Today’s stories feature comments from existing City stars, such as Kyle Walker and Kevin De Bruyne, who have been discussing life in sky blue whilst on international duty.
Walker, who joined City over the summer, believes his move to the Etihad will benefit both his career and England’s chances of success, with Spurs defender (and former City man) Kieran Trippier now set to enjoy more regular first-team football.
Quoted in a 101 Great Goals article, Walker explained: “I thought about what I was wanting to do with my career.
“Tripps was a great competitor at Spurs for me but I wanted to give myself something new.
“Going to City was the right step – working with the manage; him passing on some of the experience he’s gained from working with players…
“It’s good for Tripps to get regular football and it’s good for me and hopefully, England too.
“The main objective is – at the end of the season – to be on the plane to Russia and represent my country at a World Cup.
“I’ve missed out once before. It’s important to be on the plane, wearing the badge and playing games. England is as important as ever.
“You go to your Club every day but when you come to England, you have to be professional and put your England cap on.
“You’re playing for your country. I don’t know anyone growing up, who doesn’t want to represent their country.”
Meanwhile, De Bruyne is confident of City’s chances of silverware, insisting his side will find a way to conquer the problem they issue so often: the opposition ‘parking the bus’.
As the Manchester Evening News report, the Belgian shared Pep Guardiola’s advice.
“It’s to try to create the chances but obviously not give too many chances away which is difficult because if you have so many guys up-front, it’s is difficult to do both,” KDB declared.
“But I think we have done that quite well personally. We will not create the most chances in these games because obviously, it’s very difficult.
“Even if we sat with eight at the back, we would have the ball. That’s how the teams set up against us.
“I think everybody knows what is going to happen in the game. But when you get a wall like this, it is the most difficult thing in football.
“If you get space then everybody can play.”
De Bruyne also spoke of the Blues’ strength in depth – and how key it could prove to be.
“If you see our bench and even the guys who are still injured, we have a massive squad,” he added.
“Now it is just one game a week but after the international break, we are going to be playing every three days.
“Everybody is going to start playing games and we will find our rhythm.
“Everybody now is very fresh and everybody is prepared to be close and I think in the season, when more games have been played, they will become more open because of fatigue.
“I don’t think anybody is feeling tired now.”
Elsewhere, Monaco defender Jemerson has tipped former teammate Bernardo Silva for glory but insists the Portugal star will need time to adapt to the Premier League.
He told Goal: “Of course, it takes time to adapt to a new team, a new league and a new country because it changes a lot and it’s a different championship.
“Bernardo has an impressive technique – an incredible quality to shoot the ball and dribble – and will be very successful but needs a little longer time to adapt.
“But he will do very well and have a lot of success for sure because he has a huge quality and will be trained by [Pep] Guardiola, who likes his style very much.”
