Guardiola on Foden player of the year award and development plus their game against Wolves
CGA, Manchester, UK
CGA, Manchester, UK
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00:00 [Pause]
00:11 Good evening guys, hope you're well.
00:12 Same process as ever, we're maxing either side.
00:14 Raise your hands if there's anyone you'd like to ask a question.
00:16 We'll set an embargo part way through for 10.30 this evening.
00:20 Someone to start please, Simon.
00:22 Hi Pep.
00:24 Phil Foden's won the Football Writers Player of the Year Award.
00:29 Do you think that's something that he deserves and how would you assess the season he's had so far?
00:35 If the writers decide this award, congratulations for the writers and for him.
00:42 He played really good this season, many players played really good this season and the writers decided for this award.
00:48 So what can I say, congratulations.
00:50 I mean, how do you think Phil has done this year?
00:55 They are really good, so many times. So the impact in the final third is really good work I think.
01:01 Yeah, every year due to the amount of games he's playing, the minutes he's playing, he's more mature and he understands the game.
01:11 But yeah, we have to continue, he's still young.
01:16 Earlier in his career when he was younger, when you were kind of new here,
01:22 there were a lot of people who questioned the way that you treated him and whether he got enough chances.
01:28 And you always said, "If he sticks with me, he'll be fine, we know what we're doing."
01:34 Is that sometimes difficult when you know how to develop football players,
01:39 but people from the outside are saying you're not doing it correctly?
01:43 Is that difficult to deal with?
01:45 The first part of the question, criticism, was 78 years old.
01:50 David Silva was here, Kevin De Bruyne was here, Gundogan was here.
01:54 So he's playing in a team I won a lot of Premier Leagues and final stages in all competitions,
02:00 so it's not easy to play, so demanding that.
02:03 But I don't know, people, again, thank you so much to give me incredible credit, but it's not about that.
02:10 So the football's developed for the amount of minutes they play and learn during the game
02:14 what happened with his mates, opponents and so on.
02:17 The work ethic mentality, we can as a manager suggest something, it depends on the opponents,
02:23 but it belongs to them.
02:26 I looked at the case from Paul Palmer, what did I develop?
02:31 I didn't give the minutes.
02:33 If I gave the minutes, maybe he should be here, maybe not, and the talent was there, it's there.
02:38 So in the end it depends absolutely on the players and what they do, what they learn every single game.
02:45 Hi Pep, just on Phil, how much more improvement is there for him to do?
02:52 He's had a brilliant season, how much further could he go?
02:56 Always you can improve, until you retire, until you die, always you improve.
03:00 He was ill, or missed the game last week, and also DS missed the game, are they both OK?
03:07 And for Ederson as well, is there any news how long he'll be out?
03:11 Looks worse than he feels good, yesterday we trained, he feels good.
03:15 So he could be back this weekend?
03:17 Yeah.
03:18 Obviously you've got four games in the title race left, Arsenal haven't won it for 20 years,
03:24 you seem to win it pretty much every year in the last decade,
03:27 so does that experience and know-how give you an advantage in a race like that?
03:33 I would love, but I don't know, I don't have an answer to this question.
03:37 I would love to think yes, but we have to prove it tomorrow against Wolves, and the next games.
03:42 We know that we have to win, we have to do all 12 points,
03:48 otherwise it will be difficult because Arsenal are so strong, so consistent,
03:54 it's difficult going to drop points.
03:57 What I said depends on us, so it's simple, one game, one more week,
04:02 and after the last week of the season, before the FA Cup final, three games in a week,
04:07 once at a time, to win the games.
04:09 It's not more complicated than that.
04:11 I would like to say, yeah, like we have done in the past, it's going to happen this season.
04:15 Nobody knows it.
04:17 Hi Pep, sorry to bring you back to Phil Foden again, but what do you want to see from him next?
04:24 How does he take the next step in your eyes?
04:27 Depends on him.
04:29 It's simple as that, I promise you. It depends on him.
04:33 Mentality, I want to do it again, I want to do it again, I want to be better in this department,
04:38 I will live 24 hours for my game, for my profession.
04:42 It depends on him, like all the players.
04:45 He has this tag, rightly so, of the academy graduate at Manchester City,
04:50 but is it time we move past that, or is that something to be proud of?
04:54 About, sorry?
04:57 He carries the academy graduate tag, he's really one of the first players to break into your side here,
05:03 he's the model boy for anyone in the academy.
05:06 No, of course for the academy players, see the players that were in the academy,
05:12 and make a huge impact with the team is the target.
05:16 But look how many players came from the academy.
05:19 How many is playing here, but how many is all around the world?
05:23 In other leagues, here in England, how many players?
05:27 Look, Morgan now in Aston Villa, who was here, and many, many players.
05:31 So the job this academy has done in the last five, six, seven years is unbelievable.
05:37 Because we are so proud of them.
05:39 Not all the players in the academy can play in the first team, it's a question of space.
05:43 It cannot, but they help them to be better players, human beings, and look what happened.
05:49 All of them are professionals, their long careers will be.
05:52 So it's so nice, it's really, really good.
05:55 And finally, just a word on Wolves and the work that Gary O'Neill has done this season.
05:59 I think some Wolves fans were certainly fearing the worst in relegation,
06:02 but actually they've got themselves securely in mid-table.
06:04 Really good.
06:06 Hi, Pep. How was it to have a full week of training sessions?
06:13 Good. Days off and three really good training sessions, as always.
06:19 The team always trains well.
06:21 Can you do more stuff when you have more time and work tactically instead of just recovering?
06:26 More fresh in mind, the tactics, the little details.
06:30 But at this stage, there's not much to talk about tactics.
06:35 It's about fresh legs, mind and ready for the game for tomorrow.
06:41 A bit more general question.
06:44 Do you have time to think of new ideas, new tactical ideas?
06:48 How do you think of them? Do you take inspiration from others or your staff?
06:52 Right now, no. Right now, no.
06:55 Right now it's the rest of myself and prepare Wolves, Wolves, and after Fulham, Fulham.
07:00 No more than that.
07:02 Hi, Pep. After Aston Villa lost in the first leg of their European tie last night,
07:10 it looks as though we won't have any English teams in the last four in the final of the major competitions.
07:17 Jürgen Klopp said today that he thinks that's down to the schedule in this country,
07:22 that it's much more difficult for teams here to be successful in Europe.
07:26 I know you've spoken about the schedule before, but is there a direct correlation in your mind too
07:30 in terms of not having English representatives in the major finals of European competitions?
07:35 It's one of the reasons. I don't know if it's the main reason, but I completely agree with Jürgen.
07:40 It's one of the reasons.
07:43 Does more have to be done in this country to change that, to allow you to have…
07:47 It's not going to change. Don't insist with that.
07:49 It's not going to change.
07:53 Maybe next season we have three or four English teams in the final stages.
07:57 But for a long, long time, it's more difficult.
08:01 Just asking about Erling as well. Obviously, he started on the bench at the weekend, came on,
08:08 looked a bit more like at his best form. He was aggressive, he stretched the defence.
08:13 Is he fit to start again this weekend?
08:16 When you saw him come on, did you see a bit of the fire back in him that we haven't seen maybe in the last few weeks?
08:22 No. When everybody's fit, everybody has to be ready.
08:27 I don't know exactly what they're going to do tomorrow.
08:29 Of course I know, I have a little doubt for one or two players in the line-up,
08:35 but the rest, the game plan and what I want to do, I had time to think about it
08:40 and see the last games from Wolves.
08:45 Yeah, he's ready.
08:47 Yeah.
08:47 - Thank you. - Thank you.
08:49 and bag of tanzes this...