Manuel Pellegrini, the manager of Manchester City, is not sure whether he would be able to play his full fledged starting XI in the first league match against Newcastle United on 17th of this month.
Quite a few regular City players including the captain Vincent Kompany have not joined the squad for the pre season. They are likely to be at Etihad next week which means that they won’t have even 15 days to get themselves in shape for the Newcastle game.
Before the start of the league though, the Sky Blues have to play Community Shield match against the Gunners on 10th and they are certain to go into that match with an inexperienced squad. The likes of Kompany and Aguero would not be there playing in that match.
City suffered a defeat against Liverpool yesterday in a match of the International Champions Cup. They played well actually and were levelled with the Reds when the final whistle was blown, but, they couldn’t get their penalty kicks right at the end and got defeated by 1-3 in the shootouts.
Talking to the reporters after that match, Pellegrini said, “I think we were more impressive than them in the first half and we should have taken the lead. But, unfortunately, we couldn’t. We kept it up after the break too, but, a few missed opportunities cost us.”
“The boys have had good practice in the last two and half weeks. We are expecting the full squad to be here with us by the start of next week. I don’t know if each one of them will be in a condition to play on 17th. Maybe, a few won’t be. Let’s see.”
The match between City and Newcastle will be played at the St. James’ Park.