Guardiola on finding goalscoring options during Haaland's seven-week injury lay-off

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Guardiola on finding goalscoring options during Haaland's seven-week injury lay-off  01/04/2025 - embargoed section  CGA, Manchester, UK

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00:00Hi Pep, Mahmoud came on and scored the winner on Sunday, do you feel like he can play in

00:08that No. 9 role, do you think so? Is that his strongest role? Because he's quite versatile

00:14isn't he?

00:15Yeah I can play, Phil can play there, Maka can play there, Oscar Boak can play there.

00:19Yeah, there are players that can play there.

00:21Do you think he will want to play that role?

00:25He likes to play close to the box, he loves to score, to have a sense of goal, definitely.

00:30And he has it, yeah.

00:37Hi Pep, just returning to the ticket situation, do you sense that there's a divide forming

00:42between local fans and tourists, fans from abroad? There seems to be a lot of tension

00:47lately.

00:48I want to be honest, I don't know what is or why. I didn't speak with the club about

00:53the particular subject, so I don't know. I cannot talk because maybe I will know it

00:59next day, next hour, but I don't know now.

01:02I think this is a concern about the fans, local fans being priced out, and clubs, not

01:07necessarily City, but City are part of this, just focusing on...

01:10All I know is that I have a meeting for the next week, or this week, or maybe Thursday

01:14or Friday with the fans, and this is what has to be talked about. And I said before,

01:21so this is a football club that depends because we have our fans. Not now, it's been a long

01:27time ago. Football clubs belong to the people, and the people will not agree with something

01:32like the same when they applaud, in the last eight years, when we won what we won, because

01:37we have incredible players, you know, to achieve what we achieve, and when they boo us, because

01:42they are unsatisfied for our performance.

01:45So imagine going to the stadium with no fans, and nobody there. But not here, not the stadium,

01:50it would not make sense. Or go there and nobody watches the TV. So it would not make

01:55sense, our job. So we should close the door. And of course they can legitimately express

02:01with the concerns and the feelings with the club, and the club is open, that listen to

02:05them and try to arrive at an agreement that everybody can be satisfied.

02:09The only thing I can say, egoistically or not egoistically, I need them. We need them.

02:14We need the fans, you know, to close to the games and support us, and in the bad moments

02:19be there, because we are playing for a lot. But who I am, you know, to say, but not here,

02:24when I was in Barcelona, when I was in Miami. Who I am to, you know, don't agree with the

02:31people who can express what they want to express. I can have my opinion, but that is irrelevant,

02:36it's not important.

02:37Hi Pep, since you've been here, all the top clubs have had bad seasons, Liverpool, Arsenal,

02:44Tottenham have all dropped out of the Champions League and haven't won trophies. What would

02:47it say about this club and your group of players, even in your worst season, if you

02:52could still finish in the top four and win a trophy?

02:53It would be incredible. For the problems that have happened all the season. When we won

03:00the treble, everybody was there. When we won the quadruple, everybody was there. When we

03:03won the double, everybody was there. Of course we had injuries in that period, but won. But

03:09we had a lot. Imagine without Kusanov and Victor, we would have the last six, seven,

03:17eight weeks with just one central defender. With Ruben. So that is difficult to compete

03:24in that position. We won one title this season, Community Shield, we have one title in the

03:30pocket and alongside Newcastle we are the two ones who have done it. I think between

03:36Arsenal and Liverpool we defined the Premier League and we will see the FA Cup. And of

03:42course, with the situation they have, I said going to the Champions League next season

03:46will be an incredible success, just for the fact of being there, for the problems that

03:50we had. But sometimes, what I said before, there are seasons that sometimes happen. Don't

03:54tell me why. Sometimes, hopefully everything is going that season. All the worst in that

03:58season. The next season will be completely different. I hope so.

04:07Hi Pep, you've got a touchline ban for this game. Have you got any plans of how you're

04:11going to communicate your messages to the players?

04:14My assistants will communicate, I cannot. In the half-time I will do it, but not in

04:19the game.

04:20Do you learn anything when you're sat in the stands? Can you see something different than

04:24when you're on the touchline?

04:25The view is better. And I'm not annoying to my players. My players all the time complain

04:32to me how annoyed I am. So they can be free, can express their talent.

04:45You mentioned the central defenders a couple of minutes ago. There was a bit of talk in

04:50the last couple of days that Manu Akanji might be able to come back to training.

04:53He's getting better. All of them, I think, I don't know Nathan, but all of them will

04:58come before the end of the season. But I don't know when. But Manu is getting better.

05:02Do you know how long it will be before he can train with the squad?

05:07I don't know.

05:08You would expect him and Stones to be back at the end of the month, next month?

05:13Is he going to be back in April? Yes, maybe. I think in April, before April, maybe he will

05:19be back. It's a long time he's out. With John and Nathan, all three. I'm lucky that Josco

05:25was like a warrior, a real warrior. He's been there all the time since the beginning

05:31of the season. I cannot imagine what would have happened without Josco, what he has done.

05:37That's why I just can be grateful and appreciate his focus to be ready all the time.

05:45Just following on from Rob's question about the top four battle and maybe reaching it,

05:49I remember Jose Mourinho said that finishing second behind you in the 100-point season

05:53he regarded as one of his greatest achievements because of the competition and everything

05:57and all the issues he faced. Would it be one of your most satisfying achievements to get

06:03this team and to continue that Champions League qualification? No. But in a different context

06:10from winning trophies.

06:11They don't give me bonus. When I win the Premier League I have bonus. Now I don't have bonus.

06:18But you said you deserved it last week. But would it be satisfying in a different context?

06:24Of course it would be. I understand when Jose said this quote and I understand the intention

06:31of your question. Of course it would be, definitely. For the club for the next season we want to

06:36play in the Champions League, you know that. Always about Dreamforce, I've said a thousand

06:42million times that the people take for granted the chances it is going to win the Champions

06:46League will happen in the future. And when I was here one month or two months ago and

06:49I said we are qualifying for the Champions League, people don't even pay attention. I

06:54know how difficult it is. Otherwise all important teams who have been every season in the Champions

06:58League, it didn't happen. We are the only one in the last I don't know how many years

07:02we have been there. Like looking after a cup. These kind of things, these kind of things

07:06I give a lot, a lot, a lot importance because it's like the consistency. Like always I've

07:11been looking for as a manager since day one I've become that no better competition play

07:15there in this season would not be possible to do it in the Premier League and in the

07:19Champions League that we have done the worst Champions League since we are here. But look

07:23against the FA Cup seven in a row. Come on, the people say yeah you play in the teams

07:27of Championship League one. In seven years when it's in a row you play most of the time

07:31sometimes against Premier League teams, the toughest one. And we have been seven years

07:35that means wow, I like that. And maybe we are going to win the FA Cup but we have been

07:39there. In the Premier League we have not been there. In the Champions League we have not

07:43been there. In the FA Cup we have been there. In the Carabao Cup we were not there but we

07:47compete incredibly well in a spurious way. We were better than them and we lost but it's

07:50fine, it's okay. But in the Champions League, in the Premier League we have not been there

07:54in terms that we have to be. We won against Bournemouth. We could lose maybe but this

07:59is my team. The fight, make the challenge, the type of game. Because the team for example

08:06the type of game that Nottingham Forest face you is completely different than Bournemouth.

08:09You have to adapt, you have to challenge each one. And I like to see that team. And

08:14after of course you cannot win all the time. Simply because it's impossible. You cannot.

08:19But at least be yourself. And this is what you are looking for. And of course in the

08:28situation that we have not been really, really good in the Champions League, in the Premier

08:32League sorry. Being there, being in the top four, maybe top five, maybe the fifth in the

08:37Premier League for the good performance for all the teams. Maybe we play next season,

08:41next season. Of course we'll be good, really, really good. Of course. But the season has

08:45been so weird, so difficult. First of all, we didn't have the players. That is the main

08:51target, the main reason. There are a lot of another ones. But especially this one. So

08:56you cannot compete in all competitions when we don't have the players. Because travel.

09:03Without players we don't win the travel. Quadruple. We don't win all domestic titles without the

09:09players. And this season happened. So we had a lot, a lot of players without that. But

09:14yeah, now is the last moment. Look that week is ahead of us. I saw the forecast yesterday.

09:20We'll be good. And we have to, you know, nine games, nine finals. Nine finals and we're

09:27going to try and next season with our fans, happy or unhappy, they will support us in

09:33the Champions League. That is what we want.

09:36Thank you guys.

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