Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola on player emotions and dismisses claims of complacency ahead of Aston Villa clash
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00:00 You said at the start of the season, after you win a treble, it starts at the bottom
00:08 of the mountain and you have to have the hunger and desire.
00:12 In terms of the reaction of your players, how passionate they felt at the weekend, does
00:18 that show a real desire, a real hunger?
00:21 It shows what they have inside that they really care about.
00:25 No, I don't need that for the last action to see it.
00:32 You see how we behave.
00:33 There is a pattern, like we are complacent.
00:35 I know that here the analogy when you win is immediately that the complacency doesn't
00:40 have character.
00:41 We win because we still have hunger, it's beyond that.
00:46 I think the way we behaved against the last two games, against top sides, it said, "OK,
00:50 we are there."
00:52 We are there.
00:53 So I would like to know how we should be the reaction when that happened in the last action.
00:58 I said after, we didn't lose that action.
01:01 Maybe Jack doesn't score, so who knows that.
01:09 I grew up in my Barcelona academy and Barcelona there, so I don't find much of this kind
01:14 of things.
01:15 But I would like to know for the Premier League, how should you react in that situation when
01:21 you are doing a tough game because we want to be there, because I had the feeling that
01:27 still we want to compete against the top sides in here, how the players should not react.
01:31 OK, sorry, the loss.
01:33 We cannot talk and stay home and nothing happens.
01:35 It's a human instinct.
01:37 Now the players here, now, will not react in that way.
01:40 But in that moment, someone tell me.
01:43 They want to be fine, we'll be fine, it's fine.
01:46 But I should react in the same game.
01:49 And I promise you, all of you, all of us, we are here in this room, in this auditorium,
01:53 if you are a football player and it happened that way, you will react in that way.
01:58 But it happened 20 years ago, 40 years ago, it happened in 40 years.
02:02 So of course you have to respect the referees.
02:04 Come on, tell me one player that doesn't want to respect the referees, tell me one, or managers.
02:10 But it's emotions, it's feelings and sometimes, OK, it's a lot, yeah, but it happens.
02:17 The referee knows exactly what happened, what they have done.
02:21 Mistake me first, nothing happens, OK, that's all.
02:26 So we can apologise, they don't apologise, we can apologise, we do it.
02:31 We don't do it, it happens, it happens.
02:34 But I don't understand how it should be different, honestly.
02:37 I understand my players completely.
02:46 Have you spoken to the refereeing body, or has anyone explained to you why that thing was made?
02:52 No.
02:53 Just on something else, you're not conceding many goals,
03:00 but a lot of the goals you're conceding are quite late on in games.
03:04 Have you been able to identify why?
03:07 That is true, it's happened a lot.
03:09 In the last games against Chelsea, Liverpool, we could have closed before,
03:15 scoring more goals, and after when he opened in that league,
03:18 in the last minutes, everything happened.
03:22 We didn't avoid the cross, we didn't defend well the far post,
03:24 but also the cross is good for Johnson, Kulusevski tagged well,
03:30 he made a good goal with his shoulder.
03:33 Football is sometimes like that, so I had to accept it.
03:37 It happens in some periods, in eight years,
03:40 in some moments you have to try to break it and start doing games.
03:47 Is it, like you say, not killing teams off by scoring more goals?
03:52 That's happening?
03:54 No, sometimes we want to score goals, sometimes we are not able to do it,
03:57 and we are tight, OK.
03:59 It was the way, defending deep a lot of times,
04:01 or continue to press, it was an action like...
04:06 He was quick, it happened.
04:08 We play against top sides, they have the ability to score, to do it,
04:10 and that's all.
04:12 But the players know it, we know it, we try to improve.
04:15 If Villa were to win tomorrow against you and beat Arsenal on Saturday,
04:25 they could potentially go top.
04:26 At the moment, I think there are six teams within seven points of each other,
04:30 I know every year we say this, but do you feel with the points you've dropped,
04:33 Liverpool have dropped three or four teams,
04:36 Arsenal we expect to be there at the end,
04:38 do you feel this could be like this for the whole season,
04:40 with a cluster of teams in there pushing, given the depth of the top?
04:45 So far, what they have shown, yes, because they are playing European competition,
04:50 it's not playing Tottenham or Chelsea one game a week,
04:53 so they are playing European competition, Conference League I guess,
04:56 and Europa League, I don't know, sorry.
05:00 Europa League, yeah?
05:02 Conference, sorry.
05:03 So, he's playing there, and they are there.
05:07 So it's already 15 games, there's still 72 points to play,
05:11 so a lot of games to play, but of course,
05:14 if so far they are there, they can be there.
05:17 And I think in no-catch stages in competitions,
05:20 I mean, it's used as well to play every three days,
05:24 you know, playing, I've been in Sevilla,
05:29 Valencia at that time, PSG, Arsenal,
05:32 so they play every three days,
05:34 so they know how you handle the training session,
05:36 handle the mindset to their players,
05:40 so that's why they can do it, of course they can be there.
05:46 Hi Pep, there's been quite a lot of talk since the game against Tottenham
05:52 about your faltering form,
05:54 and people seem to be saying that City are dipping,
05:58 Gary Neville mentioned the word 'complacency',
06:00 are you surprised by the thoughts of pundits like that?
06:05 No, I don't have anything to say about the pundits, honestly.
06:11 So it's not about that, honestly, maybe I'm wrong,
06:15 maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think it's about the complacency.
06:18 Honestly, I know the players, I know how we run,
06:20 I know how we behave, it was extraordinary,
06:25 so I had the feeling if we maintain that level we will win the Premier League,
06:29 we will win it, again.
06:31 So he knows how difficult it is,
06:32 otherwise Gary Neville would have won four Premier Leagues
06:34 in the best period of my career, he didn't do it.
06:38 And maybe he knows the complacency,
06:39 but when I see my team, how it's the backwards, how we fight,
06:42 how we press, how we continue at the end,
06:44 how upset they are after we concede the goals,
06:48 how we react and everything, I don't have that feeling.
06:50 But maybe, maybe, maybe I'm wrong, maybe they see everything
06:53 that I'm not able to see, but I don't have that feeling, honestly.
06:58 But normally that happens when you lose points,
07:00 but the people say, "OK, you lost points against Chelsea,
07:03 "Liverpool and Tottenham, what a disaster."
07:07 Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham, so...
07:10 What do people expect? Are we going to win 120 points?
07:13 Are we going to win 20 points in front?
07:15 Of course I will behave in some moments, in some moments.
07:19 After winning the treble and three Premier Leagues in a row,
07:23 yeah, sometimes you need this, you know,
07:26 how we defend the cross more aggressively,
07:28 how we attack the ball, the little details,
07:30 you know, the long ball to Manu Akanji against Leipzig player
07:33 and make like this, win the duel, you score a goal.
07:35 Yeah, that's the details that happen.
07:38 It becomes because we won a lot.
07:41 And that's why we talk a lot, guys, still we have to try to be there.
07:44 But I see how we pressed Tottenham.
07:46 First half against Liverpool, even against Chelsea in the bad moments there,
07:50 how we have done, I don't have that feeling that,
07:53 "OK, how good we are, play the football a little bit naive,
07:56 "or play football like how good we are and don't respect the opponents."
08:00 Not at all. I don't have that feeling.
08:03 But maybe they have more injuries, but not even him,
08:06 not even Jamie Cardwell, of course we did them once,
08:08 but Michael Rydger, Richard and all that,
08:12 no one four penalties in a row.
08:14 So when that happens, never ever, no team in England.
08:17 So when that happens, it's because normally we have more chance
08:21 to not happen than happen, no?
08:24 Because the treble, just one, never a second team happen.
08:27 So difficult to do again and again and again and again and again.
08:31 Because we don't have, like other teams have,
08:34 like we never done it for many, many, many, many years, you know?
08:39 And when you come back in certain moments it's more difficult.
08:43 But what am I feeling?
08:45 It's so difficult to maintain the level from Liverpool to Tottenham.
08:49 It's so difficult.
08:51 If we are able to do it, we are going to do it.
08:53 But it's so difficult, I'm not sure we are going to be able to do it.
08:57 But this is a target, this is a target to the players,
08:59 to maintain that level that we are playing.
09:01 I sign right now to play the level from Liverpool to Tottenham we have played.
09:05 I sign it right now until the end of the season, every single game.
09:09 Right now.
09:10 I'm not saying we won 4-0, 5-0, we draw and we draw.
09:13 I sign right now.
09:14 My team see, behave and play the way we played these two last games.
09:20 And my players feel it, and I think my opponents feel it.
09:24 But will we be able to sustain that all the season?
09:27 I don't know, but that is the challenge.
09:31 So, and if tomorrow we lose on Sunday and Chelsea go six points,
09:35 we are going to be at the same point.
09:37 Carry on, keep going, keep going.
09:39 This is so long.
09:40 Keep going, try to arrive in March, April, being there in all competitions.
09:45 This is a target that we are going to do.
09:47 But I am very, very, very pleased with the team.
09:50 Very, very pleased.
09:51 And I said right after Liverpool, right after Tottenham,
09:56 sometimes I have to talk with the team and say,
09:59 'Oh, I'm 100 per cent certain, like what I feel, I'm going to tell them.'
10:04 And I said, 'Better shut up, go home,
10:09 and maybe after tomorrow, tomorrow we are going to talk.'
10:11 In today's rehearsal I said, 'Guys, heads up, go in the media and defend,
10:16 and be proud of what you have done, because there is no regret.
10:19 But if you make a result, so we don't win, you have a compliancy,
10:22 so, you know, cause and effect, OK.'
10:25 I cannot say anything.
10:27 So we lose in the semi-finals, I don't have character.
10:31 Many times I listen in seven, eight years, never.
10:35 You know that? It's like, for example, saying,
10:37 'Oh, you want to make a dig to Mikel?'
10:39 I don't want to make a dig to Mikel.
10:41 It was a hippie joke, maybe the people don't get it.
10:44 So when I say something to Mikel, I promise you,
10:46 like it was one week ago, we spoke to each other, so we are talking.
10:49 The mind games, mind games.
10:51 Mind games is play better than the opponents.
10:54 Mind games is there and defend better and play better than that is.
10:56 Do you know mind games?
10:57 When after 10, 15 minutes you have the ball and chances, chances,
11:01 the opponent is affected by the mind games because you are much better than them.
11:04 The manager controls the emotions of the players,
11:07 before and after, no chance.
11:09 I come here to use my press conference to mind games to the opponent?
11:13 To win is to be, let's play better than them.
11:16 Start the game and play better, this is the mind games.
11:19 The others do...
11:22 believe something that you cannot control.
11:26 I'm really pleased with my team, really, really, really pleased.
11:30 I had the feeling we dropped points, yeah.
11:33 We were close against Chelsea, after 4-3 we had to close it.
11:35 We defended really bad that moment, really bad.
11:39 Against Liverpool, we had not a lot of chances,
11:44 but against Liverpool it's so difficult to do,
11:46 you have enough chances to kill it.
11:48 Alexander-Arnold closes the box, he can take the weapon and shoot the gun.
11:55 It's difficult to stop it, so Fulham got it too.
11:59 Against Tottenham, we have done the first half,
12:01 even the second half, the chances we have.
12:03 What can I say to my team, after I come from?
12:07 Maybe they accuse us of complacency,
12:09 because they felt this complacency in the first season,
12:11 maybe they felt it.
12:14 This team so far, I don't know, tomorrow, Sunday,
12:16 I don't know, next game, next game, I don't know.
12:18 But now, no chance.
12:21 How we behave against the young boys, behave against Red Star,
12:24 you have to be humble enough to, against them,
12:26 being Champions League winners, behave in that way.
12:30 And I like it, I'm in love with my team.
12:34 Many years and still I am.
12:36 A few guys, one for you and one for Rob.
12:38 Pep, you've said a couple of times...
12:40 Do you think you need another question after this verbal speech?
12:44 You've commented a couple of times...
12:46 Excuse me.
12:47 The questions of Jack are so special all the time.
12:51 Well, how do you follow that?
12:53 You've said a couple of times how no team has ever won four titles,
12:56 and the difficulties of maintaining that level you're talking about.
12:59 What are the challenges?
13:00 What will stop you maintaining that level?
13:02 Is it physical, mental, injuries?
13:04 What are the sort of challenges?
13:05 Next game.
13:08 It's the same as Tombilla, what you have to do.
13:10 Analyse the good things they do, what they have to do.
13:14 Next game.
13:16 Next game.
13:17 But I like to live, so we are going to do it again.
13:19 I like to live.
13:19 Every morning I wake up and go, "That's how we're going to do it again."
13:22 I like it, I like that feeling.
13:25 And I will not say that when I see the team...
13:28 Maybe we'll go there.
13:30 From now on, maybe we go there and we don't lift it.
13:33 It happens.
13:34 It doesn't happen.
13:35 We'll come back next season.
13:37 So what can I do?
13:39 I'm pretty sure we are not going to win the next 10 decades,
13:42 10 Premier Leagues in a row.
13:45 I'm optimistic, but not an idiot.
13:48 You know?
13:48 This is not going to happen.
13:51 So sooner or later we are not going to win the Premier League.
13:54 So I say many times to my hierarchy, "Guys, that is exceptional.
13:57 What we have done so far this year is the exception.
14:00 In this country, I would say maybe a little bit,
14:03 but this country is so difficult.
14:06 So accept it."
14:07 But how we saw the team with the problems that we have,
14:10 that changed the core of the team, the midfield players,
14:13 is completely the opposite that we have in the last seasons.
14:17 So it changed many things.
14:18 Still, we are quite stable, create more chances,
14:20 concede a few to the opponent.
14:22 So again, my average is, you create more chances,
14:25 you concede fewer than the opponent,
14:26 OK, we are on a good path.
14:28 And normally I still have the feeling, maybe I'm wrong,
14:30 that you have more chances to score goals than the opponent.
14:34 If you concede fewer chances to the opponent,
14:35 you have to have chances to concede less goals than the opponent.
14:38 It's a question of average.
14:39 But that is not 10 to 10.
14:41 That can happen the opposite.
14:43 But what happened, I tried to analyse the performance,
14:46 not just the results.
14:48 And it has been more than decent, I would say.
14:52 You've obviously had title-winning teams
14:55 that have won 100 points or near enough 100 points.
14:58 But do you think because this season
14:59 there's about eight or nine teams, including Aston Villa,
15:02 who can all beat each other,
15:04 that whoever wins a title this year will need fewer than 100 points?
15:06 Quite a lot fewer maybe than 100 points?
15:08 So I don't know.
15:16 Maybe when there are one or two just contenders,
15:19 maybe you have to win, like we have done with Liverpool for many years,
15:23 maybe you need it, but when there are four, five, six teams,
15:26 like every team is fighting for that, you drop points.
15:30 But honestly, I don't know.
15:34 The point is, if you're in a title race with just Liverpool,
15:36 if you draw three games in a row, people say,
15:38 "That's a crisis, you might not win the title from here."
15:40 Sorry, sorry?
15:41 If it's just you and Liverpool, and you draw three games in a row,
15:44 people start saying, "That's a crisis,
15:46 "because you've already dropped too many points."
15:48 But if all the teams are going to drop points...
15:50 No, but that depends on the standards that you have.
15:52 These are standards that you have.
15:58 You want to travel three draws is chaos, it's that.
16:02 But your standard is lower,
16:03 and the previous season you're not fighting for the Champions League,
16:06 you're not qualified for the Champions League, you're dead,
16:08 so after that it's less important.
16:11 - Thank you, guys. - Thank you, guys.
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