Guardiola refuses to be drawn on Barcelona ref scandal as he backs Nunes development at City
Guardiola refuses to be drawn on Barcelona ref scandal as he backs Nunes development at City
Category
🥇
SportTranscript
00:00 Yeah.
00:01 Oscar Bob and Erling Haaland.
00:05 Isn't it?
00:07 That is correct.
00:08 Oscar Bob now plays for the best team in England.
00:13 Do you think he should be picked for the first team,
00:17 Norway's first team now, because he's been in the under-21s?
00:21 It's not an action for me, it's a question for me.
00:23 It's not a question for me, I don't know.
00:27 Solbakken knows perfectly what he has to do.
00:30 What do you think about the Norwegian coach that can pick two so good players,
00:34 like Erling and Oscar, in front?
00:37 I think Solbakken knows that he will see it if he sees the games against Newcastle,
00:46 one of the Champions League teams away, how good he played.
00:49 But after the decision has been made by him.
00:55 Pep, you've been quite outspoken about the workload on players
00:59 over the last few years because of the schedule.
01:02 Vincent Kompany said yesterday that he thinks there should be a limit
01:06 on the number of games that players at the very top can play in a season.
01:10 Is that something you would go along with?
01:13 Have you any ideas on how you make the schedule any better for the players?
01:18 Yeah, I would say that every idea, that you reduce a little bit the amount of games
01:22 for the players especially, would be nice.
01:25 There's not going to be change.
01:29 There is only one solution to change something,
01:31 but maybe all the players think about that, all the managers think about that.
01:34 It's the players deciding for themselves, the organisation says,
01:37 "Stop, we have to change something."
01:40 And after FIFA, UEFA and all the statements, they will maybe react a little bit.
01:46 Because this business, the show must go on without Pep, must keep going.
01:52 But without the players, the show will not go on, that's for sure.
01:57 So it depends on them.
01:59 They decide.
02:00 If they accept because it's a big business, we have big salaries and everyone,
02:04 like the president of UEFA said to Jurgen and to me,
02:08 "Don't complain, don't complain because you win a lot of money."
02:11 It's okay.
02:12 So what can I say?
02:13 We will do the same job.
02:16 We will start to play football in the streets and without just for the passion.
02:20 And now I'm lucky.
02:21 We are lucky to have here, but if I like to train, I will train everywhere.
02:25 In the high divisions, low divisions.
02:27 It's not about that.
02:28 I love my duty just to protect a little bit, to be more quality, more...
02:33 You know, that.
02:34 But it's going to completely the opposite.
02:37 It's completely the opposite.
02:39 It's not that.
02:40 Only the situation will happen in Spain with the women's team.
02:46 The players decide we have to change something and they change it.
02:50 They did it.
02:51 The women's teams, it's for the first step ever that they change something.
02:56 The players decide we have something inside to protect the players,
03:00 the future of the women's team for the new generations.
03:04 The biggest legacy we have done is that.
03:06 It's not talking about personal...
03:10 You know, personal, personal.
03:12 What they have to change.
03:13 No, no.
03:14 Something that is beyond the structure, we have to change it.
03:17 They change it, not the Federation change that.
03:19 They say, "No, no. We don't make a step forward.
03:22 We don't change something, but for the future generations."
03:24 They did it.
03:25 The women's team in Spain, they did it.
03:27 I don't know in the world of football, the men's are able to do it.
03:31 Do you get the sense that players are thinking about their welfare
03:35 more now than they ever have before?
03:37 I remember Rodri said to us in the summer that he talked to the club
03:40 about the amount of games he played last season,
03:43 that he felt he couldn't do any more.
03:45 The players sometimes complain, especially when you play all the time.
03:48 When you don't play one game, you have to complain why you don't play.
03:51 The question is complain.
03:53 But I think in general that the players, maybe in the future,
03:58 will feel it.
04:01 I don't know, because if Rodri is not here,
04:03 all the players will play 60 games.
04:05 So there are other ones that they can play.
04:08 It's what I said.
04:10 I love to play good football games.
04:12 It's just when there's a break, there has to be a proper break.
04:14 This is my point of view.
04:16 So the players, when they finish the season, have to--
04:18 I always put an example for NBA.
04:20 NBA play 18 games in a few months.
04:22 But after four months off, or three months off,
04:25 you don't play the finals, and you can't regenerate it.
04:28 The managers and everything, new ideas, and after full, full...
04:31 The problem is he is full, full and after three weeks off.
04:34 So for me it's a lot, but it's my personal opinion.
04:39 I don't want to influence, because I'm not going to influence anyone.
04:42 But the thing has to be the players.
04:45 If the players want to change something,
04:47 football is the only ones who can do it.
04:50 Hi, Pep. It's a big day for Nunes tomorrow,
04:53 going back to Wolves.
04:55 What sort of reaction do you think he'll get from the Wolves crowd?
04:58 Because the way he left, I think it upset Wolves a little bit.
05:01 Only I said when Mateo spoke with him about that,
05:05 what the people say, what happened,
05:07 that the no-training session was not true.
05:09 It was not his decision.
05:11 But it has been said, it has been told,
05:13 and after that the people can say it.
05:15 He said to me, "I never, never, ever said I'm not going to train.
05:19 This is what happened to me."
05:21 I know now he's a player, now he's a rival,
05:24 hopefully he's strong to accept the situation and do it.
05:29 You've been very impressed with him since he came to the team?
05:32 Yeah, all of them, like I said to him.
05:35 All the four or five players came, really, really good.
05:38 Just one more, Pep, in Spain this week,
05:40 Girona are at the top of the Spanish league.
05:42 Do you fancy them in the Champions League next season,
05:44 going up against you and your brother?
05:46 That would be a dream.
05:48 It would be a dream for City Football Group
05:50 and of course for Girona.
05:52 Yeah, so far it's not about the fact they are at the top of the league right now,
05:58 because at the end of the day, seven games is not much.
06:02 But for a team like Girona, the target is next season,
06:04 playing in the Premier League, always with the Premier League in the league.
06:07 We thought Girona can stay up and down,
06:11 stay four, five, six years in the league,
06:13 and will be stable every year, stronger.
06:16 Can be a stable team in the league,
06:18 like I've never been before for many, many years.
06:21 But what surprises me the most is how good they are playing.
06:25 They are better every game than the opponents.
06:27 They create more chances than the opponents,
06:29 they concede less than the opponents,
06:31 and the style is so attractive.
06:33 The recruitment that they have done, the sport director has been unbelievable.
06:38 The manager, I know him a little bit, is a top-class manager.
06:42 So sooner or later he will be one of the top teams in any league.
06:46 Personally, I have my brother there as a part of that,
06:50 but apart from that I have many friends there,
06:52 as a part of the group we are more than delighted and happy.
06:56 Hopefully they can stay longer.
07:00 Pep, on the calendar issue, you were just talking about your love for the job,
07:06 for football.
07:08 When you see the prospect of a bigger Champions League,
07:11 a bigger Club World Cup,
07:13 every football institution trying to expand their own competitions,
07:17 does it affect your passion for football at all?
07:22 No.
07:24 No, no.
07:26 But I like it a lot, like all of us, to have a break mentally,
07:32 to think about the players, see the Ryder Cup, and relaxing.
07:39 It's nice for all of us, it's normal.
07:42 After two weeks, three weeks without a game or football,
07:45 I would love to be on the pitch again.
07:48 Sometimes we always want what we don't have,
07:51 but it's not about me, at the end I don't run.
07:54 Of course, to prepare for the game is sometimes always tiring,
07:57 and today is so demanding, everyone wants to beat you,
08:00 you have to be prepared for that, but in general I'm OK.
08:04 So passion will always be there.
08:07 Otherwise, RodjOSo would not be still managing.
08:10 Managers have something addictive for that profession.
08:14 But sometimes to enjoy more the victories,
08:18 or suffer more the defeats, to process longer, analyse longer.
08:22 What I miss the most in my job, I don't have time to see what really happens,
08:26 I have to take a distance.
08:28 How is the relation with the player, how is he going, I have to take a distance.
08:31 We don't have to take a distance, we cannot.
08:33 To go home two days and not have to see what happens.
08:37 Always my concern is, I am judging and analysing well what really happens,
08:42 about the players, the games, how we are playing,
08:45 I'm analysing well, because right after the game I have to be here in front of you
08:49 to see really what happens.
08:51 Sometimes, I don't know, after one or two days,
08:55 I was wrong, but I thought it would really happen.
08:58 In today's we don't have time for that.
09:01 So go the train, the bus, arrive here,
09:05 I have to admit, guys, it's not a problem to go to the bus,
09:09 all of you, not a problem.
09:12 When I was young, I travelled with the bus all the time,
09:15 seven, eight hours to play a game, it's not about that,
09:18 it's just what happens to us later.
09:20 And I have to arrive here, and today training,
09:24 and we have to travel this afternoon by bus anyway,
09:27 so two hours to play the game.
09:29 And that will lead to more distance, what happens in Newcastle,
09:32 what happens in the Bulls, you cannot do it.
09:34 That is the only...
09:36 And if you compare to the times you were a football player,
09:39 the number of games per season and the speed of the games,
09:43 is it fair to say that the type of players changed?
09:46 The profile of players? What is demanded from them now?
09:49 To buy a player right now, you can be...
09:53 His history, I always say, is consistent every three days,
09:58 but Jeremie Ducour is not used to playing every three games a week.
10:03 In Rennes it didn't happen, he's not used to it, in this level.
10:07 And I don't know how he's going to react every three days.
10:10 That's why we have to manage, you know, and know what's going to happen.
10:15 But today you have the players in the position,
10:19 they are stable, like Ruben, for example,
10:21 like, I don't know, Kyle or...
10:24 Rodri, and when you have this type of players,
10:28 wow, it's heaven, because that helps us to be less players in the squad,
10:35 that helps a lot, Julián, for example,
10:38 this type of players, that react when it happens,
10:41 this type of players help us feel, this type of players help us a lot as a team.
10:46 I'm going to try and rattle through a few of you guys,
10:48 if you can do one each, that would be helpful.
10:50 Just back to matters in Spain,
10:52 do you have any comment or reaction about the allegations Barcelona are facing
10:56 about the referee influencing?
10:58 Wait and see.
11:00 Wait and see.
11:01 Yeah, it's what happens against us,
11:03 when everyone accuses, you know, when you do something wrong.
11:07 Let the justice or the process do it.
11:10 So far when I hear it, I didn't see or I didn't read,
11:16 because I am out of that, but I didn't see Barcelona really, really, really,
11:20 really pay a referee to take a benefit.
11:23 I didn't see that, I didn't read it specifically,
11:26 but that's why I want to wait before I have an opinion,
11:30 because Barcelona is going to defend what they have to do,
11:34 and we will see.
11:36 What I'm pretty sure is that Barcelona won,
11:39 and winning in Spain you have to do much better, much better than the other teams,
11:42 when Barcelona wins, we will work better than the opponents.
11:45 That I am pretty convinced right now, and I was there.
11:48 So we won it, we will work far better than our rivals, that's why.
11:52 When they are not, they don't win, they lose.
11:55 But the justice will decide what really, really happens.
11:59 Thank you.
12:01 Jaipe, it's just about the amount of games and the small spaces,
12:04 the small amount of time between games.
12:06 Is one thing you could do in future just to have a bigger squad?
12:09 Because I know you like to have a smaller squad,
12:11 so is there at no point a benefit to having more players?
12:14 It's not sustainable first for the clubs.
12:17 Because the people say you have 90, 80, 90 players, or 20,
12:23 and after you have one year, six injuries, you should have a longer squad.
12:28 But what happens after that, when you have injuries in one season,
12:32 you have 25 players.
12:34 How I can handle manage, play just 11, 14 players and play during a long, long time?
12:40 I don't want to be a manager.
12:42 If I suffer, I prefer that situation.
12:45 It's a risk, it's OK, but it's more sustainable for the club.
12:48 Every new player is a transfer, he has a salary, and wherever.
12:51 That's why when your equipment has to be...
12:54 OK, this player can play in three or four positions,
12:56 Bernardo can play in two, three, Phil can play in two, three, four positions,
12:59 Julian as well can play in different positions,
13:01 Oscar Ball, for example, can play in different positions.
13:03 So you don't need an extra...
13:05 The people say, "I want two players for each position."
13:07 I'm not agree with that. I'm not agree.
13:10 Because at the end, to be effective you have to regularly start 11 and make two or three substitutions.
13:16 When you make a rotation six or seven every week, it doesn't work well,
13:20 because the mechanism is that they accept a lot of games and they are exhausted.
13:25 So that's what happens.
13:28 But I don't think it's going to happen.
13:30 If I won less games, go on a team, if they won me, no European competitions.
13:34 And after it will be long weeks.
13:37 So that's for sure.
13:39 But when you're having top teams and you are lucky to play European competitions,
13:44 when that happens, now you have to accept it.
13:48 I put it on the table, but I'm saying that, I know it's not going to be changed.
13:52 I accept it, I've done it in my career, 12 or 13 years being a manager,
13:56 even when I was a football player in Barcelona, I've lived that all the time.
14:01 It's just now the rhythm is more, the rest between games is less,
14:05 and that is the big difference.
14:08 But always I live it, and it was quite well, honestly.
14:12 Last couple of guys, Gideon and Will.
14:14 Hi, Pep. Is there a positive to be taken going out of the Carabao Cup?
14:20 We talked a little bit about fixtures, congestion and stuff,
14:24 but I'm thinking psychologically in as much as it takes a quadruple
14:29 or a possible quadruple off the table.
14:32 We talked about quadruples, did you hear me or the team club
14:35 is going to win the quadruple this season?
14:38 So the travel is just two teams in all, you know?
14:42 Man United and his neighbours.
14:45 So the only ones that do it, so the quadruple has to be absolutely perfect.
14:49 20 players, never one injured, and being beyond exceptional,
14:54 it's not happening.
14:56 We won four times the Carabao Cup, and went on like this,
14:59 so the guys who didn't play do it, and they behave top.
15:03 The first half wasn't beyond exceptional, that's why they reacted,
15:06 because they could not accept the first half that they conceded.
15:10 We played really, really good, and we were happy to move forward,
15:14 that's why we won four in a row.
15:16 Once we are away, then this happens, because we play against Newcastle away, guys.
15:21 So we have to respect how good they are, and they prove it again.
15:25 So the day after the game was, "Ah, we are out, we could do this."
15:30 We had to defend better, attack better, or whatever.
15:34 So the day after, now it's gone on, it's out of our mind.
15:37 Carabao is not for us.
15:39 OK, we have a long week, one or two days off,
15:42 we have three or four proper training sessions to prepare something that we will not use.
15:46 In January, after boxing day, we have long, long weeks,
15:51 maybe we can go to Abu Dhabi for training, maybe we can train here.
15:54 Yeah, it happened last season.
15:56 With that, we take a positive way, we have more training sessions,
16:01 and it's going to happen, no problem.
16:04 Just going back to Nunes, you saw him at Sporting,
16:08 and then he went to Wolves last season,
16:10 and joined a Wolves team that had a very poor first half of the season.
16:13 When you're looking at players that I'm sure you're keeping track of,
16:16 are you looking to see how they are in a team that are struggling
16:19 in the mentality that Nunes had last season?
16:21 Wolves.
16:22 To keep improving at Wolves?
16:23 Wolves.
16:24 Yeah, in the first half of last season.
16:25 Last season, this season's play, there were a lot of changes.
16:29 At the start of last season, they were bottom,
16:32 and then you woke up, so he joined a team that did well in the end.
16:35 Yeah, I know.
16:36 That's why the job has done Lopetegui, Julen, there was exceptional.
16:39 I think he didn't get the credit that he deserved, Julen.
16:43 So, he took the team in the bottom, bottom, bottom, bottom,
16:46 and finished one or two or three games before...
16:52 And the season was out of the relegation zone.
16:56 And after this season, there was a lot of change, I think.
16:59 Some players go to Saudi Arabia and import players there, move on.
17:03 But I see the team with Michael Aconil, they're doing well.
17:08 The result, they didn't get it, but the way they play, you have to be careful,
17:11 because they are good, really, really good at what they do,
17:14 and the ability that they have.
17:15 Was it interesting to see how Nunes reacted in that team,
17:17 that started off poorly and got better, and how he evolved in that team?
17:22 I think he came from Sporting de Lisboa, always on top,
17:26 and after that being there, I think he behaved good.
17:29 He behaved really good, sometimes you know reality.
17:33 The level he played, we know him a little bit from Sporting de Lisboa,
17:38 before contact with him, we spoke with several players, we know him,
17:41 and Julen as well, how is he, in which position he played.
17:46 And he adapted well.
17:49 I think he was more than correct, he did everything to make balls
17:53 where they deserved to be.
17:55 - Thank you, guys. - Thank you.
17:57 [BLANK_AUDIO]