- 2 months ago
Guardiola on Rodri and Foden updates ahead of City trip to Brentford
03/10/2025
CFGA, Manchester, UK
03/10/2025
CFGA, Manchester, UK
Category
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SportsTranscript
00:00Are you well?
00:01Busy week for you.
00:03Roderick came off during that game.
00:05How is he and the rest of the squad as you get ready to go to Brentford, please?
00:11We'll train this afternoon, but it looks good.
00:13Everybody finishes without the problems.
00:16Yeah, fine.
00:17All good.
00:18Phil Foden's been left out of the England squad that's just been announced this morning.
00:23How surprised are you at that, bearing in mind the way he started the season?
00:27Thomas knows what he needs for the national team.
00:30A thousand times, a million times, a trillion times better than me.
00:34All I can say, if Phil is still playing like he's playing, he will be back.
00:39Is a little part of you maybe relieved because the last thing he would need is to go away and maybe pick up an injury?
00:47I am happy that the players go to the national team, but I am even more happy when they come back healthier.
00:53That's for sure.
00:55You're very welcome.
00:56Pep, on Phil Foden's form, there was a good piece on the Manchester City website this morning about his goal-scoring record at Brentford.
01:04I think it's six goals in three games there.
01:07First of all, do statistics like that matter to you?
01:11Do they influence your selection?
01:12No.
01:12But when Phil's playing at the standard he is now, how much more does he give this unit as a team?
01:18A lot.
01:20He's the best player we have in the smallest spaces in the final third by far.
01:23Sense of assists, especially sense of goals in the smallest spaces.
01:27How he turns an attack and the desire to score a goal is the best we have.
01:31And on Brentford, obviously, they had a change of manager over the summer.
01:35They've still started this season well.
01:38What do you make of them, and have you seen subtle changes in the way they play?
01:42No, quite similar.
01:43Little details, but quite similar with Thomas Frank.
01:46I did really well, so it's a tough place to go.
01:49Brentford have been, but in the same time, yeah, looking forward for the last game before international break.
01:54Do what you have to do.
02:02Hi, Pep.
02:03Just back on Rodri.
02:04He obviously came off the other night, and then you conceded that late equaliser.
02:09Are you able to replace him with just one player?
02:12Are you suggesting you score because Nico Gonzalez was in the pitch in Rodri?
02:18How do you know that?
02:19How do you prove that?
02:20I can't prove it.
02:21Me neither, so change the subject.
02:22But does Rodri's place in the team, is it possible to replace him with one man, or do you have to change the whole way you play?
02:30No.
02:30We cannot play with 12.
02:33That's for just...
02:34We cannot play with 12.
02:36Now, I know where I'm taking.
02:37I know Rodri is safe.
02:38I know that Rodri is irreplaceable in many things.
02:42But Rodri could not play three days before because his knee was in a bad, bad, bad condition.
02:47So that's why, so in that moment, Nico Gonzalez, in the 30 minutes he played for the player who more balls recover in the transition attack defense,
02:56and we conceded less transition than Rodri conceded more in the first half when he was playing.
03:01So that is why.
03:02And I would love to tell you, yes, because Rodri is not in the pitch, we conceded the goal.
03:06But I cannot prove that because I would feel it, Rodri would have been in the pitch.
03:11But Rodri cannot play in certain moments, maybe 90-90 minutes for many, many games.
03:16And Nico played really good against Burnley, really, really good.
03:20And he's learning, he's improving, and we need him.
03:23The score is not ready.
03:25And Rodri cannot sustain still yet the rhythm for games, games, 90-90 minutes.
03:31And make an incredible effort the week against United, Napoli, and especially Arsenal in that way.
03:35I try to protect my players because look what happened in Carvajal and Madrid.
03:39Look what happened in players for many injuries.
03:41He's injured again and again and again.
03:43So sometimes I wanted the best players there and being fit, but he's still not.
03:49So that's why I had to protect the players.
03:51Another player who has performed really well recently is Jeremy Doku.
03:55What do you put that down to?
03:57What's the difference in him this year to last season?
04:01Well, what I said in the final third, in the one-against-one dribbles, he's magnificent.
04:07He's top.
04:09So he's a player who gives him more assists than ever.
04:12He's a guy like him.
04:13But he's still young and still has a lot of things he has to improve a lot.
04:18In the global and understanding of the game, offensive, defensive.
04:22And I don't feel just for good actions and helpers.
04:26He has to because that's why he has this talent.
04:28But he still has a lot of things to improve, a lot.
04:33Pep, Erling was quite angry after the match in Monaco, which is quite refreshing because some players would just look at their goals.
04:41Is that the kind of correct mentality?
04:44Yeah, all of us, we were.
04:49We want to win.
04:50We could not do it.
04:51We play.
04:53We did many, many good things.
04:54And at once, you can do better.
04:56But it's a normal time, the process.
04:58I had the feeling.
04:58But I know.
04:59I feel the diagnosis, what you have to do.
05:01And we'll work on it.
05:04And, yeah.
05:05Yeah, I want to win.
05:06I have a chance to score the third.
05:08And, yeah.
05:11It's not a problem, I would say.
05:13Is this the kind of behavior they expect from one of the captains as well?
05:17Yeah, of course.
05:23What can I say?
05:24Yeah, of course.
05:26I like.
05:26I like when they are like this.
05:28So, I'm a different, you know, I don't know.
05:32So, my feelings about the teams when it's bad, in front of you, I don't like to express it.
05:39I like to have it with me, with my team, with my players, in the basement.
05:44And, you know, I like to share it here.
05:50Just on that, do you think the fans would have appreciated Erling's honesty, though?
05:56I know what you...
05:56We are honest.
05:58The fans like it when we win.
06:01Absolutely.
06:04Can I ask you about Nico Gonzalez?
06:07We saw you giving him quite a lot of instructions in the few minutes after full-time at Huddersfield.
06:14Last week, the week before.
06:15Are you able to give us a little bit of insight onto what those discussions entailed?
06:20And how he's improved?
06:22No, if Jaume had to move in the right spots, to the holding midfielder, to find him more,
06:27and the transitions, and at the time, we'll be more free to be more courageous to play,
06:34to break lines, to, you know, to do all the stuff that against Burley was much, much better,
06:39but of course can do better.
06:40But he's so young, he's not ready.
06:42I've been seven, eight years together, so he has just not even one year together in a tough period.
06:48And there are many things that the step-by-step is going to take it,
06:52because he's open-minded, he's incredibly coachable.
06:56Not all the players are.
06:58From my experience in 14, 15 years as a manager, 70 years as a manager,
07:02so, and he is, and he will get it.
07:06How difficult do you think it is for a player to sort of be Rodri's understudy,
07:12when Rodri's been so good for so many years in your position,
07:16the club spent quite a lot of money on Gonzalez,
07:19and he's like looking at his competition going,
07:21I need to get to that level.
07:22It must be quite difficult.
07:23Yeah, thank you for that subject that we spend a lot of money on Man City.
07:26That's good.
07:27Yeah, I continue with that, and it's fine.
07:30So, he's so young, and of course, even Rodri,
07:35when I started the first season, the struggle.
07:39It's normal.
07:39So, when you won, so, when the player came in new environments
07:42and new things, you have to need a process to understand it,
07:46that the problem is open.
07:47But Nico is Nico.
07:49Nico is Nico, has to be the talent from Nico,
07:51will improve a lot, but he's not, you know,
07:54because even can play more forward.
07:56Nico, in his early ages in Barcelona Academy,
07:59he had played more attacking midfielders,
08:00the guy who arrived in the box,
08:02and I used that as a holding midfielder,
08:03he can do it from there.
08:05So, it has to be Nico.
08:07So, Rodri is happy, and he's an outstanding player.
08:12So, everybody knows it.
08:13So, Rodri is.
08:15But Rodri, I said, to him, he maybe struggled to understand
08:17that he's not about six months, seven months.
08:19Now, I play with Rodri like before.
08:22No.
08:22Rodri will be good, you know, in the World Cup.
08:24In the World Cup, it will be the best, Rodri.
08:27In the next season, it will be the best, Rodri.
08:29This season will be how you handle it,
08:30step by step, and do it.
08:32But it's normal.
08:33So, with one year, I've been in the table massage.
08:35One year.
08:36Or 18 months.
08:37The body changes.
08:38The rhythm changes and everything.
08:40You need a question of time.
08:42As much as healthy and work in what you have to do,
08:46he will be back.
08:47He will be back.
08:47Hi, Pep.
08:50It's a few days on now, but were you gripped by the Ryder Cup last Sunday?
08:54Oh, yeah.
08:56What a Sunday, I would say.
08:58First of all, congratulate, of course, Luke Donald and his guys.
09:01So, it's not easy, you know, to beat in New York against the USA.
09:07But, oh, God, last day.
09:08Everybody thinking.
09:10I like when I listen to the interview with Sean Lowry and the guys.
09:15So, the worst six hours of my life.
09:18So, they say that, playing after Masters and U.S. Opens and Opens and everything and that feeling.
09:25But the Ryder is that.
09:26So, they play against incredible top players.
09:29But they were resilient.
09:31But I was surprised.
09:33Everything is done.
09:34That is sports another lesson, right?
09:35It's done when it's done.
09:37You lose the Premier League when you lose the Premier League.
09:39Not before.
09:40So, it's the same.
09:41So, you win it when it's winning.
09:43Otherwise, everything can happen.
09:44Sport is so difficult.
09:45So, it can be involved especially.
09:46But, really pleased that Europe showed the character again and they could win.
09:51And Tommy Flip will show again how good he is.
09:54I was going to say, you sent a good look message.
09:55Have you heard from any of them since?
09:57Have you heard from Tommy?
09:58Tommy, Luke, Donald, a little bit, yeah.
10:00The other ones, I don't have the telephone number.
10:03Any chance they might come to a game here?
10:05Tommy or Luke?
10:06Sorry?
10:06Any chance they might come to a game here, maybe?
10:08I will come.
10:09I think he's in St Andrews now.
10:10In Carnoustie, I don't know, playing in that tournament.
10:13But, yeah, I should know later.
10:14Yeah, I want to know everything, what happened in that day, especially on Sunday.
10:20But, the first two days, Friday and Saturday, they were incredible how they played.
10:27Hi, Pep.
10:27You ended the last international break with defeats to Spurs and Brighton.
10:31You've now gone six unbeaten.
10:33How much progress do you think the team has made in that time?
10:38And the most optimism that makes me happy is that I've utilized the margin to improve.
10:45I love that feeling.
10:47You know, like the feeling that I think we can do better.
10:50We can do better.
10:51And this is the feeling that I like to be as a manager.
10:57Otherwise, when it's done and after I have the feeling, hmm.
11:01Well, the margins to improve is a little bit short.
11:03I think the feeling, the improvement can be better.
11:09Reading what they do, the opponents, what they have to do.
11:11The spaces we have to attack when they do it.
11:13And the feeling that we are creating, again, the tempo, the pace that is really good to read it.
11:19But we can attack a little bit more fluid and a little bit more consistent, insistent in the attack.
11:24If we can do some movement, then we can do better.
11:27And I love that.
11:29I know it's not everything as well, but how important is it to build these kind of unbeaten runs for the confidence of the team?
11:39Yeah, of course it's that.
11:41But, you know, when you win one game, after three days, another one, another one helps.
11:45But when you win a game and the manager will take ten days to take time Pirineas and players go to a national team.
11:52It's important for, but not for Everton or for the next games.
11:56So, Villarreal and so on.
11:57Have time to reflect, to visualise and see what happens.
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