Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola on contract extension, injuries and Spurs
22/11/2024
CFGA, Manchester, Uk
22/11/2024
CFGA, Manchester, Uk
Category
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SportsTranscript
00:00Good afternoon everyone, hope you're well, same process as ever with mics on either side
00:10of the room.
00:11We'll set an embargo part way through for 10.30pm, somewhere to start, Simon?
00:19Hi Pep, congratulations on your new contract, you said last night that you decided to stay
00:27because of these four defeats and you wanted to make sure the club was okay.
00:34Is it really just about the last couple of weeks or is there more to it than that?
00:38No chance of that.
00:43I said yesterday I felt I should stay here of course because they want me, for the obvious
00:51reason, for the results.
00:53Of course we've known each other for a long time but all my decisions in my life have
01:00been like that.
01:01What I feel at the moment, when I don't feel convinced, I wait and sometimes it can
01:10ignite something in yourself that says that is the moment to stay here and that was the
01:14reason why.
01:17In just two hours we did it.
01:20Why two years and not one?
01:24For the weather?
01:25It's a good question, mainly I don't want a next season in September, October, November,
01:34it's the last year of Pep, how to extend again, again, again.
01:38That was the main reason so I don't want to be in that position because at the end the
01:43contract is there, I would like to stay two more years but I know the results are not
01:47good, I will not be two years.
01:49It's like the same with the players.
01:51So we have an incredible, incredible, legendary players here in the team but we have to perform.
01:57If we don't perform, our owner, chairman, our fans will tell what's going on and we
02:04have to change.
02:05So everyone is under pressure, me first.
02:08So I have the contract but maybe in a month I'm not here when the situation is not going
02:14well.
02:15Maybe I'm a little bit arrogant, I said yesterday, we deserve to continue what we have done in
02:20the last years.
02:21I think we deserve to extend the contract.
02:23I'm not naive enough to stay for a stay, I'm not for a marvellous position in life, we
02:30are here that I'm going to stay because I have a contract or because of what they have
02:34done in the past.
02:35So I deserve to extend the contract but at the same time we have to do it again, we have
02:40to be up there and if not, of course, the club have to find a solution.
02:47We already knew you were going to be here when the decision over the 115 charges is
02:53made but now we know you'll be here to deal with any fallout, if there is any fallout
03:00from that.
03:01That feels like a big commitment or a real kind of show of faith in the people running
03:07the football club by you.
03:10I said that six months ago.
03:16You have my interviews here, I said the same, not because now I extend the contract and
03:20pretend to be, oh how nice is Pep.
03:22I said six months ago, one year ago, when everything, when all the clubs accused us
03:26to have done something wrong.
03:28So what happened, you got relegated, I will be here.
03:32Next year we'll come up to the, I don't know, the position of the conference they're going
03:35to bring us.
03:36We're going to come up and come up, we're going to come back to the Premier League.
03:40I knew it then and I feel it now.
03:45Hi Pep, obviously the players coming back from international duty, of all of those who
03:49came back from their national teams returned fit?
03:52No.
03:53Who are you expecting to be missing?
03:56Kovacic is injured.
03:59And are any of the players who were injured before the break, are you expecting any of
04:03those to return tomorrow?
04:06Some of them, yeah.
04:07Jonan trained good yesterday, Manon trained good yesterday, whereas Nathan is coming back
04:14training.
04:15So we didn't have central defenders, now we have three.
04:18Just Ruben is out, but hopefully he's coming back soon.
04:22And yeah, these 10 days some players recover a little bit.
04:25I don't know if they're ready to play 90 minutes or play for the beginning, but to
04:30see the training session and see their faces is a really, really good boost for all of us.
04:34Do you know the extent of Kovacic's injury yet?
04:37Sorry?
04:38Do you know the extent of Kovacic's injury?
04:41It will be a while, three weeks, one month.
04:47More or less.
04:48Max Delaney as well will be injured to go to the national team for the 20 and the 21
04:55for the national team, because they push your limits and come back injured.
05:02So they should be more in contact with the doctors, with the doctors, with the national
05:06teams.
05:07No specific ones with the doctors for here, because one player go to the national team
05:13not in the perfect conditions, and training with under 21 in the morning, and after in
05:20the afternoon with under 20.
05:23And after three, two games when he was not fully fit, it's normal now he's injured.
05:28We are going to lose him for three weeks, one month again.
05:31So this is what it is.
05:38You referred to the four defeats earlier.
05:40How much has that weighed on your mind this past fortnight?
05:45Four defeats.
05:46Listen, when you are nine years here, I think eight years away and a manager with a long,
05:51long time in one club, you leave all the scenarios, all the situations.
05:56You are able to lose four games in a row.
05:59At the same time, you are able to win four Premier Leagues in a row.
06:03But the difference is sometimes most of the teams are able to lose four games in a row
06:07in different competitions, but just one team won four Premier Leagues in a row.
06:11So it's happened.
06:12When it happened one season, no, but when you are eight, nine years, both sides of the
06:17coin can happen.
06:21It's a run that started with a defeat against Tottenham and you are playing them again this
06:25weekend, a different competition.
06:26What are you expecting?
06:28A tough game.
06:29Always have been with Ancelotti.
06:30But of course we have to break.
06:34You have to break the situation to start to win games.
06:39We know it.
06:41Tomorrow with Rodri is coming back.
06:44Since Valladolid, we could not see him and congratulate him.
06:48We are coming back at home and Etihad from a long time ago.
06:52Hopefully we can perform well and start to take our rhythm.
06:58How good has it been for Rodri to be coming back?
07:01I believe he is here today and then he will be at the game tomorrow.
07:04Has he spoken to his supporters?
07:06Of course it's nice to see him back.
07:09But it's normal to make the surgery in Madrid.
07:11It's normal to stay with the family.
07:13The first steps.
07:14I think in January we will come back here to make the recovery.
07:17But I think what I hear for the doctor is going really, really well.
07:22His mood is good.
07:23It's nice.
07:25It's unique in our club.
07:26One player has played here.
07:29Get this amazing, amazing award and share it with our people.
07:33It's so nice.
07:34I'm looking forward to seeing him.
07:36You'll obviously be at home again tomorrow.
07:38How much have the fans played a part in your decision to stay?
07:41I'm thinking back to when they unfurled that banner in Catalan asking you to stay.
07:46It's not only the reason why.
07:47I appreciate it a lot.
07:48I said to them, thank you so much.
07:51I feel love, not for the fact.
07:53Listen, I wouldn't not be here.
07:56Everybody knows that.
07:58I'm in long service here because we won.
08:01We won.
08:02I didn't win.
08:03We won a lot.
08:04You know what I said.
08:05We lost four games in a row this season.
08:10But we won four Premier Leagues.
08:11We won it all together.
08:12In these times, this kind of thing always happens.
08:14There are momentum.
08:18I'm here because we won.
08:19We're like Pep because we won a lot.
08:24And we start to lose bad, bad, bad.
08:26People say, what is the reason why I stay here so many times?
08:29You have to change.
08:30That is normal.
08:31It happens everywhere.
08:32Managers win everything.
08:33Next season will start really well.
08:35And people start to say, you have to sack him.
08:37It's not the same.
08:38Whatever.
08:39It's normal.
08:40But apart from that, since day one, I feel incredible love and respect.
08:44And they gave me to do our job all together with all my assistant managers
08:49or coaches that I had in this period here.
08:51So it's normal.
08:52If I would not feel that feeling, of course I would not be here.
08:55I never, never said for many, many years.
08:57I never will be a problem for that club.
08:59I will be the first when I feel it's not right because I lose the team
09:03or I'm tired for the situations.
09:05Or we expect the next two years will be amazing.
09:07And after I said, oh, it's not right.
09:09It's not right.
09:10It's not right.
09:11The next two years will be amazing.
09:13And after I said, oh, it's not going well, I will call to my boss
09:17to say maybe we have to think another thing.
09:20I think always it's the way, the best way to live in the positions.
09:23When you have the freedom to decide your future, most of the times
09:27maybe you cannot.
09:28I'm lucky because I can decide my future staying or staying.
09:31I'm not staying just for one contract for the paper.
09:33If I feel it's not good, we are going to do it.
09:36At the same time, when I said to Simon, if I decide to do it
09:40because I feel, now is not the moment to leave.
09:42It's simple.
09:43I said, why are you staying?
09:44It's not the moment to leave.
09:45Except they don't want me.
09:46If they want me, I have to leave.
09:48But they showed me for many times, Pep, I want you to continue,
09:52you have to do it the next time.
09:54And I felt, yeah, I have to stay.
09:57It's not more difficult than that.
09:59You spoke a little bit about this yesterday, about the evolution
10:04of the squad and players potentially coming in and going.
10:06It feels like there's going to have to be some big decisions
10:09made on some big players during the duration of this next contract.
10:12It depends on the performance.
10:16How much?
10:17These players, I'm sorry, these type of years, my staff,
10:22I said we will be legendary.
10:28Now you have perspective, you lose four games in a row,
10:31that's what happens.
10:33That makes a perspective.
10:34What does it mean six Premier Leagues won?
10:36These guys have done it.
10:38So for me, it would be ten years here.
10:41I would love these players that we have here,
10:44and some of them they left, I would love to stay ten years here.
10:48But I would love to have been a company here.
10:50Or David Silva, you know?
10:52Or players that have done Pablo, or I don't know.
10:56But time runs.
10:58For me, as a manager, for the players, and it depends on the performance,
11:02the club will act.
11:03You perform well, you are young, no injuries, stay there, let's go.
11:07One more year, or two more years, it doesn't matter,
11:09until your energy is there.
11:13We have 12 players, more than 30 years.
11:16So with a lot to say, they have to see how it's going on in the next...
11:20And I want to see it for myself first.
11:24And after we're going to decide what is the best for the next time.