Pep Guardiola says injuries and fatigue have meant that Manchester City are barely training as they go into the FA Cup and Champions League finals.
City made plenty of changes at Brentford with more than one eye on the two upcoming finals, and the mishmash side struggled for rhythm at times against Brentford. There were some bright sparks - like Cole Palmer and Rico Lewis in midfield - but ultimately Brentford's pressure earned them a famous double over the champions thanks to Ethan Pinnock's late goal.
And Guardiola said that injury problems to the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Ruben Dias, Jack Grealish and others meant that his training sessions have been minimal in the last week since sealing the Premier League title.
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"When you win the Premier League three or four years in a row, you want to win it as quick as possible because all the others [teams] have a target. A target to compete, I remember the first year when we won 100 points and the target for the records and breaking records maintained us.
"Today the two finals maintain us, but when you don't play for the points it's completely different after this exhausted season we have. The most important thing in the last four or five days is for the players to arrive with the right energy. We are not going to train to improve our condition, [but for] energy in the head and especially to have fresh legs.
"We have to put on quality training sessions, not long ones, and do what we have to do to beat the other team. The way you defend or attack are completely different for both teams. This is what you have to do, train good quality, arrive with the right energy, go for the opponents from minute one."
After confirming that De Bruyne, Dias, Grealish and Manu Akanji are all doubts for the FA Cup final next week, Guardiola will assess his squad on Wednesday after they are given two days off to switch off ahead of one final push.
"I don’t have any complaints about how we behaved," he said of the performance against Brentford. "All the players were there. I said to the players after the match finished today that it is another Premier League that you won deservedly. Enjoy two days with your families. Don’t see each other. Wednesday we prepare the first final."
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