Pep on City's 3-0 Nottingham Forest win

NicheSportMedia

04/12/2024

04/12/24

Etihad Stadium, Manchester, UK

Transcript

00:00Congratulations on the win. You spoke yesterday about Kevin De Bruyne and said why would you

00:29leave him out? He played today. Is that why you wouldn't leave him out because of performances

00:35like that? I'm so happy for him. Last season he was many months injured. Today, this season

00:44as well. So I'm so happy he's back and he fought a lot. He prepared himself for his

00:49back and the physicality. The minutes against Feyenoord was not good and that's why I decided

00:56not to play in Anfield for the rhythm they play. But the minutes he played in Anfield

00:59was really good and today he played 75 fantastic minutes. Pep, you spoke as well about wanting

01:08to get more of your attacking players in the goals and take the pressure off Erling Haaland.

01:13Was that the difference tonight, the fact that your midfielders all chipped in and scored?

01:17No, the difference is that we won. That is the difference.

01:27Is there a feeling of relief in your heart today?

01:30We need it, yes. We need it. The club, the players, everyone needed to win. But it's

01:36just one game in three days. We have Salchow, Sparco, which have been difficult. The problems

01:41continue with Manu and Nathan. They prove how incredible a group of players we have

01:49at our disposal for many years. They play really good and we concede transitions because

01:57it's still the easy things. We miss it still. We lost some passes that you have to avoid

02:03but in general today the most important thing was to break this routine to not win games

02:10and finally we won it. But you have to continue.

02:12It's kind of a healing process, I guess. It's like a healing process.

02:16No, I don't know. We'll see how we process our victory.

02:24Pep, I was just going to say, did you see many differences between the performance tonight

02:29to one last week? Or was it just about taking your chances?

02:35Was better than Liverpool and Bournemouth, yes. It was quite similar to the other games

02:39that we didn't win.

02:41Does that just show the sort of margins that you're dealing with?

02:47The difference in many games is today we won. That's it.

02:55Can I just ask about Ake and Akanji?

02:59Nathan doesn't look good. We'll see tomorrow. Nathan, Manu has been making the last two

03:05months struggle a lot. I just can't thank you for the effort they do to play in positions

03:13that are unnatural. But who could not continue and we'll see in three days what happens.

03:29Obviously happy that you won but do those injuries kind of give you more concern moving forward?

03:33Yeah, it was sad for Nathan. But we'll see. I think with Manu, I don't know in Turin,

03:43Italy or the next games, but we'll see. Nathan I think will be longer.

03:53Can I just check, are you expecting Phil to be out for weeks as well?

03:59No, I have bronchitis. So when he will be no fever and it's over, we'll be ready.

04:07Hi Pep, how pleased were you with Jack Rielly's performance in midfield?

04:13Really good. He played in the middle, was involved in many things and hopefully in the next games

04:19I decide to play in that position, he can be involved in the final third and be decisive in the passes

04:25and goals and assists. But he gives us what we need. Our football was always built in the midfield,

04:33the quality that makes our tempo and the way you have to play and after the glimpse of speed

04:39from outside. But the control of the game and Jack in that gives us that pace, when to accelerate,

04:49how to make more control, he did it brilliantly. He played really good, I'm so happy for him.

04:53Was there any doubt beforehand, obviously he hasn't really played in the middle much in the last couple of years,

04:59did you have any doubts beforehand about putting him in that position?

05:01No, I know his quality, he even has the tributes to play the whole midfielder.

05:07He has the ability to keep the ball, to break the lines, the composer. But he played really good

05:15for the problems that we have in the middle. With the two whole midfielders injured,

05:19the midfielder was always playing an important role for us. Everyone was good.

05:29Even though Kevin played so well tonight, are you going to still have to be quite careful about

05:33when you use him and how you use him and how many minutes?

05:35We'll see how he recovers after a long time injured, three days, three days.

05:39We'll see how he feels in three days.

Pep on City's 3-0 Nottingham Forest win

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