Manchester Metropolis dominated the League Cup through the early years of Pep Guardiola’s reign, lifting the trophy in 4 of his first 5 seasons in cost.
Remarkably, Metropolis received 21 consecutive ties within the competitors between 2017 and 2021 (with two-legged semi-finals counted as a single ‘tie’). Nevertheless it has been a distinct story since then, with Guardiola’s crew dropping 4 of their subsequent seven EFL Cup video games.
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That’s partly a results of shifting priorities. The Metropolis supervisor stated 12 months in the past he did not intend to “waste power” within the competitors and would as a substitute subject his “second crew”, vowing to prioritise the Premier League and Champions League.
The Spaniard nonetheless picked a reasonably robust facet for final season’s fourth-round exit to Tottenham, albeit he did not threat star striker Erling Haaland, retaining him on the bench.
With Metropolis having taken half on this summer time’s Membership World Cup and the expanded Champions League format additionally that means extra matches, Guardiola will probably be conscious about the necessity to handle the minutes performed by his squad and cut back the chance of late-season burnout.
[BBC Sport]