Guardiola on listening to the body for the busy season ahead and catching up with Barca colleagues

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Guardiola on listening to the body for the busy season ahead and catching up with Barca colleagues  16/08/2024  CGA, Manchester, UK

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00:00Hi Pep, there's a narrative at the moment that not many other teams have got a chance

00:08of winning the Premier League while you're still in England. I know you'll deny that

00:13but after 4 in 4 and 6 in 7, do you not feel that now you've conquered the Premier League

00:20that there's not much else left for you to achieve here?

00:22In the past, yeah, when you're 6 in 7 we conquered the Premier League but it starts from 0. It's

00:29140 points to play so we start from 0 everyone and we'll see. So if you want to conquer,

00:36you have to conquer again because they are not going to give us now the Premier League

00:41for the 24-25 season so you have to do it. So I understand because normally when people

00:47say we are favourites you have to accept it. When you have won 4 in a row, 6 in 7, it's

00:51normal except that we are favourites. We have to live with that but I know what we

00:55have to do. It's point by point, it must be a win and of course every season is more and

01:03more difficult.

01:04I know you speak about the hunger of your players but does your hunger remain the same?

01:09Does it ever change? Does it ever diminish?

01:12Competition makes me be again in the position that I want to be. So when it's in the pre-season

01:20I want to be a little bit more flat but the moment I arrive at the committee shield, arrive

01:24at the competition, you know, I have to ignite something that in myself, hopefully the players

01:31as well, to do it again.

01:33Similar to what Simon just asked, I didn't know he was going to actually, but when you've

01:42won so much and so regularly as you have, how do you personally go into each season?

01:47Is it with greater excitement each year? Is it under more pressure to follow each season's

01:55achievements? Is it harder as you get older to keep that same energy and enthusiasm? As

02:01you get older, do you think, make the most of it because how long does it last?

02:04Yeah, you said it perfectly. These are the right words. If you don't have this enthusiasm

02:08or passion or desire, don't be here. Don't stay in front of you. That is the key on everything.

02:16The pressure is quite similar for day one. I would say a little bit less for the fact

02:20that you have done it. You give a sense of peace of yourself. But at the same time, if

02:25you believe thinking nothing happened, if you lose because you won a red, you are not

02:29going to win or you are not going to do your job. Our job is when you do the proper things

02:33and you win, you live better. And the perspective is not to leave the trophy. It's during 11

02:38months, 12 months of competition, live better. And live better is doing your life, your job

02:42or what you have to do at your highest point. Otherwise, if you believe that we have done

02:46it, we can be relaxed or whatever, we are not going to win. We are not going to be in

02:50the top four. Because always, at the beginning of the season, the first target is going to

02:54the top four. And the people say, come on. But no. Newcastle is going to play one game.

03:00It's not a European competition. We are going to play one game a week. And Newcastle, one

03:04game a week. Next season, this season will be Newcastle, the two seasons ago. And Arsenal

03:10and Nessi to talk about, Liverpool and Nessi to talk about. I know with the sign of United

03:14at the end, they are going to take the moment. We will be there. Tottenham, I am pretty sure

03:18of that. They invest with the young players, the manager knows better. So there are a lot

03:23of teams. Chelsea again, with the amount of players, the quality, I believe, with the

03:27manager. So all the 6, 7 teams will be there. You drop a little bit, you will be away. This

03:33is the reality I felt for the first season I arrived here. And after, you prove to yourself

03:39we can do it. And try to do it again. It's simple.

03:42Is it about that the experience brings a sense of realism? Because there is this knee-jerk

03:47society where a big win and everyone says everything is great. A bad defeat and everyone

03:52says it's rubbish. Is it about realising that when you win you are not as good as everyone

03:59says and when you lose you are not as bad as everyone says?

04:02Yes, that's the point. I thought we saw the Olympic Games in the last two weeks. Four

04:06years of competition for one minute, ten minutes. I don't know the competition it takes.

04:15The glory and the non-glory. You saw, for example, the semi-finals. Serbia against United

04:19States in basketball. One of the best games I have ever seen in basketball. Serbians are

04:23losers? They are not. So the silver medal or the bronze medal are losers? Absolutely

04:31not. You are a loser when you don't do what you have to do as best as possible. I know

04:37we need a big compliment for just the winners. But it's not about that. The problem is we

04:45want to see if we still have the desire to compete. Everyone wants to beat us. It's normal.

04:51So when you concurred in the Premier League in the last years, everyone wants to beat

04:54us in every stadium. In the FA Cup, in the Carabao Cup, in the Premier League, especially

04:59in the Champions League, of course, it's a bit different. It's normal. But OK, look

05:05at ourselves. What can we do better? What can we do better? What can we do better as

05:08a team? Always we can improve. Always. You have the desire to individually be a better

05:12manager. I want to be a better manager. And the players want to be better. I want to be

05:17better individually. If we increase everyone a little bit, a little bit, our weaknesses,

05:23we increase 11 players. Our strength will be 11 times better. And this is the target

05:31that we have to be focused on. If it's just the satisfaction to leave the trophy, it cannot

05:36be because we won it already. It's not changed much. It's how individually we can be better

05:46as a football player to help the team to be better. That will help us to stay there again

05:51and again. And of course, when we arrived in the last month, close to win another Premier

05:57League, will be the motivation. But now, motivation to win another Premier League is not there.

06:03For me, it's not there. It will be in the last month. Can we beat Chelsea? Last season

06:09we could not beat them. Can we practice these two or three weeks together, apply better

06:18and improve? It will not be a perfect game against Chelsea. We are not completely in

06:23our top. It's normal. It's completely normal. But the standards will be enough to win the

06:29game. That is the point.

06:34Pep, last time I saw you, you said you were very tired at the end of last season. I know

06:38you've been on tour, but you've had a good summer break. Do you feel completely different

06:42in yourself compared to May, the energy levels?

06:46Yes, of course. Of course, when you arrive in the season, you are a little bit tired.

06:51But when you fight for the title, you are less tired than you are in a chance. But of

06:56course, all of us, when you take a break from your job and disconnect a little bit, you

07:02bring energy back. It's necessary. To work better, you have to disconnect. You have to

07:10relax your brain, your mind, and think about things, and do other things. Otherwise, there

07:16are moments when it doesn't work. I learned from it. Before, it was, no, I have to work.

07:22No. Sometimes, resting, you are working. You work better.

07:27That's interesting, disconnecting. I know this season we were without Jurgen Klopp because

07:32Jurgen looked in the mirror and he decided that he couldn't disconnect. It was all or

07:37nothing. Is that a skill that you've learned over the years? You're quite good at that,

07:42are you, to do that when you need to, to rest?

07:44Yes, sometimes I'm tired. In that moment, I don't work. I rest. After rest, I'm ready

07:52to work harder and better. Not all the times I'm happy, not all the times I have energy

07:59to work the game. That's why I have a staff to help me, and I help them. Before, it was

08:08not like that. Before, it's, no, I have to do it. It's not productive. The important

08:13is the moment you work, the moment you are in front of the players, the moment you have

08:15to take a message, a decision you have to take, be, I don't want to say, more relaxed

08:23or more concentrated. It's the same with the players. They give a lot of day off, a lot.

08:28They need it. A lot of competition. I don't want training when you play every three days.

08:32But the moment we are here, we have to be there. The moment of the game, we have to.

08:37Sorry, is it your decision, do you know yourself, I need to rest, or is it your wife, or someone

08:41says, Pep, you've got to give up?

08:43No, myself, myself. My people don't know if I'm tired or not tired. I know him.

08:52Obviously, you mentioned, sort of, shutting off and relaxing and getting away from football.

08:56But, obviously, over the summer, you went back to Barcelona, obviously, met up for dinner

09:00with some Barcelona B players, Barcelona C players when you started out. Is it also good

09:04to look back on those things to see where you've come from?

09:08Yeah, it was so nice. 15 years, the first time that we won that league and were promoted

09:15for the third division. Yeah, it was really, really nice to see all of them. Most of them

09:21are fathers, some divorced, some retired, some are still playing. The other one is still

09:30to be managers. So, it was really, really nice to spend these four or five hours together.

09:35After many, many years, we could not see them. Start from there, you know. All of them were

09:40so young and, yeah, it was really, really nice. Hopefully, we can repeat quite often.

09:47OK, thank you.

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