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