“Not Fair for Manchester City”- Bernardo Silva Echoes Pep Guardiola’s Criticism Slamming FA Over Fixture Congestion 

Manchester City may have progressed into the FA Cup final, but the team doesn’t look pumped up. The consistency that top-flight soccer demands can be daunting, and Pep Guardiola’s team is bearing the brunt of it. And now with the issue getting out of hand the players also seem to be opening up about their concerns. Guardiola recently expressed his frustration about the FA’s game management. But now, midfielder Bernardo Silva gives additional insight into what may be going on in the Premier League champions’ minds.

According to reports, the Portugues felt that City has been facing an uneven distribution of fixtures. Citing an example of himself, Silva recently said, “I wasn’t fine at all [vs Chelsea]. I’ll be honest, I was feeling my left hamstring, my right calf. This is not fair for #ManCity. I say @ManCity – maybe other clubs went through it. This is just our personal experience. They have to pay more attention to this.” Defending champions were recently knocked out of the Champions League and an FA Cup fixture immediately after it left them distraught.

Silva further said, “We didn’t play on a level field – the FA didn’t give us chance to recover, which is not reasonable at all.” The second leg of the quarterfinal saw another 30 minutes extra leaving players from both the teams weary. Subsequently, the game against a decent Chelsea side was too much for Silva to handle.

Subsequently, a fatigued Manchester City side managed to enter a consecutive FA Cup thanks to Silva’s goal in the last few minutes of the second half. Or else another game was heading to the extra 30 minutes. Hence, he stated, “I don’t think it’s acceptable we played [on Saturday],” giving his inference. But the club’s situation has been alarming for the coach

Pep Guardiola annoyed with clamped schedules

Pep Guardiola’s team had a few major setbacks this season. Kevin De Bruyne and Haaland both faced injuries earlier in the season and the few other members also had to suffer. And the coach after the UCL game said, “It’s unacceptable. It’s not normal. For the health of the players, after 120 minutes vs Real… it’s unacceptable,” reiterating his point about the increased number of fixtures. However, the club knows it’s not the only team.

On the other hand, Bernardo Silva also acknowledged the possibility of other teams facing the issue. League rival Arsenal is expected to play a similar number of fixtures to the Sky Blues, in April and Chelsea will play them on Wednesday. But FA with other parameters involved, like other clubs, and other tournament schedules may be helpless at the moment. And with the season coming to an end, it will be interesting to see who would handle the pressure better.