Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola on the fitness of Erling Haaland, the challenge of facing Liverpool on Sunday and recent form
Etihad Training Campus, Manchester, UK
Etihad Training Campus, Manchester, UK
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00:00Good afternoon, guys, hope you're well, same process as ever,
00:02just please be mindful that it's obviously a busier open section
00:04with it being a Sunday game,
00:05there's an embargo towards the end for 10.30 on Saturday evening.
00:08We'll start with Ian, please.
00:11Hello, Pep. Can I ask you an update on the fitness of Erling Haaland for this game?
00:15Don't know yet. Tomorrow we'll know it, I don't know yet.
00:19Hopeful?
00:20Yeah, maybe, but I don't know yet.
00:22We didn't train today and until tomorrow he will test, I guess, but I don't know.
00:29How do you think your team is set up to be able to cope without Erling now?
00:33Obviously Omar Mahmoud has made a good impact since he came in,
00:36do you feel more confident that Sy can cope without a player like Erling now
00:40than maybe a few weeks ago?
00:42It's better to have Erling on the pitch than we don't have it, obviously.
00:46But with Erling we are in the position that we are right now.
00:50Everybody is responsible for the good things and the bad things for the team.
00:54But of course with Erling we are stronger.
00:56Jon Stones, do you know about him, whether he will be available or not?
01:00He's injured, a difficult one.
01:02Next hour, days, we'll know if he needs surgery or not.
01:07So it's a longer period for Jon then, potentially?
01:09Yeah, like Marok and G.
01:11Just finally, obviously this Liverpool team have been brilliant so far this season,
01:16they're well clear at the top, what do you see as the key strengths of this side
01:20maybe compared to past Liverpool teams that you've played?
01:23They have a level of consistency quite similar to Jurgen,
01:26so they deserve to be up there,
01:31close to Arsenal fighting for the title,
01:34so a big compliment.
01:37A top team in many aspects,
01:40otherwise they cannot have just lost one game in the Premier League.
01:45That's why it's a good test for us.
01:48Are they, because Liverpool have been praised for having a bit more control in their games,
01:54are they stronger this year than they were under clock?
01:58I'm not going to answer that question.
02:00Much respect for Jurgen and Erling, I know you want to go,
02:04but I will not play that game.
02:06What do you want to see on Sunday from your team?
02:11It seems this season they're so up and so down,
02:16one game can be great, one game can be a bit like Real Madrid on Wednesday,
02:20so what's important to see from you on Sunday?
02:23I think we're in a not-bad moment,
02:27if you see a part of Madrid, it's a better team right now,
02:34so I had the feeling that not just Madrid,
02:40so many, many years in the Champions League we can compete with any team,
02:45going through or going out of the competition we were always there,
02:52I think everybody knows that the previous seasons against that team, exceptional team,
02:56we were able, they feel it, we feel it, that we were there in many aspects better than them,
03:02but this season we're not, it's happened, it's the reality,
03:05maybe we couldn't go through, but sooner or later with the situation,
03:10look now with the two central defenders again out for two or three months,
03:15we could not go further in many competitions,
03:18and the priority of the Premier League is massively important for us,
03:23and we want to see, but in terms of that, apart from that,
03:25in the Premier League we did good games,
03:27even we lost 5-1 against Arsenal,
03:30I would say we played a really good 60 minutes,
03:33except the first five where we conceded a goal and gave away another chance,
03:37the rest was good, but we are not as stable,
03:39but in other games, like for example Newcastle, we have been at a high level,
03:45so it's rigged because every game is different, the opponent is different,
03:48the strength of the opponent is different,
03:51and try to take a good game and the points that we need to stay up there,
03:58to qualify for next season, where we were the last Wednesday.
04:02Finally from me, Neil Warnock's downstairs,
04:04I think you're going to speak to him afterwards,
04:06are you lining him up for the day that you do go?
04:09It will be a pleasure to see him again.
04:12I think I said it many times,
04:15Neil, Sam Allardyce, Mr Regna,
04:24have been a legend in this country,
04:27this English football is the better place, for sure,
04:32and sometimes now, for the modern football,
04:40this type of English manager for a long time is not true,
04:45so I admire them a lot for the contribution they have done in football,
04:52from different perspectives, in different ways,
04:55and of course I would like to, hopefully he doesn't shut me.
05:01Pep, do you see this game as a positive,
05:04following the European exit in midweek,
05:07or is it even tougher on the back of that?
05:09Is it good to have a big side coming to the Etihad on Sunday?
05:12The schedule is the schedule,
05:14so I never complain about that,
05:17sometimes you have different ones,
05:20of course after this game today and Wednesday against Spurs,
05:25the time between game and game will be six or seven days between them,
05:33so we have to prepare to recover players
05:36and see if we can do the last part of the two or three months,
05:40the end of the season, so we have to give our best.
05:44Do you see it as being a more open game of football,
05:47given Liverpool's style of play,
05:49and the fact that they are conceding goals of late,
05:52they've conceded six in their last eight Premier League games,
05:56they've conceded in six games of their last eight.
06:00I don't know, a question for Arjen.
06:02For me it's an exceptional team,
06:05I've done it many times, they've been the biggest rival in my tenure here,
06:11so of course Arsenal right now in the last years have been involved as well,
06:16and I couldn't expect differently that Liverpool,
06:20that Liverpool would be in a position that they are.
06:25Hi Pep, Kevin was on the bench in Madrid and didn't come off,
06:29was there any injury associated with that?
06:31No.
06:32So why did you feel that he was not ready for that?
06:34Decisions, my decisions.
06:36Do you think he is at a stage of his career where he can still play in these big games?
06:42Yeah, of course, he plays in Madrid at home, of course he can play.
06:51Have you spoken to Kevin about that,
06:56because he obviously didn't start at Arsenal I think as well,
06:59it must be an unusual situation for him to be in.
07:04Yeah, it's my decision, normally I don't speak, not for Kevin,
07:07the relation with Kevin is exceptional,
07:09so I cannot be thanking enough what he's done to me, to the team,
07:16it's just a decision, normally I don't speak with the players,
07:19not just with Kevin, anyone, why he didn't play,
07:22they don't ask me the reason why when I decide to let them play in the beginning or during the game,
07:26it's just a decision, for what I've seen, for many reasons, or a few reasons.
07:32It's never, ever personal, never, ever I'm upset, also Jeremy didn't play,
07:38and the last game he played I think was in Ipswich Town,
07:41it was unbelievable, the game, after 17 minutes he was injured.
07:45But maybe for the demanding, for the way now we need to play,
07:50because for the absence of strength that we have,
07:53and physicality, many things, we need to gain more control,
07:57or more not up and down, don't tell me why.
08:00So it's not personal, I decide the decisions and that's all, so no more than that.
08:06Can I just ask what the injury is for John Stones?
08:10Is it a recurrence?
08:10It's here in front, quadriceps, yeah.
08:17You do this to me all the time.
08:18Here.
08:19Here, quad, at the front.
08:23What an assistant I have, eh?
08:25LAUGHTER
08:26I'm not, I'm not a doctor.
08:27LAUGHTER
08:29Next year a doctor will sit here, for the amount of injuries that we have,
08:32we'll have a doctor here to clarify exactly what they have.
08:35LAUGHTER
08:36Is that thigh?
08:38Yeah, here in front, yeah.
08:41When you're looking towards the future,
08:44there's obviously been quite a few players that have picked up a lot of injuries,
08:49how, presumably you just can't keep going with these players?
08:54That is the reality.
08:56We have to sit down with the doctors, with physios, with the players, with the agents,
09:00and be clear that some of them cannot sustain every three days,
09:04every month or two months, playing every three, four days.
09:08So this is the reality.
09:10So there's one more year, then a World Cup.
09:14So we have already a lot of players that cannot sustain,
09:19that we have in the past.
09:22You know, every week in, week out,
09:25and playing in a dozen different competitions, travels,
09:30without the problems.
09:32So this is the most, you tell me where my concern is,
09:36it's just that the quality is there.
09:39I know about the quality when it can abuse,
09:41because injuries for a long time, and recover,
09:44and you have to be in the demanding openings
09:48that today the modern football decides,
09:50because a bad season...
09:53Listen, we deserve to have a bad season, so it can happen.
09:57So always we compete in the Champions League until the last stages,
10:01during eight years in group stages,
10:02always we first finish first, except one year,
10:05and arrive in the quarter-finals, semi-finals,
10:08most of the times, and this isn't even qualifying, I would say,
10:13in these stages, because it can happen.
10:16So there's no good, but it can happen.
10:20But the reality is that for the future,
10:24if you want to be there again,
10:25you have to be players fit and available,
10:29and it can happen sometimes,
10:31but already it's many, many times happened.
10:35Today it's so demanding, the teams are quicker and faster,
10:41stronger and many things, and we cannot handle it right now.
10:44So this is the reality.
10:47Sorry.
10:48I was just going to ask about Marmouche Pep,
10:52he's going up against Salah on Sunday,
10:54do you see any similarities?
10:56They obviously play together for Egypt,
10:58do you see any similarities between them as players, Marmouche and Salah?
11:03Already, I think Salah has done for many, many years
11:08in the toughest league in the world,
11:10and now Omar is coming here to prove himself.
11:16I think Omar has done unbelievably in Germany,
11:20and we will see.
11:22His future, his performance will dictate the level he has.
11:28Pleased with what you've seen from him so far, presumably?
11:31Absolutely.
11:35Pep, obviously on Wednesday it was a big defeat in a competition
11:39that you all value very highly,
11:42I suppose it must drain a lot of mental and physical strength from the players,
11:47how do you lift them after such a night like that?
11:51We have been here.
11:54The defeat, I would say, we had defeats in the previous three seasons in Madrid,
11:59but the body was a little bit more painful than this time.
12:05In previous seasons, when we make a game for something you cannot control,
12:13not just against Madrid, it's a little bit, oh, it's a pity.
12:17But this time they were better, I think many times,
12:22and the best way to get better is to accept it.
12:26That is the standard, that right now we were there in the past,
12:30not just against Madrid in the last three years,
12:33in all the teams we could face them and they felt it,
12:39and sometimes luck and lucky make the final decisions,
12:44but this time, no.
12:46And as much as a club, we accept that that is the level,
12:51except now for John, for Manu, for managers,
12:54for players that at a certain age they have right now,
12:58we cannot...
13:00We had the feeling that maybe we went through,
13:02in the next round we will struggle the same we struggle right now.
13:06Atletico Madrid should have been or another,
13:09in the quarter-finals, semi-finals,
13:11because we are not the deepest squad, we are not the fullest squad,
13:14and all the season we struggled, so that's why I accept it.
13:19I think the best way to be a better professional,
13:23a better team, a better player, a better manager,
13:25is to accept always the reality.
13:27When you hide yourself just to be nice here in the MS Conference,
13:30to win some balls in elections in the pool,
13:33so it doesn't work.
13:37And I know what was our standard, right?
13:40Everybody knows how the level we played.
13:42I know how close we were in the elite and the top clubs in the world,
13:46how close we were.
13:48And we are not well at the night.
13:50I would say we were good,
13:52when we have been in the last three seasons, I guess,
13:54Madrid, the way we played, no.
13:56It can, of course, have happened in all the clubs,
13:58in all the teams around the world,
14:00and sometimes there are seasons that they are not like we were expecting.
14:05Start, you know, for Inter de Milan,
14:07we have in the last five minutes in the first game,
14:10Gundo in front of the keeper for nothing within the score.
14:13And that started to be, because so far in that moment,
14:15we were at the top of the league,
14:17and three days later, ACL for Rodri injured after seven, eight minutes,
14:21so it started getting worse and worse.
14:23I remember last week, I said to the guys,
14:27we have all the central defenders back.
14:29The game against, I think, Madrid?
14:31Yeah, before Madrid or something like that.
14:33All central defenders back.
14:34Guys, now you will see.
14:36One week later, two central defenders, four months out.
14:41Two and two, or three and three, you know?
14:44So all the seasons have been like that, and sometimes...
14:47But in the same time, we know and everybody knows,
14:51there is not a year like a massive thousand or million teams
14:56have a surgery in the muscles.
14:59You know, you have a hamstring,
15:01but you cannot imagine how many, many teams have surgery in the muscles.
15:06So something is going on, not just with us.
15:08Look at Spurs, look at Arsenal, look how many teams it happened.
15:14And for many, many years we are talking about that,
15:17but of course we are not going to suggest.
15:19With Jürgen, I think, leading that subject,
15:23I was there, standing by to say,
15:25it's a lot of games.
15:27More than 50 games is too much for the players.
15:30It's too much for the human being, for the body,
15:33it cannot sustain a medical issue.
15:35And we arrived at 65, 70.
15:37And at the end, look what happened.
15:38It's not just Man City, it's all the clubs.
15:40Look at Madrid. Madrid had a lot of problems in the injuries as well.
15:43In the future, we'll be getting worse and worse.
15:45And that's why when Jack asked me about it, of course I'm concerned.
15:49So by next season, everybody will be fit.
15:52Of course, the problems that always you have, but not...
15:55I don't know what's going to happen.
15:57I don't know what's going to happen in the future.