Man City's game against West Ham is yet to be rescheduled after Storm Ciara chaos
Monday 10 February 2020 11:48, UK
Shaun Wright-Phillips feels the winter break and Manchester City's postponed match against West Ham could be detrimental for Pep Guardiola's squad.
City face a congested run of games, with no date yet scheduled for the home fixture against West Ham, which was postponed on Sunday due to Storm Ciara.
The former City midfielder believes the fixture should be rescheduled as soon as possible to avoid a potential loss of momentum.
"For me, it was always tough if [a match was postponed]. You build up so much emotion, ready to go out and get the victory and that happens., it's a bit deflating, to be honest with you. I think for me as a player I would rather it [be rescheduled] this weekend," Wright-Phillips told Sky Sports News.
"I think it's more of 'where do you put it in?' For Man City, and the teams up the top or even the teams at the bottom, if you're getting into your stride at that time, the winter break can almost break it and when you come back you could be doing the opposite things.
"It's a tough one especially when you come back off holiday to keep that momentum going."
Wright-Phillips, who played for City between 1999-2005 and 2008-2011, did not have a winter break in his time at the club, but can see both positives and negatives for its introduction.
"I would have rather just played continuously, to be honest with you, but like you said the game's a lot different now," Wright-Phillips said. "Maybe a plus for Sterling with the hamstring issue, it might have come at the perfect time for him to recover and be back fit and ready for it afterwards."
City have won three of their last five games, but their former winger feels their form looks worse when compared to Liverpool's success.
He said: "I wouldn't be worried so much about their form. I think they're doing well. I just think that the problem they have is Liverpool are doing so well that they're not even dropping any points - they're just winning.
"If you go back to seasons, like when you had 'the Invincibles' - they would drop points to a draw, whereas Liverpool are taking those draws and turning those into wins, which is making it even tougher to catch them."
Guardiola has not played the same starting XI consecutively this season, but Wright-Phillips is surprised constant rotation has been raised as an issue.
"I think for every player it's tough, but with the team and the standard of player that he has, he has to rotate to keep people happy," he added.
"It is a tough one. Normally it's never been a problem, so it's interesting to hear that it is now."