Just six minutes of training! Kyle Walker's scant preparation for Bournemouth clash revealed as Man City defender laments 'tough week physically and emotionally'

City are enduring one of their biggest injury crises in recent memory and Guardiola said on Friday that certain players would have to play even if they were not fully fit. The champions looked tired and lacking hunger against Andoni Iraola's side and fell to their first league defeat in 11 months, just three days after being beaten in the Carabao Cup by Tottenham. And Walker, who had not played any football since England's win at Finland on October 13, was one of their weakest performers at the Vitality Stadium.

Guardiola revealed that Walker had barely trained between picking up his injury on England duty and facing Bournemouth. The coach said: "His last game was with the national team to reach 100 games and since then he could not train one session. Yesterday, he did six minutes. It is what it is. Accept it."

Walker told City's media: "It's been a tough week; physically and emotionally. I think we gave it our all out there, I think you can see in the last 10 minutes that we were chucking everything at it. But maybe that grit, determination should've probably come from the start. Sometimes you have to play the game with emotion. Sometimes, when we’ve got the injuries we’ve got, the lads are tired, they [Bournemouth] had six days to prepare and everything like that, sometimes you need to play with your heart. We're not making an excuse, we deal with what we've been given and that's just the way that the cookie crumbles. We take our defeats on the chin as we do our wins, and we move on."

Guardiola revealed that City's injury situation had worsened with a foot injury to John Stones. The coach admitted that Bournemouth had been the better side for much of the game, with his side only waking up in the latter stages after Josko Gvardiol had reduced the deficit.

"I congratulate Bournemouth... The 50/50 balls in the middle, the duels, they played this type of game. They are so aggressive," Guardiola said. "They had six, seven days to prepare. They have physicality and speed, but you have to win these types of situations. We could not match the intensity [of Bournemouth] and we could not stop the long balls. We had to defend deeper and we struggled to create in the build-up."

City suffered their first Premier League defeat in 33 games, a run stretching back to December 6, 2023 when they were beaten at Aston Villa. Guardiola's side face Sporting CP in the Champions League on Tuesday and then are back on the south coast next Saturday to face Brighton.

Walker added: "The last 10 minutes is how we should've played the whole game, with the emotion, the togetherness and the spirit to go and win the game. But they've caught us on a couple of good counter-attacking plays, Eddie [Ederson] has made some fantastic saves. We take our defeats on the chin as we do our wins, and we move on."