Pep Guardiola's videos bore some Manchester City players, admits Pablo Zabaleta

The former Barcelona manager's heavy use of video analysis leaves some of Zabaleta's team-mates twiddling their thumbs.

Pablo Zabaleta described Pep Guardiola's pre-match preparation as 'fantastic' (Getty)

Pep Guardiola’s insistence on watching videos of recent performances bores some Manchester City players, according to Pablo Zabaleta.

The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich head coach is known to meticulously prepare his players for upcoming opponents, giving as many as three match-specific team talks before each game.

Zabaleta described Guardiola’s level of pre-match preparation as “fantastic”, but also suggested that the manager’s heavy use of video analysis leaves some of his team-mates twiddling their thumbs.

“His passion is to try always to improve, or to try to find the right way to attack," the full-back, who joined City from Espanyol in 2008, told Talksport.

“We watch a lot of videos, where sometimes I know it's a bit boring for some of the players to be watching videos every day, but for the players who really love football and enjoy watching... and I'm talking about 20 minutes of video, or 25 minutes, not an hour or two hours!”

“He’s always trying to improve the players and to improve the team. He likes to play out from the back and always to have two or three options, for the player on the ball.

“He likes always to give you solutions and information. The way he prepares for games is just fantastic.”

As well as his methodic preparation, Guardiola has been known to enforce strict rules on his players’ behaviour.

Earlier this season, the Catalan disconnected certain sections of City’s training base from 3G and Wi-Fi signals in an attempt to foster a stronger team spirit.

City return to Premier League action on Sunday, when they entertain fellow top-four contenders Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium.