Guardiola unsure of injuries and fitness ahead of City - Everton
24/12/2024
CFGA, Manchester, UK
24/12/2024
CFGA, Manchester, UK
Category
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SportsTranscript
00:00Hmm, a few people, huh?
00:06The good ones.
00:08Good evening, guys, hope you're well.
00:11We'll start the embargo partway through for 10.30 on Christmas Day evening,
00:15so tomorrow evening.
00:16Start with Simon, please.
00:18Hi, Pep, happy Christmas.
00:21I know you've defended Erling Haaland and said that your team's a better team
00:28with Erling in it, clearly, and he's one of your fit players,
00:33but he hasn't scored goals as regularly over the last couple of months
00:37within this run as he normally would.
00:40Do you sense some kind of confidence issue, or why is that?
00:45Well, first of all, Merry Christmas for everyone, for all of you, your loved ones, of course.
00:51It's about us, it's about not just one player.
00:57So when in the past we scored goals and Erling was so prolific in helping us,
01:02it's because of the team.
01:04And when you have problems in the back, in the middle, it's for everyone.
01:09It's a team, it's not about one player, it will be easy.
01:13For just one player, the reason why, it will be easy, it's not about that.
01:18Erling is so important for us, will be so important for us, has been,
01:22and try to do the things better, to use him better.
01:26Just thinking, because he's such a big character and because he's delivered so often for you,
01:32he obviously has the potential to lead you out of this situation that you're in.
01:38Listen, in this situation, this tendency for all of us,
01:41and said the reason why is this one, and this one, and this one.
01:46It's never not myself.
01:48So it's about us, it's about everyone.
01:51So it's not, will be the analogy when I said that the guys are running,
01:57making effort more than ever.
01:59So all the time they say, we don't run, we don't fight,
02:02the reason why is this one, this situation, or this player, or this manager, or this.
02:06It's not about that.
02:08It's many little details or big details that make all together not as good as we were.
02:15But we have another opportunity in the boxing day to try and win time for the players to come back,
02:27and in a certain time we'll be better.
02:32Hi Pep, can I just check on team news?
02:35The players from Nunez weren't at Villa, are they going to be okay for this one?
02:39We trained this afternoon, we'll see how many players we have available.
02:43Right now, I don't know.
02:45Do you know how severe is Stone's injury?
02:48I said the same, I didn't talk with the doctors,
02:52but apparently if he cannot continue the second half in Villa Park,
02:57it's because he will not be ready.
03:00Ederson drew 0-0 at Arsenal, he drew 0-0 with Chelsea,
03:04I think it's five clean sheets in six.
03:06Is breaking them down going to be the biggest challenge for you in this game?
03:11Well, Schoen and Dijk always have a really good defensive structure,
03:15really good patterns defensively and offensively,
03:20and when they are able to do it against Arsenal and Chelsea,
03:24that means they are really good, because they have good transitions,
03:28and of course at pieces, long balls, they are really, really strong.
03:34Yeah, it's one of the top fifth leagues in Europe,
03:39it's one of the best in terms of clean sheets,
03:41that means they are working really well.
03:48Hi Pep, talking a bit about Schoen and Dijk,
03:51looking back at your head-to-head,
03:53he's managed one draw against you in 17 meetings,
03:57apart from that you've won every match.
04:00What does that say about styles,
04:02is this in some ways the perfect opponent for you, the way your teams play?
04:07You are so kind.
04:10In that situation they are not the perfect opponent.
04:15It's about us, to come back in our best,
04:19and we will take time, still we will take time,
04:22because we don't have players,
04:24but we have to get results as quick as possible,
04:26that will help us to reduce the distance to come back to the players.
04:33So we are facing now Everton in a good moment,
04:37the results show it, the performance shows it,
04:41and hopefully with our people we can be consistent and get the result.
04:47You talk a lot about your situation managing here,
04:50versus other managers and what they face,
04:52I just wonder in this run,
04:54do you have a greater understanding of perhaps what other managers,
04:57the likes of Sean Dyche, that often have to firefight at clubs,
05:00go through these long spells without winning,
05:02do you have a greater understanding of the challenges of managing in those situations,
05:06as opposed to where you normally are,
05:08the challenges of trying to win every single game at the top of the table?
05:12I don't need to leave the situation,
05:14to admire and appreciate the challenges of every club.
05:17Every manager when handles one club, they have one target.
05:22When Sean Dyche, maybe one day, is going to train in a big club,
05:25they have other challenges.
05:27So that doesn't mean that I don't...
05:31When he was in Burley and now in Everton,
05:33and doing what he has done,
05:37when the targets of the club are doing a certain target,
05:43here I give a lot of credit,
05:45not for the fact that we won, we won in the past,
05:48but during many years I don't give credit for the other teams,
05:51what they have done. Never.
05:54And what does Christmas Day look like for you and the players?
05:57I think Kyle Walker suggested you'd be training tomorrow for the first time
06:00in a couple of years because of the game being on Boxing Day.
06:03What's the schedule for yourself and the players over the next 24-48 hours?
06:06We train today, we train tomorrow night.
06:09We stay over here and we are going to play on Boxing Day.
06:13Will the players get any time with their families in this period?
06:19Yeah, I have been in the families two days,
06:21today we'll be at home with the families,
06:23and tomorrow we'll be in the families during the morning
06:25and the night we'll be here.
06:27Hopefully they want to be here,
06:30because it's our job and our duty.