Pep Guardiola has spoken of his frustration at Barcelona’s pre-season tour affecting rather than aiding preparations for the coming season.
Talking to the club’s official site, the 40-year-old Coach looked ahead to the Supercopa de Espana double-header with Real Madrid and declared his players are not yet physically prepared for the encounter, citing the team’s lack of training when touring the US this summer.
“The problem is that the heat prevented us from training, and has hampered the team’s level of intensity [in games], as has been proven.” On the American continent Barcelona lost 2-1 to Manchester United before a surprise 4-1 defeat to Chivas Guadalajara, with Guardiola complaining as he did 12 months ago: “We used to have pre-season in Europe, but now we tour. We have to adapt.”
In reference to the Supercopa, Guardiola stated that as was the case last year, the team find themselves less than ideally prepared, with the greatest strength to win the game likely to be psychological: “The team accepts the challenge. It is too soon to properly prepare for the Supercopa and is a similar situation to last year.
“We really need more time to get to our peak of fitness. Maybe the legs can’t respond, but the mental attitude of the players will be important and I will convince the players that they can win.”
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