Manuel Pellegrini does not feel the need to warn Raheem Sterling to keep his cool in the face of any jeering the Manchester City forward may receive when facing his former club Liverpool on Saturday at the Etihad Stadium.
The 20-year-old departed Anfield in the summer in acrimonious circumstances after agitating publicly for a move. Sterling’s agent, Aidy Ward, claimed his client would not re-sign for Liverpool for “£900,000 a week” and the player stated that he would not go on the club’s pre-season tour.
Liverpool’s visit for Saturday’s late kick-off is the first time Sterling will play against them. He can expect a hostile reception from the travelling support, though Pellegrini is unconcerned about offering advice regarding this.
“Not exactly because all the boos and different things from the fans are out of the pitch,” he said. “The important thing is between the players on the pitch. There is a lot of intensity in these games. We know we are playing for very important points so any mistake could result in an unnecessary yellow card or an unnecessary foul that could lead to a penalty.”
Sterling said he wanted to leave Liverpool to become a better player. Pellegrini would not be drawn on whether the forward could have done this by remaining at Anfield.
“It is so difficult to know what will happen in the future if he had chosen another path at another club,” the manager said. “All I know is that playing here with David Silva, Sergio Agüero and Yaya Touré, he will improve.
“He has very important potential as a young player. Liverpool also have very good players so if he had stayed he may well have improved there. But sometimes it doesn’t depend on the club, it depends more on the player.”
James Milner is set to line up against City having made the opposite move to Sterling last summer but is unlikely to be poorly received at the Etihad.
Agüero is fit to start following the hamstring injury that has caused him to miss the past seven City matches.
“It will be difficult because he has gone so many days without playing,” Pellegrini said. “I don’t think he is ready to play 90 minutes or to play two or three games in a week. It is important for Sergio to evaluate during the game how many minutes he feels he can play. But he must start in this game because we don’t have [Wilfried] Bony and it is important for the team to have Sergio.”
Agüero has suffered a catalogue of hamstring injuries at City. Pellegrini, asked if this was an issue that would have to be managed from now on, said: “We always try to manage those injuries, but it is very difficult to manage. It is not only in our team. A lot of teams have important players injured for different reasons because the intensity is too high or they play too many games.”
Silva is not fit to face Liverpool because of an ankle problem and Vincent Kompany is again ruled out due to his latest calf injury. Pellegrini said he was unsure for how long the captain would be unavailable. “I am hoping that next week he will be fit but the calf is such a difficult muscle you never know how much [time] he needs.”
Silva, like Agüero, has missed the past seven matches for City. Pellegrini added: “It’s a long injury because it’s not a muscle injury. It’s an ankle and for different reasons he can’t be 100% fit. If a player is not comfortable I think that he can’t play but he’s a player that we need, especially now that we don’t have Samir Nasri for four or five months. I hope it’s the same as with Vincent, that next week he can be OK.”
