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Chelsea v Man City preview
ManchesterWorld
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16/08/2024
Our reporter Michael Plant gives the latest from Pep Guardiola's pre-Chelsea press conference
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Transcript
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00:00
I'm in the Man City press room where this afternoon Pep Guardiola addressed the media
00:04
ahead of the opening Premier League game of the season, which comes on Sunday against
00:08
Chelsea.
00:09
At this stage of the summer, Guardiola inevitably was asked about transfers and he did discuss
00:14
the futures of two of his players, Calvin Phillips and Jao Cancelo.
00:17
We'll start with the latter, a player who has spent the last two seasons away on loan
00:21
at Bayern Munich and Barcelona.
00:22
Of course, Guardiola and Cancelo had that famous falling out in January of 2023 and
00:28
he hasn't played for the club since, as I say, being farmed out in two loans.
00:32
But he is back at the club, wasn't named in the Community Shield squad on Sunday but has
00:37
been back training with the team and Guardiola confirmed there is a possibility that he could
00:41
remain with City this season but did admit that if a loan offer comes in, that is a possibility
00:46
but at least isn't ruling out the possibility of the player staying, which I think would
00:51
be a big boost because he's certainly a player who's got real quality and can add real depth
00:55
I think to City's defensive options and Guardiola, while he obviously has his personal issues
00:59
with Cancelo, said that the player, the two are getting on quite well, speaking in training
01:04
and he himself admitted that Cancelo is certainly a player who brings lots of quality to the
01:09
City side.
01:10
As for Calvin Phillips, well at the time Guardiola said that nothing was confirmed yet but he
01:14
was likely to join Ipswich Town.
01:16
About an hour after the press conference, that transfer or that loan move did go through
01:20
with Phillips joining the club on a straight loan, no option to buy as part of that but
01:25
he'll go to Portman Road and hopefully, from his perspective, get a little bit of playing
01:29
time under his belt.
01:30
Of course, he's had such a difficult two years at City, he really has struggled for minutes.
01:34
I was looking, he's only started six games since that £42m move from Leeds United two
01:39
years ago.
01:40
Guardiola said that there is a future for him still at City, potentially, if he can
01:43
go away, if he can play a couple of games, get some minutes under his belt and hopefully
01:47
build up his fitness and his confidence and there is a chance, as I say, that he could
01:50
come back to the side.
01:52
I'd be surprised personally because obviously it hasn't really worked for him so far and
01:55
you do suspect in the long term it would be best if he can go and, as I say, get himself
02:00
back to the levels he was at at Leeds while at Ipswich and hopefully move on again in
02:04
the summer.
02:05
But, of course, ahead of a big game against Chelsea, Guardiola was asked about injuries
02:09
and the latest in his squad and he did confirm that Oscar Bob could, well he will be out
02:14
for around three to four months with that broken leg that he suffered in training on
02:18
Wednesday.
02:19
It's a mad break, it's been described to me, not a horror injury, but it's still going
02:23
to be out for a long time and it's a huge blow for City because he's one of the players
02:26
who had a really good pre-season, probably the best pre-season of any City player in
02:29
the squad, put in some really impressive performances and there was a lot of hope going into this
02:33
campaign that he could have a big impact but, sadly, that's not going to be the case and
02:37
it does mean it probably will have to be a little bit of a walk around for Guardiola
02:40
in terms of who's going to start at Stamford Bridge because it looked like Oscar Bob was
02:44
nailed on.
02:45
So he's not going to be involved, nor is Rodri Guardiola confirmed, because he hasn't
02:49
actually returned to training at all yet, obviously he had that elongated summer with
02:53
Spain getting to the final of Euro 2024, so he's not going to be in the squad at all against
02:58
Ipswich, or sorry, against Chelsea.
03:00
That is a big blow I think actually because last season City didn't, City played three
03:06
Premier League, four Premier League games, I'm sorry, and three of them they lost and
03:10
they actually didn't lose a single Premier League game when he was playing last season.
03:13
So it is a huge blow going to Stamford Bridge and stylistically it really is difficult to
03:17
replace him and the impact that he brings to the City side.
03:20
So a big blow for Guardiola, but he did confirm that the other players who returned to training
03:24
this week, John Stones, Kyle Walker and Phil Foden, who were also of course involved in
03:28
that Euro 2024 final, will be part of the City squad.
03:32
So only going to be Bob and Rodri not available for City this weekend.
03:36
We didn't ask about Jack Grealish, a player who had a knock last weekend, but it looks
03:41
like he is going to be involved in an option against Chelsea.
03:45
And of course finally Guardiola comes up against his former assistant on Sunday, Enzo
03:49
Maresca, who worked for City, worked at City for two years, one year as one of Guardiola's
03:54
assistants.
03:55
He of course spent last season at Leicester, helped the side gain promotion and has moved
03:59
to Chelsea this year.
04:01
Now as we know, managers don't often last too long at Stamford Bridge and Guardiola's
04:06
message I suppose today was to give him a bit of time, give him the opportunity to get
04:11
his style across to the players, to have an impact, because if he very quickly loses
04:15
his job it will just be impossible for any manager to really succeed.
04:19
At Chelsea was the rough message I suppose from Guardiola, but he hopes to see his former
04:23
assistant be given a little bit of time at Stamford Bridge, we'll see if that does come
04:28
to pass.
04:29
I have a sneaking suspicion that a bad run of results he won't last too long, but we'll
04:33
see of course.
04:34
And as always we will be covering the match for Manchester Royal Abbey at Stamford Bridge
04:38
on Sunday, bringing you the latest news, bringing you obviously player ratings from the game
04:41
and all the latest on Manchester World, so make sure to keep tuned to the website.
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