Guardiola on importance of developing academy players and on Bruno Fernandes (Full Presser part two)

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Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola on importance of developing academy players and on Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes ahead of Sunday's Manchester derby

Transcript

00:00 Just talking purely about the footballer, how impressed are you with Bruno Fernandes?

00:06 He's an exceptional player.

00:08 Especially the consistency that he plays every single game and every single competition.

00:13 I admire a lot that.

00:15 He's a guy that has the ball, something is going to happen.

00:20 In free kicks, in set-pieces, in connections with the players up front, with Garnett or Rashford.

00:26 All the strikers have done there, so what can I say?

00:31 He's a really, really important player.

00:34 Is it important for you to try and nullify him on Sunday?

00:37 Yeah, of course. Always have been like that. Always can create something.

00:41 Is it fair to say that maybe only him and Luke Shaw are the only players there you would have in your squad here?

00:46 That is football fantasy.

00:51 I like fantasy.

00:53 I like it.

00:54 Thank you.

00:55 Phil.

00:56 Pep, you say you always expect the best of your opponents.

01:01 Are you someone who ever really worries about the opposition?

01:05 Or do you only ever worry about your team performing what they can do?

01:09 Because you know that if your team, whoever you're playing,

01:11 whoever you're playing, anywhere in the world,

01:14 if your team plays at its maximum, you're probably going to win.

01:18 We have to do our best against that team.

01:21 Do you remember what happened when United went this time to Anfield this season?

01:25 When last season was 7-0, 7-1, I don't remember.

01:28 Do you remember the comment?

01:29 How many goals they used to score in Liverpool?

01:33 It will be easy for Liverpool.

01:35 What was the result?

01:37 Liverpool didn't win.

01:39 United is United. It's Man-United.

01:42 I know what happened. The past is the past.

01:44 Tomorrow, 11 players with pride, with a manager that everybody, we cannot deny.

01:50 How good has he done in the past in Amsterdam and here, trying to do his best.

01:55 United is United.

01:57 So in different situations, we were sitting in the position that United was in.

02:04 I know my players will behave in an ultra-form, with pride, character and do their best.

02:10 It's going to happen on Sunday, I know that.

02:13 So it will be a really tough game.

02:15 You have to be humble enough to respect the opponent and do our best to play the game we have to do

02:22 to try to beat them and continue up there.

02:24 It's not just for the fact to beat United, it's to continue up there and fight against.

02:29 Liverpool is above us, Arsenal is there, Aston Villa is close to us.

02:35 So to try to arrive week by week at the end to the chances to retain the title.

02:40 This is the target. Tomorrow is another final for us.

02:44 But if you are going to convince me that United is...

02:47 I'm not the type of manager that thinks about that.

02:51 I know how difficult it will be.

02:53 I've been here more difficult than Old Trafford in our period here together.

02:56 We lost more games here than Old Trafford.

02:59 We have to perform really, really well to do it.

03:02 Hi Pep, sorry to ask another question about Jim Radcliffe.

03:09 Don't forget this is a guy who is in his 70s, who has seen all of United's greatest teams.

03:14 The other week he said that the performance that your team produced against Real Madrid

03:19 was the best football he has ever seen in his life.

03:23 I can see you smiling there.

03:26 That must come as some compliment to a man who has been a Man United fan all his life

03:32 and who is now a rival of the club.

03:36 It is. I just can say thank you so much.

03:40 Sometimes it's more than a title, it's a compliment of a personality like me.

03:45 This country, because it's not like Sridhar Radcliffe that comments.

03:50 It's a complete honour for all of us.

03:53 At the end we can produce emotions and feelings for the players and our rivals,

03:58 except that helps to do our job.

04:02 Thank you so much. I cannot say on behalf of all of us.

04:05 I'm sure tomorrow they will try in one way or another to inoculate the Man United players

04:13 with the best performance to try to beat us. That's for sure.

04:16 In a way, does a club need that honesty when they are looking to bridge the gap?

04:23 They have to realise where they are and that history doesn't matter in terms of building for a future.

04:29 The best way to improve is to know exactly what really happened honestly.

04:35 Otherwise, you have to defend the position through the media,

04:40 to survive in that moment, that month, that year.

04:43 Don't say that. The best way is to yourself, your people, say what is the reality,

04:47 what are we doing, what are we playing, what is the next chapter, what is that.

04:51 When you are bad, you are bad. When you are not good, you are not good.

04:55 When it happens with us, we are not bad, you have to accept it.

04:59 After that is the best way to make it.

05:01 That's why I said in the previous conference, when they accept that we are still a little bit...

05:05 That is the best way to reduce and be closer and come back with the team you want to be or you were.

05:13 But they know it. I don't know, there is a why, because I'm not there.

05:19 Just one more if I could. You have obviously refreshed the team during your time at the club,

05:25 but you have spoken about the executive team as well and the people behind the scenes.

05:31 Does their improvement also continue?

05:35 Because it feels like you are at the pinnacle, people are now trying to close the gap.

05:39 Does that work still continue behind the scenes for the club to become even bigger and better?

05:44 They have to. They have to. Many, many executive important players have gone in the past,

05:51 in the recent past, and new people are coming and they have to.

05:56 I demand myself the best and they have to demand themselves the best.

06:01 In all departments of the club, always we can do better.

06:05 Otherwise, you are sitting and waiting and reviewing what we have done.

06:11 The other people, the other teams are working.

06:15 When you rest, they are working. They are working harder because they want to pull you out where you are.

06:22 It's normal in football, in life, in sport, it has to be like that.

06:26 Always we can do better. Not just our players, managers, staff, all the departments in the club,

06:32 they have to feel because they want to do it. They want to pull you out.

06:39 Pep, we have seen another of your good young players sign a new contract this week,

06:44 Rico Luis, Phil Foden before him, you have this conveyor belt of players from the academy.

06:50 United have obviously had a great tradition, they have had years and years of academy players in their team.

06:55 I just wonder now in this world of FFP being a lot more strict and clubs are looking at it,

06:59 and we had a very quiet January transfer window, is there more pressure and emphasis on clubs like you and United,

07:04 even though you might have the money, to develop those youngsters like Barber?

07:07 Absolutely. It's more sustainable for the clubs.

07:11 We had that feeling, I don't know why, but academy players grew up from there,

07:16 they have something special that always works. Don't tell me why.

07:20 It always works. The players here, look what happened with the players in Southampton,

07:25 on Cole in Chelsea, on Tozzi in Fulham, for example. They are stable.

07:37 The academy worked really well and the process for 30, 40, 50 years,

07:42 every day, many years, working really, really well.

07:46 Every time there is a drop of something in your body, you understand the game,

07:51 you understand many things, the culture and whatever. When you run in the young players,

07:57 it always works. I don't know why, but it always works.

08:01 Having an academy here in Barcelona, in Madrid, and when I know, even Bayern Munich,

08:08 the clubs I've been, the young players always have something.

08:11 Now with this situation, if I say play, you're right.

08:15 It's a way to be sustainable and it works.

08:18 Do you see your Manchester kids on derby day, do you see them just have a little bit more in their step,

08:23 do you see them a bit more into the game because they're City fans or maybe United players or United fans?

08:28 Do you think that's an impact?

08:29 I think they know the reality. I've been many times in the stadium,

08:32 I see the environment, I smell what happens in the club, and they adapt quicker.

08:39 Foreign players come, they need a little bit of time to adapt.

08:43 Here, it's like it's a home. They know the reaction of the fans, they feel comfortable,

08:48 they know the way they have to play, and it's quick.

08:52 So it happens, it's right.

08:54 And be it United players or Liverpool players or Chelsea players, what happens,

09:00 you have something that even I think they believe it belongs to me, it's mine, so it's my home.

09:06 I feel protected from the academy, from the first team.

09:10 We give them confidence, they will join and settle really well in the first team,

09:14 and the senior people, it's easy.

09:18 Just on the academy players, when you have a youngster coming up to train with the first team for the first time,

09:26 how quickly do they pick up the concepts that you do in training?

09:31 Easy, quicker.

09:33 There are little details in every game, the way we attack against Brentford is completely different.

09:38 Luton, why? Because Brentford defend different than Luton.

09:42 So these details, but in general, the concept is better.

09:46 What surprised me the most is how well educated they are.

09:50 So it's not just about the skills, it's about how they behave, how they respect, how they listen,

09:56 how they behave in the good moments, they are stable, make a debut, a big compliment.

10:01 The week after they are stable, they don't make gestures like,

10:04 "Now I am a senior player for Man City", it's completely the opposite.

10:07 And that means a lot, and that comes from the academy, the managers, from 30, 40.

10:13 When they don't behave well, they don't play.

10:16 What they have to do is start to understand the club is the most important thing, not you.

10:21 Not your father, not your mother, I'm sorry, at home they are, but your agents, they are not important.

10:27 Important is the club, is Man City.

10:29 They have to adapt the way they play, the way they behave with 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 years old.

10:34 The day after they arrive, they are well educated.

10:37 That's why it's so important, this type of work, and a lot of people.

10:41 And at the end, Rico plays, or Phil Foden plays, or Cole in the past, or now Oscar,

10:45 all the senior players, it's not about me.

10:49 I take the incredible work for many hours for all the people in the academy.

10:53 It's a sport-directed academy, scouting recruitment, of course every single player,

10:58 every single team manager, of every single under-13, 14, 15, they are playing every day with them.

11:05 That's why it's so nice, because it's a work for many, many years, for many, many players,

11:11 many people, helping to develop this guy for the skills,

11:15 otherwise he would not be here with 30, 40, 50 years old.

11:18 Even then, they are already selected in a special group of young players

11:23 and they can play in Man City, otherwise they cannot play here.

11:26 They have to be good.

11:28 It's just when the people smell they have some talent and skills, it's not just about that.

11:33 It's resilience, it's work ethic, it's arriving time in the meetings,

11:37 go to the school and behave well there, when you have a year,

11:43 force the teachers to come here, arrive at the right time, follow,

11:47 make the right homework for the day.

11:51 This is when you become a better player, a better human being,

11:55 you will be a better player, 100 per cent, for sure, there's no secret about that.

12:01 People around the club have suggested that it would be a good target

12:06 to have maybe half a team that's come through the academy in the future.

12:12 In modern football, how feasible is that, do you think?

12:16 We would love it.

12:18 I remember Barcelona, when we played two final Champions League against United,

12:21 seven or eight players were born in the academy.

12:24 We didn't sell them, we didn't get profit, because they were so good.

12:29 That's the dream for every club.

12:33 Players love the club, we're born here and we can play here.

12:38 But sometimes it's not possible, because foreign players aren't really good.

12:43 Haverly Haaland is from Norway, so we would love to have Haverly Haaland from the academy,

12:48 but sometimes it's not possible.

12:50 You have to invest, you have to buy players, yes or yes.

12:54 But we sell a lot of young players in the last years,

12:58 that make us sustainable financially, that maybe could play here.

13:03 We never know.

13:05 But in that moment, they have players, they have no space,

13:08 they want to start to play and do it, and every situation is different.

13:12 But yeah, we'll be perfect.

13:14 But sometimes...

13:19 What happened, Alex?

13:21 - Should we call it there? - Finish the press conference.

13:24 Thank you, guys.

13:25 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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