The boss was asked why Phil Foden – who played the full 90 minutes of our midweek Champions League win over Sevilla – had featured from the bench in our recent Premier League victories against Brighton and Leicester.
But with a number of world class options alongside the England international, the boss insisted that keeping the team fresh was part and parcel of going the distance on both a domestic and European front.
He said: “Him [Foden] and Riyad [Mahrez] have been on the bench as well, Jack Grealish too.
“Bernardo Silva has been on the bench, [Ilkay] Gundogan has been on the bench and Kevin De Bruyne has been on the bench, everyone.
“It’s not an issue, I have many players and I have to use them. I demand the best of them, I want the best of them, and this is going to happen in the future.
“Always it has been like that, it’s not that you play because you play.
“In Dortmund, for example, we played to qualify first [in the Champions League group stages]. We know how important it was, but Kevin De Bruyne didn’t play one minute. It happens.”
Hear the boss’ pre-match thoughts in full via the video above…
