Pep must rediscover spark to motivate City squad that has already made history

BOSS HAS TO FIND TARGET TO GALVANISE PLAYERS

- SIMON BAJKOWSKI

PEP Guardiola has plenty to think about as City players take a few days off before starting preparations for Aston Villa on Saturday.

The Blues boss has bemoaned a lack of time for training but also knows the importance of rest for his players and they have not had much time for either during a relentless slog of games.

Being out of the Carabao Cup at least means there can be some respite before City try again to break their cycle of bad results.

Many of City's issues have not been anything Guardiola has been able to do much about - he does not lead recruitment and has had unusual amounts of bad luck with his players getting injured and either staying injured or getting injured again.

Nonetheless, everything is picked over when a club such as City wins one game in 11 and there are inevitably some questions about Guardiola's decisions.

WHAT DOES HE WANT AT CITY THIS SEASON?

The biggest one first. Guardiola surprised many when he signed a contract extension that for a long time he didn't even expect he would.

Some of his close allies believe he wants to rebuild the squad, yet he has flatly denied the need for a rebuild when asked about this on multiple occasions in press conferences.

Whether this is in respect to his current group of players or not, when the manager talks about his greatest achievements at the club already being over it leaves a space for why he is still here.