Manchester City manager, Pep Guardiola has tasked substitute players to up their games saying that they are crucial to the club’s Premier League success and can help them pick up victories during the end minutes.
Guardiola has signed seven new players so far for City with new recruits like Bernardo Silva and Olarenwaju Kayode joining an already strong attacking line-up that includes Sergio Aguero, Gabriel Jesus, Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva and Leroy Sane.
With the competition for starting spots heating up, Guardiola said every player must fight for their place but also underlined the importance of the substitutes.
“Hopefully they will understand that at the big clubs you cannot have 11 players, so they have to compete with each other,” Guardiola told British media.
“In that kind of level in the Premier League, the people who are 12, 13, 14 and play in the game, they are so, so important.
“When the game is in the last 15 or 20 minutes, the opponent is tired and we’ve moved them during the game, and we can put in dynamic players… It’s a point where we can win games in the last minutes.”
City, who beat Brighton and Hove Albion 2-0 in their league opener, host Everton at the Etihad Stadium later on Monday.
