Pep Guardiola on Manchester City's 5th consecutive loss of the season
Eithad Stadium, Manchester, UK.
23/11/24
Eithad Stadium, Manchester, UK.
23/11/24
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00:00Pep, five defeats in a row as I'm sure you know. One, can you explain it? Two, have you
00:06got any answers how you pull your team out of this slump?
00:11Well when you lose, good evening, good night, good evening, when you lose 0-4 there's nothing
00:15to say, it's a congratulator to Tottenham. We struggled a little bit to get back the
00:28balls in these uncertain balls, we were not able to win it, to give an extra action afterwards.
00:33But I think in terms of balls we were quite decent, we created a lot, I would say with
00:38Tottenham it's no use much and we created chances a lot in front of the keeper. We are
00:42a little bit fragile right now, that is obvious for the fact that we struggled today to score
00:48goals and after when they arrived they scored and after we are playing a little bit in our
00:54thoughts with a little bit of negativity but it's normal. So football is a sense of
00:58mood and when you win a lot and discontinuity doesn't give us the self-aware that you can
01:05do it and when you lose three games in a row in the Premier League that situation is always
01:09a little bit there. But many things are going to happen, we have to break the results as
01:14much as possible because the victories help us a lot to be more positive and more confident
01:19and we have to do it. But at the same time, after eight years here I knew in the last
01:26one or two or three years that sooner or later we will drop. Of course never expect to win,
01:31to lose three Premier Leagues in a row but in those times always we expected to drop
01:36it but we are incredibly consistent again and again and again and now we cannot deny
01:40that the reality that sometimes in football, sometimes in life is here. So we are not used
01:45to lose so many games in a row, that's happened, that doesn't mean it's going to change. We
01:49have to do everything to change and especially in the next one. But yeah, the exceptionality
01:55while living eight years is not eternal. So sometimes it happens, sometimes you drop a
01:59little bit, it's happened right now but in terms of way we played really good in the
02:03first minutes and after the first chance they had for 30 minutes we conceded a goal and
02:08the chances were there, were there, were there. But after, you know, when they arrived we
02:12conceded. Of course the transition from a sport, the physicality is really strong, we
02:17know it, that's why we thought to bring a game for the physical condition that we have
02:21for many players, for a lot of midfield players, long control, a lot of control. We cannot
02:26make up and downs because they are stronger than us. We want to control the game. At the
02:30end I would say it's what we have done many, many years here. It's my way that I like the
02:35way to play but now we have the period, we cannot run away, we have to face it and try
02:40to break the next game.
02:42Pep, I'm surprised you used the word fragile because you couldn't have achieved what you've
02:48achieved if the players did not have a lot of resilience. Why are they fragile?
02:54No, the fragile is the fact that they have little, little, little situations that we
02:59are not strong enough due to the injuries that we had. That is the reason why. So John
03:06feels good but 45 minutes has to leave and I give credit to Tottenham. We were a team
03:11that always consisted, we conceded a few chances and now lately we conceded more than usual
03:16and our game was a lot, a lot under control because it's not a team created to make a
03:20box-to-box 40 times in a game. We are not based for that, we are not good at that. But
03:26always we are a team that concedes a few and sometimes we lose games but I said we conceded
03:31one or two times but now we concede more and it's for many reasons. I would like to tell
03:35you it's just one reason. There are many, few details for all the season that it happened
03:39and we have to fix it. With the time the players will come back better, better, better and
03:43we will do it.
03:44Pep, you say you didn't expect this to go on forever. Do you think this current group
03:50of players has what it takes to reach those heights again, to be champions again, to be
03:55champions this season?
03:57I would say when you lose three Premier Leagues in a row the most, I would say, wrong thing
04:03to say is we are going to be champions. I know that guys, I know they will be back.
04:08If you expect for that situation what they have done to all of us, me first and the other
04:13one, I'm going to doubt about them because there is something wrong about me. So I'm
04:18there, more than I'm sorry. Maybe I will not be used to do it, maybe I will not be good
04:23enough to get back in that situation and after we will see. But I've been a football player
04:31for my career now there, so of course it's exceptional what we have done in the past.
04:36But to lose three Premier Leagues in a row with the situations that happen with the team
04:42can happen. It happened to me as a football player in Barcelona. I think I lost three
04:46Premier Leagues, three games in La Liga, so it's happened. Now everything is a little
04:52bit against because when you feel confident and the other one and the results are good
04:56it happened. But now it's the opposite and that's why you have to break it quick and
05:02accept it. The best way to go through in that position is to accept the reality. So we were
05:08never able to lose so many games in a row and now it happened because something had
05:13to fix it. It's not to say now it's you, it's you, it's you, it's me, that, the other one
05:17or maybe the weather or maybe the grass. It's not about that. At the same time when I said
05:23how difficult it is to have done, now you realise how difficult it was. But the reality
05:27is here, we have to do it. Guys, we have to break, start to win games. I don't know when,
05:32tomorrow at one because people say, no, no, you cannot be worse. Yeah, you can be worse.
05:36You cannot get worse. Yeah, it can happen. I don't know. But at the same time when you
05:40said to me, no, when you win 10 or 11 or 12 or 13 games in a row to win and you're going
05:45to win before the game, I don't know. So that's why I don't know what happened. So now it's
05:48relax, recover, not relax because of course always when you lose games it's worse. But
05:54on Tuesday you have to be here again. So, and hopefully we are going to change the dynamic.
06:00Hi Pep, how would you describe the players' mood after this defeat? I mean, they're such
06:04brilliant players. Are they confused? Are they angry, sort of, in a positive way?
06:09For the way they play, they're angry but sometimes the opponent is good, sometimes we are not
06:12good enough in some departments, sometimes it happens. So, I think I was, in our success,
06:21I was so, so clever enough to say that what we do or what the players do, it's always
06:25A, B, C, it's going to happen. I know from my experience, Jürgen, sometimes it happens.
06:30Oh, why were we able to win a lot of games, a lot of Premier Leagues? So when the other
06:34ones are good too, what would happen? And sometimes you have a bad moment. So, and I
06:39would say the mistake is we think too much, which is an analysis, all the managers try
06:44to analyse what happened. That would be a mistake. And the other mistake, if in eight
06:48years going in that way, change a lot, will be a huge mistake. Because it works, because
06:54we didn't change much, I would say, not clever enough, after winning four in a row, the Premier
06:58Leagues and the Champions League and being there all the time then, now I'm going to
07:01change because I want to change for one or two defeats. You have to go to the simple
07:05things, to all our partners that we know, that I think we believe completely and, yeah,
07:12step by step the players will be back and try to come back to winning games. And at
07:19the end it's not happened. OK, it's not happened, but what can we do? But the only thing is
07:25we have to be, you know, it's more than ever when the situation is wrong, now we have to
07:29be and hopefully, hopefully, hopefully, because I'm hugely optimistic in my life, hopefully
07:39they can follow me.
07:40Pep were you to lose at Anfield next weekend, that could be an 11 point gap to Liverpool,
07:47would that be too much?
07:48Yeah, in the terms of Liverpool winning, winning, winning, it's true, yeah.
07:53So that would be the title gone already?
07:56I don't know, but as I said before, it's not thinking about you're going to win or going
08:00to lose, you have to think to win the next game. I think maybe the expectations are so
08:05high but we are not ready in that situation to think what is going to happen at the end
08:09of the season. At the end if we don't win it's because we don't deserve it and we won
08:14it in the past because we deserve it. So what we have to do is, now is Feyenoord, that is
08:20the most important thing. First for the qualification for the Champions League and step by step
08:26the players will be better.