Pep Guardiola took aim at a lack of communication with international managers after Manchester City captain Kyle Walker returned from England duty with a knee injury.
Walker is set for scans on the problem picked up during England’s 3-1 Nations League victory in Finland and will miss the Champions League tie with Sparta Prague on Wednesday.
Guardiola is still vexed at John Stones suffering an abductor issue at the end of last season – after March friendlies in which Walker also came back injured – and criticised the likes of ex-England boss Gareth Southgate for choosing not to ask the opinion of their club counterparts.
‘When I was a player the national team manager called the clubs, now nobody talks,’ Guardiola said. ‘[About] how they feel, how they are. Maybe the physios talk but the managers never ever. In the first or second season with Gareth yes, but now no.
‘I was never so angry as that moment [in March]. Never ever before I was so disappointed. It was a friendly game and we were playing the quarter-finals against Real Madrid and to win the Premier League. For a friendly game, for two players coming back injured. No, no, no. I didn’t like it, at all.’
Pep Guardiola took aim at a lack of communication with international managers on Tuesday
Stones was named on the bench with no prospect of playing in crucial fixtures against Arsenal and Aston Villa, with City appearing to believe they could manage the issue.
But his fitness never recovered and, following two starts, Stones had a flare up and could not contribute fully to their tilt at consecutive Trebles. Guardiola seemed to suggest that the central defender must take ownership of his own wellbeing while away with England.
‘I always encourage them to go to the national team, but if it’s a friendly game you cannot come back injured, I’m sorry,’ the Catalan added. ‘If you are focused, if it is a friendly game you cannot come back injured when you are playing the quarter finals of the Champions League.
‘We are well-paid here. The club pay us, not the national teams. Sometimes you have to respect the clubs. In friendly games you cannot be injured. You can play, absolutely, but you cannot come back injured.’
While Guardiola claimed that Netherlands head coach Ronald Koeman does keep in contact over fitness through their pre-existing relationship, the pair former team mates at Barcelona, City also have persistent problems with Nathan Ake’s injury record while away from Manchester.
Ake had played three minutes of football before a hamstring injury on the back of two starts during the September international break has forced him out for more than two months.
Kyle Walker returned from England’s recent international matches with a knee injury
‘Nathan was injured for the national team the last two times. It happens. But Josko [Gvardiol] cannot play all the minutes, we need Nathan. Otherwise we cannot compete until the end.
‘Today in the modern football I think the most important thing is not training but to be fit, no injuries. If you’re injured, you lose eight games. Muscular, you lose eight games. No injuries is the only reason why you can arrive at the end of the season.
‘That’s why you have to be so careful. I pray they are fit. There is no solution if they are out for a month and a half.’
City are also without long-term absentees Rodri and Oscar Bobb. Kevin De Bruyne has begun training but is expected to miss Sparta.
