Personal experience confirms that Pep Guardiola pulls off an “honestly, what on earth are you talking about?” expression in the face of a journalist's question better than most.
Discussions around the coronavirus-impacted winter schedule in the Premier League and debates about whether teams who play or teams who don’t are the real winners in this whole shenanigans have brought out quizzical Pep fairly frequently.
Speaking to Sky Sports before Saturday’s uneven 1-1 draw at Southampton, the Manchester City manager was asked about the benefits of having a midweek off after the 1-0 victory over Chelsea last time out.
His response was to flag that City normally have Carabao Cup semi-finals to occupy themselves at this time of year, almost wistfully referencing Liverpool and Chelsea’s recent triumphs at that stage of the competition.
That’s our trophy, lads - make sure you take good care of it.
It’s customary to grumble about a busy schedule in England and you would expect an arch tactical schemer like Guardiola is glad of the extra time on the training field.
But this City team and squad - lower on numbers than many would have you believe but rich in competitive depth - is built for relentless, rumbling runs during the middle of the season.
Southampton ended Guardiola’s latest Premier League victory march at 12 in succession and the 2017/18, 2018/19 and 2020/21 title wins all featured similar stacks of wins.
Guardiola has been a staunch advocate of looking after player welfare, but his focus in that regard has been on the paltry gaps afforded between the beginning and end of seasons and major international tournaments.
When the campaign is underway, Pep’s City tend to like games and plenty of them.
The manager’s tendency to select strong XIs for cup ties against lower division teams, such as the side that saw off Swindon Town 4-1 earlier this month, is much remarked upon. But it is all a question of rhythm in Guardiola’s eyes, a matter of his players keeping sharp to carry out their high-spec, dominant brand of football.
If the benefit of rest for some weary legs was evident against Chelsea, then City strained for their familiar beat at St Mary’s, with the hosts good value for their half-time lead through Kyle Walker-Peters’ excellent strike. Just as they did so effectively in the 0-0 draw at the Etihad Stadium earlier this season, Southampton snapped and snatched effectively at the champions' metronomic midfield.
Driven on by the excellent Kevin De Bruyne, a menacing threat from open play and the sort of dead-ball situations that led to Aymeric Laporte’s equaliser, City’s rhythm returned after the interval. Rodri glanced the crossbar, De Bruyne thumped the post and Mohammed Salisu absorbed more crunching blows than a heavyweight title contender.
There’s a ghastly weekend off to contend with before the FA Cup fourth-round encounter with free-scoring Fulham. From that point, Guardiola and his players can get properly back down to business, with a midweek home game against Brentford preceding trips to Norwich and Sporting Lisbon in the Premier League and Champions League respectively.
After an unsatisfactory outing that left Liverpool with games in hand and the door ajar in the title race, City will be keen to get back to where the games come thick and fast.
Do you think City lacked rhythm in their draw with Southampton? Follow City Is Ours editor Dom Farrell on Twitter to get involved in the discussion and give us your thoughts in the comments section below.
