Guardiola on Rodri recovery and restricted availability for Manchester City

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Guardiola on Rodri recovery and restricted availability for Manchester City  08/11/2025 embargoed form 07/11/2025  CFGA, Manchester, UK

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00:00Can you explain a bit what Niko has done over the last six weeks, two months

00:04to reach this level where it feels like this is probably the best he's been since he came to City?

00:09Yeah, we have continuity, yeah, absolutely.

00:11But don't misunderstand me, we want Roderick back, yes or yes, as quick as possible.

00:17But I don't want him back, and after a while he has to make a little bit of a step back.

00:21This is a small thing, but we want that.

00:24Of course, in that process, we have Koba now, we don't have it for the next time as well,

00:31so we have three holding midfielders proper and just have one.

00:37But yeah, it's massively important that, you know, with Niko it will be more difficult.

00:43We've seen Roderick at games and in the tunnel recently, even when he's not in the squad, he's here.

00:48And Trun as well, has he helped Niko at all in terms of talking to him about the Premier League and that position?

00:53Only I want Roderick to be happy, always, and Roderick has started to smile and enjoy again,

00:59and now I've been tough because he's one of the more competitive football players I've ever met in my career.

01:07How push he's made is unbelievable, and I wanted to have to even enjoy the process of being out for a while right now.

01:17The toughest period is gone, it's the third month or four months, five months, six months, seven months with a long, long injury,

01:23but now it's at the end.

01:25I have to try to say, OK, I'll be back with nothing around the corner and I will come back and enjoy with the team to do it.

01:32But being outside, when he's involved, he's with us, always, always, he's in crowd positive and with Niko helped me a lot.

01:39And I think Niko had the best teacher, you know, they can be teached in that position like with Roderick.

01:48Hi Pep, you took two new assistants on in the summer in Pep, Linders and James French.

01:53How have they sort of done? Obviously they've worked at Liverpool in the past.

01:57They have been an incredible impact with us. It's so pleasant to work with him. I'm learning a lot, a lot.

02:04It's a process that makes me feel I'm a better manager.

02:09Of course, he knows individual qualities of the players in Liverpool, most of them,

02:16because they've been working a lot and it's not necessary to tell me how highly I speak about all of them,

02:21but the way they play Arn, comparing that, maybe they did slightly different things

02:26and definitely in the end of course you have to see what they do with Arn,

02:30not what they have done when he was with Jürgen in Liverpool.

02:34Hi Pep, just going back to Roderick. So, unfortunately, it's been 14 months

02:39and I think he's only played 533 minutes since this really bad injury.

02:44Is there a concern this could continue through the season?

02:47He gets these sort of setbacks, you know, tries to come back and this continues

02:51and he might not make it back properly if you understand what I mean consistently.

02:54I'm 100% convinced he will be back, he will play.

02:58Maybe it will take a little bit of time to reach the level that he had,

03:02but he played the game, game, game, he's going to do it.

03:06It's just we have to be sure the moment is there.

03:11But that's kind of what I'm getting at because, for example,

03:13he played the whole game at Arsenal, which is obviously a tough opponent, yes,

03:16and he came through that. So surely then there must have been optimism that he was back

03:21and yet sadly for him and for you and the club, etc, the fans, it keeps on happening.

03:25So how can you be absolutely sure?

03:27Yeah, but Arsenal came from three days before, we have Napoli and four or five days before we have United.

03:33And so it's always I said the same. So you believe me, Roderick can play one game a week.

03:40Look at 70, 75% of the games in the Premier League.

03:43The problem is you play Sunday and after Tuesday and after Saturday and after Wednesday and after that,

03:48you go to a national team and this is another type of competition.

03:52The teams who play in Europe in the level is another competition.

03:56I think for experience for the manager, so it's another way and the play is the same.

04:00You play one game a week, oh my God, you recover perfectly.

04:03The problem is every three, four days, every three, four days.

04:05And now we have to handle that, not just with Roderick, especially with Roderick because we knew it.

04:11It was a long, long injury and it went long injured.

04:13The historical says the year after you have slightly, slightly problems.

04:19They try to avoid it, we are desperate to avoid it.

04:21Not with Roderick for all of them.

04:24But it happened because the statistics say that, the musculars and the step backs,

04:29because you have been one year, stop.

04:33And you come back one game a week, he will recover fine.

04:36But it's so demanding.

04:37And me as a manager, when I see Roderick and the doctors and features say,

04:41Roderick is ready.

04:43He's going to play, my friend.

04:46He's going to play.

04:48And you have to, you know, be careful from now on.

04:53Be careful and be sure that Kenneth will step back.

04:56Last one, Maja, please.

04:58Hi, Pep, congratulations.

05:01Finally.

05:02Nice.

05:03Some of us are polite.

05:06You were talking about improvement in the team before.

05:11What sort of things are you looking to see in the next few weeks?

05:18The next few weeks is international break.

05:21And tomorrow, next Sunday.

05:24I think we are learning to play better in different ways.

05:29And I still have the feeling that defensively we are not like I'm dreaming of.

05:35Like we can see a few chances or goals in pairing.

05:38So we are in Premier League less than zero plus seven, six goals.

05:44So it's fine.

05:45Of course we're going to compare ourselves because they are unbelievable.

05:49I think we are learning better to play against different shapes.

05:53Man-marking or low blocks or deep.

05:56At the beginning we struggled a little bit to read exactly what they had to do.

06:00And like I said one month ago, I had the feeling that we are getting better.

06:05I said yesterday, the big teams, when you win, from my experience,

06:08when arrive at the end, April might win the title.

06:11This is how much you grew up from the September, October and every month.

06:15The teams who win, the teams who rose.

06:18And that had the feeling that we are getting better.

06:21That doesn't mean you will not step back in some games.

06:23Yeah.

06:24It can happen.

06:25No?

06:26But if we are consistent in the way we defend,

06:28they will play and read a little bit better.

06:30But that is just body language, just passion being to do it.

06:34And Sunday we play against, right now, the champions.

06:38Arsenal is not the champion.

06:40The champion is Liverpool.

06:41Come here to defend the title.

06:44We experienced that.

06:45And it is a chance to prove ourselves against the last champions of the Premier League.

06:51What is our level?

06:52And I am so excited to play.

06:56Thank you, everyone.

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