickly what he wants.
“When you are working with Barcelona the games against Real and Atletico Madrid are tough but a lot of other games are 5-0.
“Look at last weekend. They all won with big scores.
“When you work with Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund is tough, Bayer Leverkusen and one or two others are tough. The lower teams are much easier.
“The quality of the football in Spain and Germany is better but the tempo in the Premier League is higher.
“Every game is a battle and the number of sprints is high. As a result, players develop more fatigue compared to Bundesliga or Primera Division games.
“If you develop more fatigue in games you need more time to get rid of it.
“Guardiola’s intense training style is more of a problem in the Premier League because players need more recovery time.
“City’s players need three days to recover from games while Barcelona and Bayern Munich only need two but his intense training develops fatigue.
“After an intense game he is starting to train intensively when maybe the players have not recovered from the game.
“It’s not like Barcelona. The City players can’t train that hard between games. He has to adapt his intense training style to the Premier League.”
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