Manchester City lost their first game of the season on Wednesday night as Tottenham Hotspur knocked them out of the Carabao Cup.
An injury-time goal from Matheus Nunes just before halftime was not enough for City to overcome the 2-0 deficit they found themselves with after just 25 minutes.
For the past few weeks, the Manchester club have been dealing with a growing list of injured players.
In fact, Manuel Akanji had to drop out of the starting XI in midweek.
After the game, Pep Guardiola said that his side are “in trouble” as a result of the significant injury issues they have at the moment (via BBC Sport).
Despite that, one pundit has a different point of view on City’s injury crisis after another one of their senior players was forced off against Spurs.
Shaka Hislop reacts to latest Man City injury blow
While reacting to City’s midweek defeat against Spurs, Shaka Hislop gave this response in a recent video shared on the ESPN FC YouTube channel when asked about seeing Savinho get stretchered off in the second half.
He said: “Savinho has come in and given Manchester City a different option, a new look option.
“I think he’s started this season really good and while yes, he did start a jog initially, leaving on a stretcher is never a good sign.
“You do wonder about him because again he started so well but then again when we talk about Manchester City that squad is just so deep that even when they make changes you look at the starting XI and you think is this the strongest? You’re never quite sure if it is or it isn’t.
“They, more than anybody, can cope with an injury.”
What did Pep Guardiola say about Savinho after the Spurs match?
With Oscar Bobb, Jack Grealish and Jeremy Doku out of action, the Brazilian completed the full 90 minutes in City’s two previous matches prior to the Spurs game.
In the 63rd minute against Ange Postecoglou’s side, the 20-year-old picked up what looked to be a fairly innocuous blow. Although it eventually led to him being stretchered off.
In his post-match press conference, Guardiola shared details on Savinho and why he was forced off the pitch on Wednesday night.
He said: “He had a knock in the 18-yard box, potential penalty, and we’ll see tomorrow what happened. We have to see if it [was] just a knock or something else because it was on the bone.
“Hopefully it’s nothing dangerous, but we’ll see tomorrow.”
While Hislop may be praising City’s squad for the amount of quality they have in it, it’s hard for anyone to take this compliment when the club are dealing with a range of other injury issues at the moment.
