Man City v Tottenham: Pep Guardiola pre-match press conference
Pep Guardiola addressed the media ahead of Sunday's Premier League game against Tottenham Hotspur.
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00:00 Good evening, guys, hope you're well, same process as ever,
00:02 with mics on either side.
00:04 Just be mindful it's a Sunday embargo,
00:05 so you've got a bit more to fit into the open section
00:08 when you hold onto the mic.
00:09 We'll set that embargo for 10.30 on Saturday evening.
00:12 Yeah.
00:13 Start with Nes, please.
00:15 Good afternoon, Pep, hope you're OK.
00:17 Another weekend, another big game.
00:19 It is Tottenham, what have you made of what Ange Postacoglu has done
00:24 and his positive approach, and what are the threats they bring tomorrow?
00:27 He's a star, he's already there.
00:34 So in a short time, period of short time,
00:37 even the games that didn't win lately,
00:42 I'm impressed how good, many, many things they do,
00:45 and how many chances they create,
00:48 and how aggressive in all departments.
00:50 So he came here and nothing in a few months.
00:54 You recognise perfectly his team.
00:57 Are you surprised by his positive approach
01:00 and how he's adapted so quickly to the Premier League?
01:04 Every manager, or every team, plays for the desire of the manager.
01:10 And he has done in the past, I think in Japan,
01:13 and of course in Glasgow with Celtic, and now.
01:20 So I think he makes football a better place for persons like Ange,
01:26 because his team is...
01:28 I'm a manager, I've said many times, but at the same time I'm a spectator.
01:33 And I enjoy a lot watching them today, the approach they have,
01:36 and I think all the Spurs fans and the people in England
01:40 can admit that the impact has been quick and really, really good.
01:44 Just finally from me, in terms of, in the past,
01:47 people talked about a top four, a top six,
01:50 but with teams like Tottenham, Brighton, Aston Villa, Newcastle all progressing,
01:54 is it a case now that we've got a top eight or a top ten?
01:57 And how hard does that make winning the Premier League each year as that happens?
02:03 It's a more difficult competition to win.
02:07 And every season, I've said as well many times, every season is getting better.
02:11 So more teams involved in every single game is so difficult.
02:16 And I would say it's arrived when Pochettino was in Tottenham,
02:21 always Spurs have been there, up there, all the time.
02:25 So it's a fantastic team.
02:29 So, of course, they had an important absence,
02:33 but apart from that, I saw the first 50, 20 minutes against Aston Villa,
02:38 and they created an amount of chances, especially the way and the approach.
02:42 So it's really good for football, definitely.
02:47 Hi Pep, you're talking there about Tottenham's injuries,
02:51 they're suffering at the moment in the Aston Villa game.
02:53 Do you expect Ange-Pasta Koklu to come here on Sunday and attack,
02:57 and play that attacking style, or do you think he'll change for,
03:00 obviously, a huge game against yourselves?
03:02 To ask him if he's going to change, if he'll play against us?
03:05 Absolutely not.
03:07 This is not going to happen. We'll be surprised.
03:12 I remember I met just once, in three or four preseasons ago,
03:19 when we were in Japan, we played against Yokohama,
03:23 a team of the group, and Ange was there, the manager,
03:27 and I saw some clips before some games, before we started preseason,
03:31 it was the first or second preseason game.
03:34 And I said, "Wow, there are things that I like."
03:38 And I said to the players, "So tomorrow we have to be...
03:40 "I know we are not ready because we are in preseason,
03:43 "we are in competition, but tomorrow we're going to face a good team
03:45 "with challenges, intensive build-up,
03:48 "how intense is the high pressing, how we use the keeper to make the process."
03:53 And it was true.
03:54 We won because all respect for Yokohama players,
03:57 so we had better players.
04:00 But I realised it's the first time I met him,
04:03 and since then I follow him, and how good he has done in Glasgow,
04:09 we started winning in tribals, winning a lot of games,
04:11 and now look, in a short time, it's that.
04:15 We see how your team is one of the stand-out attacks in the Premier League,
04:19 so do we expect a lot of goals on Sunday, at both ends maybe?
04:24 Yeah.
04:25 I encourage our fans to come to the stadium because we will have fun.
04:30 OK.
04:31 Stand for the bell, please.
04:33 Pep, Ange has clearly made a really good start at Tottenham until the last few weeks,
04:44 you've been through that experience,
04:46 how difficult is it to challenge in the Premier League in your first season,
04:50 when you're still trying to get your ideas across?
04:52 I'm not the right person to give advice to my colleagues,
04:57 they know perfectly well what they have to do, the reality they face.
05:00 If you ask me, did they drop the way they played, and the games they lost,
05:06 I would say no.
05:07 It's quite similar to when they were winning, winning and winning,
05:15 but of course when Maddison plays or doesn't play, it's different,
05:18 when Romero and his partner are not playing, it's different, of course,
05:22 because our job depends on the players.
05:28 But if you tell me if they dropped something, if they adapted something,
05:33 or just something, what I saw, no.
05:36 In terms of, excuse me, you've qualified from your Champions League group
05:42 as top of the group with a game to spare,
05:44 it's ten seasons consecutively, Manchester City have got out of the group now,
05:49 other English clubs can't seem to find that level of consistency,
05:53 even qualify, never mind getting out of the group.
05:55 How have you managed to maintain those high levels over such a long period?
05:59 Many people involved in that.
06:04 Many, many, many people.
06:08 Since the hierarchy of the top,
06:10 CEOs, co-directors, all the people working, they push each other to do it.
06:18 That is a reality, people say, "No, this group was so easy."
06:24 So when I hear that, how people cannot respect young boys,
06:31 Red Star would not even set one game against them,
06:34 but with ten seasons, you face other types of groups, other teams,
06:39 and we've done it, we are able to go through it,
06:41 because we have done it really, really well.
06:47 I'm really pleased for that, I'm really, really pleased that many, many players,
06:51 teams, managers are involved in that.
06:54 So it's really, really good.
06:56 Hi Pep, just to ask about Kyle Walker,
07:00 obviously he got the captaincy at the start of the season,
07:03 up against his old club, how much has he impressed you since he became captain?
07:06 He's the same guy.
07:09 He was involved before when I was not captain,
07:11 now the players decide to pick him.
07:14 So, yeah, as always, Kyle is the same,
07:18 and now has a little more responsibility, of course,
07:20 because when there are some problems in the locker room or whatever,
07:23 he, with his busy captain, tends to solve it.
07:27 And yeah, I'm really, really pleased about what he's doing.
07:32 He was made England captain during the international break as well,
07:35 was that deserved? Is he a natural leader?
07:38 I'm pretty sure he would be happy.
07:41 He was born in this country and represents your country,
07:45 so it's so nice, you know that.
07:47 I think Harry Kane is the captain,
07:51 but of course, he's already not a young lad anymore,
07:54 so he's more than 30 years old,
07:56 and a lot of experiences, a lot of titles and experiences,
08:01 and that's why he can show it for the rest of the people.
08:04 Hi Pep, how's John doing?
08:08 Much better, yeah.
08:09 He's close, really close to coming back.
08:11 Is he in contention to start?
08:13 He will be with us, I don't know, with Dr Fisius, but he will be there.
08:18 And with Mateus and Matteo?
08:21 Matteo is already back, he's training well,
08:26 and Matteo's sister is always on weekdays.
08:35 Hi Pep, just coming back to that game in Japan in 2019,
08:40 I remember you saying after the match
08:42 that Jorg Harma played some incredible football.
08:44 What exactly was it about that style of play that you liked?
08:48 Courage, high line in the halfway,
08:50 and so aggressive, it doesn't matter who jams,
08:53 and with the ball, a lot of combinations,
08:56 use the keeper for the build-up,
08:58 when arriving the sides, incredible runners for everywhere,
09:02 so dynamic, it doesn't matter who you play against.
09:06 I go to do my game,
09:10 and after it happened in Glasgow,
09:13 and now in a short time it's doing here.
09:15 So I know they lost the last games,
09:17 but you see how the players said,
09:19 "OK, let me see the last games, what happened, why they lost."
09:23 I see a lot of similarities when they were winning game, game, and game,
09:27 so the same, but football is like that sometimes.
09:31 You have two red cards against Chelsea,
09:33 sometimes you have bad moments,
09:34 but the moments you start and the dynamic they have until the end
09:38 is always positive, always.
09:40 When you spoke to him away from the match, what was he like?
09:44 I was away, he was in his home, he took care of me really well.
09:49 He didn't offer me a glass of wine, but it was fine.
09:53 Hi Pep, a few weeks ago after a game,
09:59 Ange-Pasteur Kogli was asked about his tactics,
10:01 and he was joking a bit, but he said, "I'm just copying Pep."
10:04 As I say, he wasn't being 100% serious,
10:06 but when you watch his teams and his tactics,
10:09 do you feel that you see quite a lot of your ideas as well?
10:13 It was a joke, you said it perfectly.
10:15 It was a joke.
10:16 But you mentioned that high line in '34.
10:20 I'm not the only person, when I was born,
10:22 to become a manager that played a high line.
10:25 So it belongs to absolutely him.
10:29 Because I would say that sometimes my full-backs go inside,
10:35 but their full-backs go to the pockets.
10:37 They're attacking midfielders.
10:38 So I've never seen it before, so I've never used that.
10:42 So it belongs absolutely to him.
10:46 It is a question for him anyway.
10:50 Pep, looking back, when you called Spurs the Harry Kane team,
10:54 did you think, now that your views changed,
10:59 that they were the Harry Kane team?
11:02 And do you think Son has a different,
11:06 kind of dangerous aspect to him, but equally dangerous?
11:13 No, I wouldn't do the same mistake.
11:15 Otherwise, my colleagues are hungry with me,
11:18 and I don't want that.
11:25 What I said before in the first answer,
11:27 so you see his team, and you say,
11:28 'OK, the influence in the manager is there,
11:30 comparing in the past.'
11:32 Every manager, you see Antonio Conte, you see his stamp,
11:37 play how he wants.
11:38 And I'm not saying he's better than the other ones,
11:40 but with the way he does it, maybe because he has long precision,
11:45 maybe he has one game a week,
11:46 he has a lot of time to prepare the team,
11:48 but he's there for day one, for the first game of the Premier League,
11:55 we play in Brentford, and the game is at home.
11:58 There, I had the feeling it doesn't matter,
12:00 it doesn't matter if they're at home or away,
12:02 they do what they have to do.
12:04 That's why I like that.
12:06 I think that is so incredible, for our game, for our sport.
12:12 When two teams, it doesn't matter what happens,
12:14 when I do my game, I go forward and it happens,
12:17 there are always nice things to watch, all the time.
12:20 All the time.
12:21 It's impossible not to see an interesting game
12:24 when both teams want to try to do it.
12:27 And we saw it immediately.
12:32 CLEARS THROAT
12:33 OK, set the embargo for 10.30 on Saturday evening, please.