Guardiola on Grealish changing role and on Mourinho's City charges comment

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Guardiola on Grealish changing role and on Mourinho's City charges comment   06/12/2024  embargoed section  CFGA, Manchester, UK

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00:00Has those attributes and the skills for that central role, and when you brought him those

00:09years ago, did you think that was in him, or did you always have him down as a winger?

00:14Yeah, he has attributes to play there. Maybe it was my mistake to play in the winger, but

00:18in Aston Villa, with Dean, starting from the left position, the winger position, going

00:31more inside. Here we're more in a fixed position, more in the places, but he can adapt perfectly

00:40in both positions.

00:41When you said, we'll see for the next games, about whether he's fit, did he get a knock,

00:46or are you talking about the fact that he hasn't played much during the season?

00:49No. All the players, we are struggling for the fitness condition right now, for the injured

00:53players and for the players that are fit. So that's why I said, it depends how they're

00:57going to feel in the next games.

01:03Just on Jack as well, he seems to really enjoy the responsibility of playing that central

01:07role. I think he's made that clear over the years. It's obviously been a difficult 18

01:11months or so, I guess, for him. Do you sense that moving him infield has given him kind

01:14of that confidence boost, and maybe a springback in his step off the pitch and around the training

01:18ground as well, almost like a new challenge for him to set a point to?

01:22I don't know. It just was a game, just one. We have to see in the future for many, many

01:29things. The confidence comes from himself. After many years, I'm not here to give confidence.

01:34Confidence has to be there.

01:35Does it feel like his mood around the training ground is better? Because he's obviously a

01:39big personality, isn't he?

01:40The mood right now?

01:42Jack's mood, yeah. He's a big personality, isn't he? So when he's happy and on it...

01:48Although happy, he's a big personality. It's not just Jack. They have proved it for many,

01:53many years. So no doubt about that. But I know he likes to be in his position. We have

01:59a lot of needs right now. Of course, to win without the ball, the impact of the game was

02:06really, really good.

02:08Hi Pep. I don't know if you've seen Jose Mourinho's comments in the last hour. Have you seen

02:15them? The comments from Jose Mourinho in the last hour?

02:19Alex told me, yeah.

02:20And what's your feeling when you see something like that?

02:22It was a joke. It was a joke. But he's another one in the huge list that they want the team

02:32to be in, I don't know, in the League One or the Conference One. But I would say to

02:37Jose the same. We are innocent after proving he's guilty. So after that, we'll see what

02:42happens. But it's what it is. So it was completely a joke. So I think both with our teams, him

02:51with Chelsea, myself with Man City, we can sit at the table with Alex Ferguson and Arsene

02:57Wenger, right? For the many, many titles we won. And I'm pretty sure sooner or later

03:03we'll congratulate us.

03:05It's the second press conference in a row we've come and asked you about what an opposition

03:08manager says. Is it, from your perspective, slightly frustrating that it's the second

03:15press conference in a row that we've come and asked you about a joke that a manager

03:19said? Obviously Arne Slott and the...

03:22No, no, I start with my joke. The joke on Arne Slott is his business, not my business.

03:27So I'm talking about what I said. If I've offended him, I'm so sorry. But it was a joke.

03:37The fact is he had three, I had six. So this is a fact. But the intention was completely

03:43fine. But I said the same. So it's another one for the huge list in this country and

03:48more around the world that they want us there in the bottom. I said, it's OK, it's fine.

03:53So what I said many times, wait the sentence. And everyone, especially in democracy, is

04:00innocent and the guilt is proven, right? So we wait and after we see.

04:05Hiya Pep. You were just talking about you and Mourinho being able to sit at the table...

04:11No, listen. Enough. Don't ask me that. I answer quite well. I answer the question about Jose

04:17and it's no more.

04:18What I was going to say...

04:19Don't try it.

04:20What I was going to say was that you're able to sit at the table with Ferguson and Wenger.

04:25Did you ever sort of envisage being this good when you got here?

04:31Sorry?

04:32Did you ever envisage being that good when you arrived here?

04:35No, no, no. No, no. I remember many people say, yeah, he wins, you know, because it's

04:42Barca with Leo Messi and the other ones, you know? I have to prove in England. OK.

04:49We did it.

04:50And have you had many conversations with Ferguson and Wenger over your years here?

04:57Now, yeah. With Sir Alex, a few. Now it's not a long period, but in the first year it's

05:04a lot. We were at charity events together and good. And with Arsene Sint-Retaille, it

05:11has been incredible. Arsene is a gentleman for many, many years. And he came last time

05:16here. We made a big chat. Now he's in the role in FIFA and it's important that these

05:23figures are in the world of football. You know that? And being there. And of course,

05:33both of them have incredible success in United, in Arsenal and Jose in Chelsea. I would say

05:39ourselves in here in City. And in terms of titles, all four, they are, you know, I think

05:46the best we have done in the last, I don't know how many years.

05:49Are you able to give us any sort of insight into what Ferguson and Wenger have said to

05:54you over the years?

05:55Sorry?

05:56Are you able to give us any insight into what Ferguson and Wenger might have said to you

05:59over the years when you've been talking to them?

06:01No, no, no. Listen, when we're sitting with them, we don't talk about how good we were

06:06and how many titles we've won. This kind of stuff is ridiculous. So we talk about life,

06:11how he's experienced. He asked me about how he's in England, how he's experienced in how

06:18many years in United, in Arsenal, and how that's had an impact to change the hybrid

06:23to the Emirates. And, you know, normal people in the world of football talk about not the

06:29results, not how many trophies we know we'll lose. That is, at the end of the night, for

06:35the experience and managers, what you leave. When you leave the trophy, it's nice, you

06:38have another number. But what is nice is what you leave, good moments, bad moments, give

06:45you experience, give you relations with your players, with the staff, backroom staff. That

06:50is the... Now we are here.

06:54I think it's only three times this season you've been able to name the same back four

07:00in the next Premier League game. Have you ever known a season of such inconsistency

07:06in selection at the back? And is that part of the reason for this?

07:10I would say in the past, maybe I should see, I should reflect, but maybe in the past...

07:17I rotate a lot. I'm not saying there was a back four the same, but now this season is

07:22because we don't have it. We lost the Chujo midfielders for a long time, and after central

07:32defenders for a long time, we didn't have it. And now, apparently, we come back, and

07:36now we come back again with the problems. I have four defenders for tomorrow, no more

07:41than that, and with the schedule ahead of us, it's what you have to handle it. But this

07:47is an incredible challenge to do it. We break that bad run, because it's not easy when you

07:55don't win for a long time, and now you break it, and now we have to try to continue with

08:00the players, the spirit, the good spirit that we show, and we'll see what happens.

08:05Finish with Dave, please, guys.

08:11Pep, could you just ask about Ederson and what he needs to do to get back into the team

08:16in Europe? Ederson, what he needs to do to get back in Europe?

08:20The manager selects him. This is what he needs. It's simple. When tomorrow I say line-up,

08:26I say, Ederson, my first keeper, today you play. This is what he needs, no more than that.

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