Chelsea v Man City preview

ManchesterWorld

Our reporter Michael Plant gives the latest from Pep Guardiola's pre-Chelsea press conference

Transcript

00:00I'm in the Man City press room where this afternoon Pep Guardiola addressed the media

00:04ahead of the opening Premier League game of the season, which comes on Sunday against

00:08Chelsea.

00:09At this stage of the summer, Guardiola inevitably was asked about transfers and he did discuss

00:14the futures of two of his players, Calvin Phillips and Jao Cancelo.

00:17We'll start with the latter, a player who has spent the last two seasons away on loan

00:21at Bayern Munich and Barcelona.

00:22Of course, Guardiola and Cancelo had that famous falling out in January of 2023 and

00:28he hasn't played for the club since, as I say, being farmed out in two loans.

00:32But he is back at the club, wasn't named in the Community Shield squad on Sunday but has

00:37been back training with the team and Guardiola confirmed there is a possibility that he could

00:41remain with City this season but did admit that if a loan offer comes in, that is a possibility

00:46but at least isn't ruling out the possibility of the player staying, which I think would

00:51be a big boost because he's certainly a player who's got real quality and can add real depth

00:55I think to City's defensive options and Guardiola, while he obviously has his personal issues

00:59with Cancelo, said that the player, the two are getting on quite well, speaking in training

01:04and he himself admitted that Cancelo is certainly a player who brings lots of quality to the

01:09City side.

01:10As for Calvin Phillips, well at the time Guardiola said that nothing was confirmed yet but he

01:14was likely to join Ipswich Town.

01:16About an hour after the press conference, that transfer or that loan move did go through

01:20with Phillips joining the club on a straight loan, no option to buy as part of that but

01:25he'll go to Portman Road and hopefully, from his perspective, get a little bit of playing

01:29time under his belt.

01:30Of course, he's had such a difficult two years at City, he really has struggled for minutes.

01:34I was looking, he's only started six games since that £42m move from Leeds United two

01:39years ago.

01:40Guardiola said that there is a future for him still at City, potentially, if he can

01:43go away, if he can play a couple of games, get some minutes under his belt and hopefully

01:47build up his fitness and his confidence and there is a chance, as I say, that he could

01:50come back to the side.

01:52I'd be surprised personally because obviously it hasn't really worked for him so far and

01:55you do suspect in the long term it would be best if he can go and, as I say, get himself

02:00back to the levels he was at at Leeds while at Ipswich and hopefully move on again in

02:04the summer.

02:05But, of course, ahead of a big game against Chelsea, Guardiola was asked about injuries

02:09and the latest in his squad and he did confirm that Oscar Bob could, well he will be out

02:14for around three to four months with that broken leg that he suffered in training on

02:18Wednesday.

02:19It's a mad break, it's been described to me, not a horror injury, but it's still going

02:23to be out for a long time and it's a huge blow for City because he's one of the players

02:26who had a really good pre-season, probably the best pre-season of any City player in

02:29the squad, put in some really impressive performances and there was a lot of hope going into this

02:33campaign that he could have a big impact but, sadly, that's not going to be the case and

02:37it does mean it probably will have to be a little bit of a walk around for Guardiola

02:40in terms of who's going to start at Stamford Bridge because it looked like Oscar Bob was

02:44nailed on.

02:45So he's not going to be involved, nor is Rodri Guardiola confirmed, because he hasn't

02:49actually returned to training at all yet, obviously he had that elongated summer with

02:53Spain getting to the final of Euro 2024, so he's not going to be in the squad at all against

02:58Ipswich, or sorry, against Chelsea.

03:00That is a big blow I think actually because last season City didn't, City played three

03:06Premier League, four Premier League games, I'm sorry, and three of them they lost and

03:10they actually didn't lose a single Premier League game when he was playing last season.

03:13So it is a huge blow going to Stamford Bridge and stylistically it really is difficult to

03:17replace him and the impact that he brings to the City side.

03:20So a big blow for Guardiola, but he did confirm that the other players who returned to training

03:24this week, John Stones, Kyle Walker and Phil Foden, who were also of course involved in

03:28that Euro 2024 final, will be part of the City squad.

03:32So only going to be Bob and Rodri not available for City this weekend.

03:36We didn't ask about Jack Grealish, a player who had a knock last weekend, but it looks

03:41like he is going to be involved in an option against Chelsea.

03:45And of course finally Guardiola comes up against his former assistant on Sunday, Enzo

03:49Maresca, who worked for City, worked at City for two years, one year as one of Guardiola's

03:54assistants.

03:55He of course spent last season at Leicester, helped the side gain promotion and has moved

03:59to Chelsea this year.

04:01Now as we know, managers don't often last too long at Stamford Bridge and Guardiola's

04:06message I suppose today was to give him a bit of time, give him the opportunity to get

04:11his style across to the players, to have an impact, because if he very quickly loses

04:15his job it will just be impossible for any manager to really succeed.

04:19At Chelsea was the rough message I suppose from Guardiola, but he hopes to see his former

04:23assistant be given a little bit of time at Stamford Bridge, we'll see if that does come

04:28to pass.

04:29I have a sneaking suspicion that a bad run of results he won't last too long, but we'll

04:33see of course.

04:34And as always we will be covering the match for Manchester Royal Abbey at Stamford Bridge

04:38on Sunday, bringing you the latest news, bringing you obviously player ratings from the game

04:41and all the latest on Manchester World, so make sure to keep tuned to the website.

Recommended

Category

Transcript

Recommended