Pep Guardiola gets timely Man City boost from international break

The message from Pep Guardiola to his Manchester City players last week was simple: please don't get injured.

The window where stars go off to represent their countries is always feared by clubs as their control on what could happen to their assets disappears. It is why City work so hard to build relationships with national teams, including sending their own staff to look after Erling Haaland for Norway.

However, where normally these breaks are seen as detracting from the rhythm and order of the domestic calendar this one has served up something positive for the Blues. Concerns around Mateo Kovacic will need to be addressed, but otherwise motivations have been stoked.

Whether Gareth Southgate was right or wrong (spoiler: he's wrong but probably not as wrong as he could be) with his comments on Phil Foden playing in midfield doesn't change the fact that he will be the ultimate judge of whether Foden starts for England at Euro 2024. That means that even if Foden doesn't agree with the comment there will be nobody more determined to prove his international manager wrong by performing in a City shirt than Foden.

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Phillips is in a similar boat after the consternation surrounding his selection in the England squad. Southgate has admitted that a lack of minutes could cause him to drop out so the former Leeds man knows he needs to make every appearance count if he is to be part of the group that heads to Euro 2024.

City's squad relies on making sure players aren't entirely comfortable in order to have the success they have had, as well as generating their own motivations. Guardiola can help in many ways, but he can't and won't do everything.

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