Nations League fixtures are giving seven Man City players something Pep Guardiola cannot

As Pep Guardiola continues to enjoy some well-deserved downtime on the golf course, some of his players are still hard at work for their countries.

Guardiola has bemoaned the amount of football his Manchester City players have to play, and star man Kevin De Bruyne began this post-season international break by questioning the point of the Nations League.

However, while the arguments over the fixture calendar are valid, there are a number of City players using these fixtures to their advantage, either continuing good form from the domestic season or using these four games to try out different positions and play when they wouldn't normally get the minutes.

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Bernardo Silva said on Thursday night, after providing both assists in Portugal's 2-0 win over the Czech Republic, that he preferred playing centrally, after being used out wide for his country. Yet it could be a useful opportunity for Bernardo, who is mostly used in the middle for City.

If he can remind himself of the requirements of playing out wide, then that can only benefit City, especially if he's grabbed three assists in two games by finding the inside runner. On two occasions, that was Joao Cancelo, who has doubled his City tally for the season in these Nations League games.

Cancelo is getting an extended run at right-back and is given the instruction to keep to that side as a more traditional full-back would. At City, he plays the 'inverted full-back' role, often from the left, so he is another player getting a refresher in a different role, and thriving as a result.

Similarly, Ilkay Gundogan was one of the best players on the pitch as Germany were held to a draw by England on Tuesday. Playing in a more