Guardiola on City injury latest and Southampton (Full Presser)

NicheSportMedia

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola on City injury latest and Southampton  25/10/2024  CFGA, Manchester, UK

Transcript

00:00Good evening, guys, hope you're well.

00:10Same process as ever with mics on either side.

00:12We'll come to as many of you as we can.

00:13We'll set an embargo for 10.30 this evening partway through.

00:16We'll start with Ian, please, at the top.

00:19Hello, Pep.

00:20Can I just check on the fitness of the squad to start with?

00:23Have you got any hope that Kevin De Bruyne or Kyle Walker

00:27or someone like that might be able to be involved?

00:29No, not yet.

00:30Both missing still.

00:32Just on Kevin, I know you spoke about it a little bit after the game the other night.

00:36How long do you think it will be?

00:38I don't know.

00:39You have no idea at all?

00:41How much of a concern is that, that you don't know when you're going to have him back?

00:45Yeah, of course, I prefer to have all the squad, with the amount of games,

00:48but it is what it is.

00:50So hopefully he'll come back soon, but I don't know yet.

00:53I would like to tell you, but I don't know.

00:55For him moving forward, is this a concern longer-term,

00:59that he's struggling to recover from this injury?

01:01I'm sorry, I don't know.

01:03I don't know, I'm sorry.

01:04Doku and Grealish?

01:05No.

01:06Southampton, then.

01:09You're welcome.

01:12In terms of their start to the season,

01:14obviously, points-wise, it's not gone great for them,

01:17they're struggling at the wrong end of the table,

01:19but Russell Martin has been absolutely steadfast in his belief

01:23that he will play the same way, he will stick to his principles.

01:26How much do you admire managers doing that,

01:28even when the results are not going the way that they should be?

01:31We have success.

01:33When that happens, always you have success, sooner or later.

01:37You start to change a lot your ideas or your thoughts.

01:40Normally, when you change your ideas or your thoughts,

01:42I'm not saying to adjust something,

01:44it's not about paying four in the back, five in the back,

01:46that is not the point.

01:48If you start to change your thoughts due to the results,

01:52the players will notice.

01:53They will know you are not a big believer.

01:55When that happens, sooner or later the results are bad,

01:59but they are coming.

02:02So, always they have bad results,

02:06the world will know what happened, how we struggled to win.

02:10Always they have a good momentum,

02:12so the games against Renfrew, against United,

02:15the first half an hour, against Leicester,

02:17it starts really, really good.

02:20They have good moments, they have the courage to play.

02:23The team I use as a keeper, like I use with Ramsdell right now,

02:26and use it with all the process, it's always difficult.

02:30After the Champions League,

02:32I prefer to play against the teams in bed at the table,

02:36because you are focused and the big mistake we can do

02:38is just watching the table.

02:41But this is what it is.

02:44I appreciate you've not had a period like Southampton

02:46have had at the bottom of the table,

02:48but when you've had moments in your career

02:50where the results have not gone the way that you would want,

02:53how difficult is it to be able to show everyone

02:56that you're not doubting what you're doing

02:58and you're sticking firmly to what you believe?

03:01It's one of our jobs.

03:04It's trying to convince the players that we are in a good way,

03:07and the reason why we don't win is this one or this one,

03:09and we'll fix it, we'll come back.

03:12So, it's impossible to convince the players,

03:14you try to show or try to tell them,

03:16or try to train them or whatever,

03:18where you don't believe in something.

03:19It's impossible.

03:20It's life itself.

03:26With them being second bottom of the league,

03:29without a win this season,

03:31everyone will have Manchester City as favourites.

03:33What makes Southampton difficult, Pep?

03:36I said, the plan is there and they want to try to do it,

03:42and at the same time, sometimes,

03:45to adapt to the Premier League in the beginning.

03:48Always I have a lot of respect for the teams,

03:50like it was in the Championship, we were promoted,

03:52the Champions League is never-ending.

03:54It looks like, I don't know how,

03:56we complain sometimes in the Premier League,

03:58you know how many games we have?

04:00The Championship is even worse.

04:02So, because we played there, the FA Cup and Carabao Cup,

04:06I had the feeling that if they do it,

04:09it's because they are good.

04:11They rely on the manager, they do it.

04:14I saw the games, Arsenal, Lesley and the other ones,

04:17they always had the moments.

04:19They always had the moments and they want to try to do it.

04:21They are courageous, brave,

04:23especially with the ball.

04:25Without the ball, I don't know what's going to happen.

04:27It depends on us if we defend deeper or not.

04:34We'll see.

04:35Speaking to Phil Foden on Wednesday after the game,

04:39who kind of said that he felt he was back,

04:42that he was over this bump in the road that he'd had.

04:45Do you get that impression and perhaps how far off is he

04:48from the Phil we know of last season?

04:51I'm not concerned at all about how far it is,

04:54because I know when he is fine, he will get it.

04:57It's a natural talent, he will get it.

05:00The first goal against Sparta Prague,

05:03to find a little bit Phil is an incredible talent

05:06to solve the game for himself.

05:08But in a career when you are many, many years,

05:11already Phil is many, many years,

05:12you have these bumps that you say,

05:14up and downs a little bit.

05:15Try to reduce these short setbacks as quick as possible.

05:20They are human beings.

05:22I'll be patient, let them feel that this type of place

05:26and this type of moment that we are there

05:28and everything is going well.

05:30Sooner or later I'm happy to hear that he feels good,

05:33because at the end it depends on himself.

05:36Finally from me, there's some data released this week

05:39that suggests that referees are perhaps less lenient

05:44to Manchester City in fouls and awarding bookings

05:46than other teams, than Arsenal and Spurs for example.

05:49Do you get that impression that you're treated more harshly?

05:55I didn't pay attention to these kind of things, I'm sorry.

05:58Normally when you have 60-70% of the balls,

06:01it's normal that you should less reward,

06:09but you have the ball.

06:10Normally the fouls are being committed

06:12when you don't have the ball.

06:13Normally it doesn't happen in our team,

06:15not now, for many, many years.

06:17Always have been, our teams for many years

06:20have been good that sense,

06:24but listen, I don't pay attention.

06:26It's what it is and that's all.

06:31Pep, what is it about the home form

06:34and the importance of that to you?

06:35If you avoid defeat tomorrow, so you win or draw,

06:39it will be more than two years

06:41since you last lost a game at the Etihad.

06:44Why is that so important to you?

06:45It's an incredible run.

06:47That's a question I don't like.

06:52It's good, it's really good.

06:56That means it's consistent,

06:57otherwise you don't win for the Premier League.

06:58You don't have this type of result,

06:59like in the Champions League or other stages,

07:0226 games unbeaten.

07:05It's because we are consistent.

07:07If we are not, we don't win the Premier League

07:09for many, many years.

07:10That is the reason why.

07:11Away at home, especially at home,

07:14we do our job every single time.

07:19You've spoken a lot in recent weeks

07:20about teams coming to play you with a low block

07:23and putting 11 men in the box at times.

07:26Southampton haven't really done that much this season.

07:29Are you expecting them to come and be a little bit more open?

07:31It depends on us.

07:32Sometimes it happens and we bring them there.

07:36When you make good processes, long balls

07:38and this kind of stuff,

07:40at the end they don't defend deep.

07:42But if you have a good process,

07:44it happens to us.

07:45When a team makes a good process,

07:46we defend in the box.

07:48So how long they stay there, I don't know.

07:50I don't know the players.

07:51I know, for example, I'm pretty sure against Spurs

07:54in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday,

07:56it's not going to happen.

07:58Against Bournemouth, it's not going to happen.

08:01Sporting Lisboa, I don't know.

08:03Yet against Brighton away,

08:05I think it's not going to happen.

08:06So it depends on the clubs.

08:09And you have to adapt.

08:10Because sometimes you see a team,

08:12oh, these teams, they don't do that.

08:15But at the end, against us, they happen.

08:18OK, it's fine.

08:19We have to break them down.

08:24Can I just finish by asking about Savinio?

08:26I know you spoke a little bit about him

08:27after the game in midweek,

08:28about how well he's settled in.

08:30What is it about his game

08:32that you've really been impressed with this season?

08:35And what is it that will take him to that next level?

08:37Getting the goals, for example,

08:38that you spoke about in midweek?

08:39He's so young, he's 20, 21 years old.

08:41What I like about Savinio is the fact that

08:45I have the feeling that he wants to be the best.

08:48He wants to be the best player on the pitch.

08:50He wants to try things.

08:51He participates in everything.

08:54He's got the ball and tries again.

08:57He's not scoring goals,

08:59but he tries and shoots.

09:01And in the last game against Wolves,

09:02there's a free kick.

09:03I want to take it.

09:05He's a young guy,

09:08he has the feeling that

09:09he's here to become a good, good player.

09:12And that defines the really, really good players.

09:16He's on the perch,

09:18with consistency and ambition.

09:21Yeah, he will get it.

Category

Transcript

Recommended