Guardiola on injuries, Newcastle spending and winning four titles in a row
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00:00 Good afternoon, guys, same process as ever, mics on either side,
00:11 if you can raise your hands, we'll set an embargo for 10.30 this evening.
00:18 Is that with Stuart, please?
00:20 Hi, Pep. Can I just start with some team news,
00:24 whether Erling Haaland's ready to play,
00:27 and if you have any other injuries as well for this game?
00:30 No, Jack has been sick, hopefully today he's back.
00:36 Erling is out and John is out.
00:41 I think that's everything.
00:45 Newcastle have had quite a difficult month or two,
00:49 but they do have an outstanding home record.
00:51 How difficult do you see this game, this fixture?
00:55 Always has been, especially since Eddie Howe took over in the last years.
01:01 So I never see much results, good ones or bad ones,
01:06 so now there's an opening, the opening is there.
01:09 It's his 650th game as a manager, he's only 46.
01:13 Do you quite admire him as a manager and the job that he's done?
01:17 Yeah, we have been faced many times,
01:19 first it was in Bournemouth and now in Newcastle.
01:25 So, yeah, good history together.
01:27 Hi, Pep.
01:32 I heard some sad news yesterday about Sven-Joran Eriksson.
01:36 Obviously he's a usually respected figure in the game
01:38 and a former manager here,
01:40 I was wondering if you'd like to say anything on behalf of the club about Sven.
01:44 Of course, sad news, a truly gentleman.
01:47 He's here in the national team from England and other countries,
01:52 so it's really sad news.
01:54 I admire the courage to explain the situation.
02:00 Of course he will be with his loved ones
02:03 and hopefully the hope is the last we can lose
02:10 and I'm pretty sure he's going to battle the doctors and everyone
02:14 to maybe find a solution, extend his period of battle
02:19 and go well on behalf of Man City, all of us.
02:23 A huge, huge hug, huge support and everything we could do,
02:27 of course we will do it.
02:29 Pep, obviously Kevin De Boer has been back,
02:39 made a playing return in the Huddersfield game,
02:41 obviously coming off the bench.
02:43 He says he doesn't feel like he's going to be starting too many games in the near future
02:47 as he gets his fitness back.
02:48 I know you said after that game it's about training,
02:51 but is he in a position to start this weekend?
02:54 Yes.
02:55 Do you have any reservations at all, given the nature of the injury
02:59 and throwing him in from the start?
03:01 I feel really good, dynamic, and the minutes he played were really good,
03:07 better than the training sessions before the Huddersfield game.
03:10 He's a little bit not what he is, but it's normal.
03:14 When you come from the long injury, it was five months,
03:19 I thought it was three, but it was five.
03:21 He was a little bit up and low in the training sessions,
03:23 in the recoveries and so on, so this is completely normal.
03:26 But the important thing is he's getting better now,
03:28 we have a game, after we have a few days off he will train a little bit,
03:32 and after we go together with the weather conditions
03:34 to make four or five training sessions in Abu Dhabi,
03:38 that will help him to be better for the next games, next month.
03:42 Still obviously plenty of speculation about Calvin Phillips
03:45 and where his future might lie, has there been any movement?
03:48 Have you had any inquiries on his future?
03:50 No, he's still a player of us.
03:53 Our player.
03:55 And just finally, can I ask you about Newcastle?
03:58 Eddie Howe today has been complaining that he's not able to sign anyone in January,
04:04 the owners have all the money in the world but he can't spend it,
04:06 and I just wondered if you had any sympathy with him?
04:09 No, I don't have any comments.
04:11 I have enough.
04:13 Listen, I have a lot of problems on my table,
04:18 I wish him all the best, so I don't know the situation,
04:21 and like you understand, the reality for a club is not my business.
04:28 Newcastle have been one of those teams that have really suffered with injuries this season,
04:34 you mentioned some of the ones you've had as well,
04:36 do you have any sense that the authorities will listen to clubs,
04:40 players, managers about the schedule,
04:42 or do you think it's one of those things you're just going to have to put up with going forward?
04:46 Next question.
04:48 Full of respect to you.
04:50 In terms of the game this weekend, you're obviously trying to do something
04:54 that's never been done in English football before,
04:57 which is win four league titles in a row.
05:00 Manchester United did get close to it once, when they finished second to Chelsea.
05:05 Is it possible? Do you believe it's possible?
05:08 Right now, yeah. How many points left?
05:11 90 games? 80?
05:14 80-90 games, so still we are five behind, we're one game ahead.
05:20 So possible, mathematically it is difficult, obviously,
05:23 otherwise Saralax would have been period, or Arsene Wenger,
05:27 or Jose Mourinho, or the big clubs and teams that make a legacy,
05:32 a dynasty in terms of results, and for a long, long time,
05:35 it's quite similar to what we have done.
05:37 They could not do it, that means it's so difficult.
05:42 I will answer this question when we are six, seven games
05:45 before the end of the season in the position we are in.
05:49 And after I will tell you, "OK, we can do it."
05:51 Now, yeah, it's realistic and unrealistic, I don't know, but it's far away.
05:56 Considering what you've been through, with the high of winning everything last year,
06:02 having to go again this year, having to go away to the Club World Cup,
06:05 how pleased are you with where you sit right now,
06:08 that you are right in the mix, considering everything you've had to deal with?
06:11 You cannot imagine.
06:13 In fact, I was not scared, but I didn't know what was going to happen
06:18 after winning the treble.
06:20 So, with nothing, nothing resting, to forget our...
06:26 get rid of our hangover from the treble,
06:31 so immediately Japan and Comedy Shield, and we didn't have time mentally to recover.
06:36 Not even myself, I was tired when I started.
06:38 I think the competition helped us to have a spark,
06:44 something to reignite again.
06:49 And that's why I won the two titles already, and the qualifier championship,
06:55 being there, I was a little bit afraid to be far, far away from the first.
07:00 I know how, right now, Liverpool is playing unbelievable.
07:06 He's back in his best moments of many, many years,
07:10 so I know it will be difficult, not him.
07:13 Even Arsenal dropped points, I saw, I've seen how they play against West Ham, for example,
07:19 lost, I didn't see the full-back, but against Liverpool and FA Cup,
07:24 how good they play.
07:26 So, the chances they create can concede few, but they are getting results.
07:30 It's quite similar when we didn't get points against Crystal Palace or Liverpool and Tottenham,
07:34 sometimes happens.
07:35 But I had the feeling that they are, the opponents, so difficult.
07:39 Lucas Zumbilla, how consistent in Tottenham as well.
07:43 So, that's why I'm really, really, really pleased.
07:47 Because at one point, when we know a lot, it helps you to say,
07:50 "OK, we are able to do it, we are aware we can do it, we have knowledge,
07:53 we can do it."
07:55 But at the same time, you are not the same.
07:57 You are not the same.
07:59 So, you know, we did it.
08:02 I didn't have the feeling that what we have done, we should do, we did it.
08:06 But at the same time, it's OK.
08:09 Newcastle, good weather.
08:13 And, yeah, go there and try to do it again, game by game, and see what happens.
08:18 Hi, Pep.
08:20 Obviously, Bahia has been here for a couple of days now.
08:23 They left the Brazilian summer for a couple of weeks in the English winter.
08:27 We saw the nice pictures of you, both squads together yesterday.
08:32 How has it been, this interaction, how has it been to host them here?
08:37 Yeah, it was nice as part of our city football group,
08:43 when the club is a little focused to help in the way they can.
08:49 They can help, you know, in ideas and suggestions.
08:52 But at the end, Rogério has done a really good job.
08:56 It was nice to have him here.
08:58 So, maybe it was not the best time to come.
09:00 Maybe in springtime and summer it's a little bit better.
09:03 But, you know, it's nice to have them here.
09:06 And hopefully they can reward us and invite us to go to Brazil in the future.
09:12 Can I just ask how was your interaction with Rogério?
09:15 I don't know if you remember him scoring goals as a goalkeeper.
09:18 I remember all the meetings with Faran and other people.
09:19 Really, really good.
09:20 An innocent hero.
09:21 He's a legend.
09:23 So, what he has done as a keeper, and not just saving goals, you know.
09:28 How many as a keeper goals and scores is a real legend.
09:33 It was an honour for me to meet him.
09:35 A real, real honour.
09:38 Hi, Pep.
09:39 From ESPN Brazil, currently the trophies you won last year are in Brazil doing the world tour.
09:46 I just wanted to know how important for the club and how proud does it make you feel to know that,
09:51 that right now all the trophies are in Brazil and lots of people are going to see them.
09:55 And not just winning them, but how much the profile of Manchester City has grown during your period here.
10:01 Well, it's not just about the trophies.
10:03 Of course, today the brand is worldwide.
10:05 Not just City.
10:06 We are not a worldwide brand in the last 20, 30, 40 years.
10:11 It was more UK brand, you know.
10:13 And now all the clubs try to get supporters and, you know,
10:19 and people follow us for having better sponsors.
10:25 And, you know, the best way to show in other countries around the world,
10:28 have been in India, in Asia and everywhere.
10:30 You know, it's just to adjust what we are, what we have done,
10:33 and hopefully the people is happy and can follow us more and support us.
10:38 So at the end, we don't have the support as many as other clubs, you know.
10:43 For the old people, 40, 50, 60, but maybe that helps for the young boys,
10:51 for the 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, for the way we play and maybe of course for we won.
10:56 So they support us and when you can get this support for the early, early ages,
11:01 that remains for the rest of life.
11:03 When you support one team, when you are a boy, always will be there.
11:08 It's impossible to change.
11:09 You change many things in your life, but support one team, as always, will be there.
11:13 And maybe down in real life, maybe in 10 or 20 years,
11:16 we'll see a lot of City fans what this decade we have done here.
11:21 So it's part of the process to try to grow up as a club.
11:27 We'll take the embargo for 10.30 this evening.
11:29 We'll start with Martin down here, please.
11:31 [BLANK_AUDIO]