Pep Guardiola on Man City injury and Grealish latest ahead of visit of Sheff Utd
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00:00 Hi Pep, obviously it's the last game for you of 2023,
00:23 how do you sum up what this year has been like for you?
00:26 Not bad at all.
00:27 Not bad.
00:30 A bit better than that maybe?
00:33 Could be better, I don't think so, but anyway.
00:36 It always can be better, don't be greedy too much.
00:38 It was good, really good.
00:40 In terms of how you take it forward then,
00:44 this weekend you've obviously got the chance to put pressure on those above you,
00:50 so how perfect do you feel you've got to be now,
00:53 between now and the end of the season in this title race, to retain the title once again?
00:58 Well, when we lose a game, we are out of the title race,
01:02 when we win a game we are there, it's the same for our contenders,
01:06 so we're supposed to be calm, but what we have seen so far this year
01:10 is that everything can happen,
01:13 many results that maybe you cannot expect.
01:19 So, yeah, the last game of the season, after that we have generally more relaxed,
01:25 the fact we have more days for recovery, the more it's so important again.
01:29 Against teams like with Chris Wild,
01:32 so always in the past we had a lot of problems against Sheffield,
01:34 we went for a little margin in the past,
01:38 we made an incredible performance against Aston Villa,
01:40 when we were really, really close to winning the game,
01:44 I saw the games and it will be so, so tough, quite similar to Crystal Palace,
01:50 they defend so deep, and Lombard and McBurnie and the other ones,
01:54 but they do really well.
01:56 So, yeah, the last games at home we could not get results in terms of victory,
02:02 and yeah, try to be focused on what you have to do.
02:07 Just to check on a few players, first of all, Pep, can I ask how Jack Grealish is,
02:10 and his family, and what extra support maybe you've had to give them,
02:15 given the ordeal his family went through this week?
02:17 Well, unfortunately nothing wrong happened in terms of where the family was inside,
02:21 it was...
02:24 Yeah, it's what it is today, in modern days,
02:29 with many things happening, and yeah,
02:33 it was a bad moment for him and his family, but fortunately
02:40 nothing, the family was not damaged, with the people inside.
02:43 And just check on the injury situation, how's John Stones,
02:46 and when can we expect Harvon, De Bruyne and Doku to be back?
02:49 Nothing changed for the last games, so we had the same injuries, plus John Stones.
02:55 Pep, what kind of threat will Sheffield United pose to you?
03:00 Well, quite similar in the concept, Everton, Lombard, second balls, attack the
03:05 channels, link inside, set pieces, transitions, defensive deep,
03:10 be patient, don't make mistakes,
03:14 you have to play a lot of intensity and attack
03:18 in the right moments.
03:21 Yeah, my experience against Chris in Sheffield was really, really difficult.
03:27 You are eight consecutive league games now without a clean sheet, is that a
03:31 concern for you, or as long as you're picking up points it's no problem?
03:35 Yeah, it's better than do it, we have a clean sheet in the World Cup.
03:40 Yeah, this season we struggled a little bit here, but
03:44 yeah, we don't think much about that before the game,
03:48 it's how we have to do to score more goals, this is the target.
03:54 Hi Pep, just going back to the other night, how important was it
03:59 going to Everton, a tricky place to go at a difficult time after the period
04:03 you've had, and getting a win and starting to rebuild momentum again?
04:09 Well, it was really important, but it was just one game, when we won 10 games in a
04:12 row, eight games in a row, and after I would tell you about the momentum,
04:16 it's just one game, so the previous one we drew against Crystal Palace in the last
04:20 minute, so
04:23 always you are consistent when you make results, results for a while, and still
04:27 didn't get in the Premier League in the last games.
04:32 Hi Pep, I think it was four different clubs at the top so far in the Premier League,
04:39 do you think that this alternation and the number of mid-table clubs
04:46 getting points from clubs at the top, this is a sign of the strength
04:49 of the league? Yeah, and the lower points, the lower teams
04:53 are in the bottom as well, they get results, so yeah.
04:57 So maybe last previous season it didn't happen much, but this season it's
05:01 a common for all the teams, they're struggling, all of us we're struggling to
05:05 get the results in a comfortable way, so that means how tough it is,
05:10 so be patient, so it's not give up, never ever,
05:15 so keep going and game by game. In terms of patience, it seems
05:22 that here when you drop points, that outside of the
05:26 club, City are not allowed to lose points
05:28 because the standards are so high, does that make it harder?
05:33 No, it's what it is, we are used to in the last seasons, it's not
05:38 different now, so just to inside to be calm,
05:42 analyse how is the team and keep going, it's so long, Premier League is never
05:46 end, it's so long, long way and many things, many, many things,
05:52 Man City first included, many things going to happen.
05:58 Hi Pep, you never look past the game
06:02 that's ahead of you against Sheffield United, but
06:04 five of your next six games are in the Premier League, is that
06:07 is it important that you could just concentrate on one competition?
06:12 Sorry, I didn't get the question, can you repeat?
06:15 Five of your next six games, they're in the Premier League,
06:18 is that important that you just concentrate on the Premier League?
06:22 Yeah, especially when we're qualified for the Champions League for
06:25 February, we're incredibly just focusing
06:29 in the Premier League, except it's one week, ten days that we're in Saudi Arabia to win
06:33 the World Champion, so yeah, absolutely it's the Premier League,
06:37 focus on that of course, next week we have Huddersfield here for
06:41 the FA Cup start and this of course is important competition, but the Premier
06:44 League have been the main target mentally in the past, in the recent past.