Guardiola on City form ahead of tricky Villa trip (Full Presser)

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Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola on City form ahead of tricky Villa trip  20/12/2024  CFGA, Manchester, UK

Transcript

00:00Good afternoon everyone. Same process as ever with mics on either side of the room. We'll

00:07set an embargo partway through for 10.30 p.m. this evening.

00:14Hi. When we spoke to you after the Derby, you seemed so down and so fed up about what

00:23happened. It genuinely felt as though you'd reached a point where you didn't know what

00:29else you could do. How low did you get after that game? How near did you get to thinking

00:38I can't do this?

00:39Well, we just finished a game that we lost it when we were close to winning. We lost

00:44a game for the circumstances that happened. Yeah, I was not happy, yeah. But the terms

00:51I tried to be honest with myself here now, right now, and six, seven days ago about my

00:57feelings about the team and the other one. But you fell down six times, you have to stand

01:02up seven. So it's not an alternative. I'm fine. I'm a normal person with feelings like

01:10all of us, and when the situation is going well, we are better. When it's not going well

01:15professionally, we are more concerned about what we have to do. But it's normal. I will

01:22not go to the press conference when 87 minutes, 86, we were 1-0 up, and after what happened

01:29I will be here expressing something like I didn't feel.

01:37You've had a rare week where you haven't had a game. Has that almost offered a chance in

01:43some way for the players to reset a bit and kind of almost go again, start again at Aston

01:51Villa tomorrow?

01:52Yeah, that is obvious. We have to start again, win again. But that doesn't mean what is going

01:59to happen. Even in the past when we won many, many games in a row, we didn't know what was

02:03going to happen. Of course, we have to try it again and do it again, and sooner or later

02:08we will turn around. I don't know when, because some problems we had in the squad. Ruben is

02:15out for a long time. Ederson, I don't know, will be ready tomorrow. We have to continue.

02:23It's the only thing we have to do.

02:25Sorry, can I just clarify what you said there? You said Ruben's out for a long time?

02:30I said yes. Three or four weeks we'll be out, yeah.

02:33Three or four weeks, OK. And what's the issue?

02:37Muscular. 75 minutes against United, he felt something, but he's so strong and he wants

02:44to stay on the pitch and now he's injured.

02:47I was about to ask you whether your injury situation was going to get better with Manuel

02:52Akanji. Is he potentially being back?

02:54Yeah, it's good that Manuel and John are back training for the last two days, so that's

02:58good for us.

02:59And John Stones and Kovacic obviously were back on the bench and part of the squad for

03:03Manchester United. Is that a boost for you to have those back available for the team?

03:06Yeah, of course. The more players that come back, the better.

03:10And like Simon asked you, having a free week, how much of an opportunity does that give

03:14you to work on specifics for this Aston Villa game? Because a lot of the time it's about

03:19rest and recovery, not much time to prepare, some specifics, but this is a bit of a free time.

03:24Yeah, we make a good two training sessions, today's the third. Yeah, good.

03:29We train good, the guys are ready.

03:34Hi, Pep. Is there anything from the last time you visited Villa that you could bring to

03:41this game, or is it like two completely different things? Because you didn't have Rodri as well

03:45with that game last time, I think.

03:47Yeah, but after they come back here, we beat them 4-1.

03:53You have to analyse that the times we drop points or lose points, I'm sorry.

03:59We were more than lose in the past. Of course we lost there, they were better, by far.

04:04We came here, we were better. Why do you have to compare what happened there with what happened

04:10here now? We will play here. So the past is the past. It's a new moment and the situation,

04:18you have to deal with it.

04:21With Manu and John coming back, even though we don't have Ruben, do you think they are

04:28able to start? Do you have more options for your back four?

04:30I don't know yet. Yesterday was the first training session, I would say, properly and

04:35have been out for a while, so we'll see. We'll see tomorrow.

04:39Hi, Pep. It's obviously been a difficult time for John Stones. How much of a difference

04:44when he's back on the field can he make? Can he give you the lift, potentially?

04:49Of course it's important everybody back, and he's best. When you are, as I said before,

04:55when you are injured for three or four weeks and have to come back, you need a little more

04:59time to be your best. But of course he's an important player for us for many years.

05:06Just on this experience, obviously it's been a tough time. It's sort of unprecedented in

05:12your managerial career, but have there been times, thinking back to when you were a footballer,

05:16when you went through similar tough times that you can relate to and use that experience

05:20now?

05:22I handle good moments, I handle good and bad ones. I had the bad ones in these 30, 40 years

05:30of my career as a manager, but after a while, two, three, we were able to come back and

05:37now it takes longer. So we take experience with that, we see in the future.

05:43So if you analyse, there have been more than 40 bad days in terms of results, that is the

05:49truth. And you compare it in eight years, it's much better. So you compare eight years

05:57of incredible things we have done and now this 45 of more than 40 days, it's bad, absolutely.

06:04I said after United, we don't have defence, the result speaks for itself. In the past

06:09it speaks for itself and now the reality, right now, it speaks for itself. Nothing much

06:15to say, we are not winning games, we have to win games. It doesn't matter the circumstances,

06:19the problems, yes, but we have to do it and we are not doing that. I know that in a moment

06:24we can get a good result. So the team is coming back and we'll be back and this is what I

06:30try to do.

06:32Pep, approaching January, I know I've asked you a lot about potential for players coming

06:37in. Is there any potential scope for any players to leave, would you say, next month?

06:42Leave?

06:43I don't think so.

06:44Because lots of players, like for example James McAtee, Nico Ryder, they're not getting

06:46many minutes.

06:47I don't think so.

06:48And with regards to the way you've refreshed the squad, traditionally players here seem

06:56to decide when they want to move on for a new challenge, don't they? It tends to be

07:00up to them and you say that if they want to go, then you'll allow them to go. As players

07:06approach the end of their contracts and the longer this run goes on, do you have to start

07:11thinking about some potentially difficult conversations with players to say the other

07:15way round, from the club's point of view, that maybe moving forward they will not be

07:19required?

07:20Sorry, maybe I misunderstand it. So you're saying that if the clubs come to ask for some

07:29players to stay instead of to leave?

07:33Traditionally it's up to the player, isn't it? We've seen lots of examples where the

07:35players come to you and say, look, I want a new challenge. But this is an unprecedented

07:41run, isn't it, of form. Is there a time with players specifically coming towards the end

07:46of their contracts that you have to, as a club, sit down and say, well actually there

07:49might be certain players that it's the right time for you to say to them, we want to sell

07:53you, rather than the other way round?

07:56I don't know. It will be at the end of the season. It depends on how they perform, all

08:01of us. So now it's not a reality. At the end of the season we'll see what is the situation.

08:10And it will take, as I said, what I want is my players back, have the squad. I have the

08:15same feeling that the squad is really good. The problem is we didn't have. It's not about

08:20they are good or bad players, it's not about that. It's we didn't have. Now we start, because

08:27now we lost two important figures for a while. But it's what it is. It happened in the beginning

08:33and continues. And when we want the players back, that is. And after, what's going to

08:39happen in winter, what's happening at the end of the season, the club, of course, and

08:42myself, we're going to decide what is the best for the team.

08:47Can I just finish by asking about Aston Villa, because you know from experience the difficulties,

08:52particularly of managing a successful Premier League campaign alongside the Champions League

08:56and having success in both competitions. Well, so far Aston Villa have adapted seemingly

09:01very well. How impressed have you been with what they've done this season specifically?

09:05Yeah, no surprise. Top, excellent manager. Handled many, many things and have done incredible

09:11success like season qualifying in the Champions League. The result in the Champions League

09:14speaks for itself. And they are handling good because when I have been in many clubs handling

09:23both competitions, European and local competitions, they've done really, really well. So it's

09:28not a surprise that they've reinforced the squad. The squad is depth. It's a long squad.

09:33It's really good. So, yeah, in that terms it's nice.

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