Guardiola on rushing Stones back due to ongoing injuries ahead of pivotal UCL clash with Brugges

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Guardiola on rushing Stones back due to ongoing injuries ahead of pivotal UCL clash with Brugges  shot 25/01/2025 embargoed until 2230 GMT 26/01/2025  Etihad Stadium, Manchester, uk

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00:00Hi Pep, just on Jon Stones there, he's had a really difficult season, only eight starts,

00:07but presumably Ake and Diaz aren't going to be fit for Wednesday, so you really need him, don't you?

00:13Absolutely. The problem is we continue with the problem. Kuzanov should not have not played,

00:20he has to take time to do it, so it's not easy, against Chelsea in the Premier League,

00:26come from another country and not communicate much with the maids and arrive,

00:30no training sessions to see what you want to do, what the process you want to have and the other one.

00:35So it's not easy starting the way it starts.

00:38Imagine all of us live what Kuzanov has lived and happen what happens, we'll be all gone.

00:44But yeah, the situation in Provence is not there, neither is Nathan,

00:48so that's why we are lucky that Manu will stay and Jon can help us for our final Wednesday.

00:56It's been a very frustrating season for him though, hasn't it, for Jon?

01:01Yeah, Jon always had this kind of situation, except the year of the travel,

01:06that was incredibly reliable, always the struggle with Samuel Nathan.

01:09This is the problem, that's why we went to the market.

01:11I would not like to go to the market in this period, but we have a lot of examples

01:16that they cannot sustain every three days, three days, three days, players, players, players.

01:20This is the problem.

01:22Pep, are you able to explain what Jon gives to you when he's playing in there?

01:28Does it make you more compact when he's moving into midfield to avoid a counter-attack?

01:35Listen, now Jon, our process is not good, right, because Rodri is not there.

01:42Manu played really good there and Jon played well, but was Rodri there alongside?

01:47That's why football depends on the connection for the players.

01:50It's not about, I put it here, you were playing good because you were playing in the past.

01:53No, before it was a process that was more clever, more easier, more everything.

01:58Now Jon and I have struggled to see it, due to injuries, to see it there.

02:03I prefer to see it back, because as a defender, especially with the situation, it's so, so good.

02:09But I don't have any doubts of Jon and even Nathan, but they have not been here.

02:16Last season they have not been here either.

02:19This is the problem.

02:21There are players that are reliable and the other ones have more injuries than the other ones.

02:25But hopefully now, this time, we recover better, we give him more time.

02:29For his problem that played 45 minutes, Tottenham 45 minutes against United and out, out, out.

02:35And he played, I think, really good this 35-40 and had to make efforts for Wednesday.

02:42And give time for Nathan and Ruben to come back as quick as possible.

02:46So the situation is tough, it continues to be tough.

02:50With him, would you see playing him Wednesday as less of a risk than playing him last month?

02:56Listen, he has to play, except he said to me, a problem, I cannot play.

03:02And after that Josco will be the central defender, I will invent, I will think about playing the full-back.

03:08But the reality is, if he can play, Josco left-back and now Mateo is getting better, getting better in the game.

03:16In terms of speed and concentration.

03:19So that is why it is massively important our game on Wednesday.

03:25So that is why hopefully he can help us.

03:27But we will see the next game.

03:29So we are lucky to have four games, because after Ibwich, three days Paris, three days Chelsea,

03:34have been really, really tough.

03:35Emotionally, after Paris, the performance was not really good.

03:39I would say they were brilliant.

03:41So recovering that way, they show me again how I am not wrong at all,

03:50to rely on these players that gave us so much in this decade.

03:56Hi Pep, can I ask you about Omar Mahmoud in his debut?

03:59Did you see things that you liked with his link-up play with Erling and Phil and players like that?

04:03What did you make of his first start?

04:05It was not easy.

04:06James was there.

04:07I was the man marking.

04:08So James, when his feet is so strong, so fast.

04:13But he made an incredible run as a movement that we could not see him.

04:16What I said before.

04:17But I think he is a calm guy and has a pace, he shoots.

04:24He is intelligent in defending.

04:27So I am really pleased with what I have seen so far.

04:31And just quickly on Jeremy, how long is he expected to be out for?

04:36A while.

04:38I do not know how much, but a while.

04:40We will not be ready for Wednesday for sure.

04:42I do not think so for Arsenal.

04:46I think we will see.

04:48Thank you guys.

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