Guardiola on Manchester City hammering Newcastle 4-0
15/02/2025
Etihad Stadium, Manchester, Uk
15/02/2025
Etihad Stadium, Manchester, Uk
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Evening, guys, we're going to take a show of hands,
00:04we'll come to as many views as we can,
00:06and we'll set an embargo towards the end of 10.30 on Sunday evening.
00:09We'll start with Phil, please.
00:11Pep, congratulations.
00:13There was a lot of talk before the game about Isak against Haaland
00:17and the deadliest finishers in the Premier League going head-to-head today.
00:22Maybe you got another one there as well, from what Omar did?
00:26What were your comments on his performance?
00:28The highlight is for him, right?
00:30The three goals have to be with him.
00:34Yeah, so we knew it.
00:37In Germany, Nenthal and Frankfurt make good numbers,
00:41so against Orient had three clear chances, couldn't score,
00:44so we knew sooner or later when the dynamic of the group was good
00:47and the performance was good, he could show what he is.
00:51Hopefully he can handle the biggest compliments that are coming,
00:54because this is non-stop.
00:57While you obviously knew about his ability, that's not in any doubt,
01:00sometimes, or quite often, the problem can be adapting to a new culture,
01:04new country, new style, but he's certainly hit the ground running.
01:08It's so simple, the answer.
01:10When you play good, everyone adapts quick.
01:12When you don't play good, you need time.
01:16So it's not so much difficult to read, but he played against Chelsea here,
01:21played really good, we won here as well.
01:24Of course, he's a player that we miss, his movements in behind, his pace,
01:29normally we have the players to get the ball and the feet.
01:31He's a guy who likes to attack the space and help us to create more time,
01:37but when we play the way we play today, everyone is better.
01:41Even the manager.
01:43I've just got to ask you as well, if you had any reaction to yesterday's decision,
01:48ruling on the APT thing?
01:50No.
01:51Thanks, that's fine.
01:54Pep, when you sign someone like Mambus, what is it that you're looking for?
01:59Because sometimes it's seen in the first half of the season
02:02that the kind of emphasis has been on Erling to score all the goals,
02:07and clearly he's scored a lot of goals, so maybe he can take that away,
02:11or maybe the opposition defence has got to mark him as well as Erling.
02:16Is that part of it? What's the strategy?
02:19The Sport Director.
02:21It's the business for him.
02:23Chiqui said we need that player, I said OK.
02:28No, when Chiqui came to me and said we need that player,
02:32I said yeah, we are leaving this season,
02:34as many players you bring to the team better we'll be.
02:39We knew it, and what happened, I got some contacts in Germany
02:43because I have friends there, and I asked about him,
02:47and we have a high opinion on many things, in behaviour and training sessions,
02:51and of course in assists and goals, in the pace and everything.
02:56He's young, he comes here to make his career,
02:59and that's why the club, because always the club who decide at the end
03:05the last word, decide to do it.
03:09Hi Pep, just wanted to ask about Erling,
03:11he seems to have hurt his knee at the end, is he OK for Madrid?
03:15Well, when he's down, everyone was scared,
03:18but I think he stood up and he walked smiling like always.
03:23I didn't speak with him, I didn't speak with the doctors,
03:26but if the doctors didn't come from bad news, hopefully he will be fine.
03:31Just also on Edison, that's his third assist of the season,
03:33seventh for City overall, just how important is his ability with the ball,
03:40does that compensate for other aspects of his game,
03:43and is that sure how important it is to keep it?
03:45It depends, there are always men's threes when the keeper has the ball,
03:52and Newcastle defined really well how aggressive they are in high pressing,
03:57and how tight and compact it is deep,
04:00and we saw with the pace that maybe in the past we still have up front,
04:03but we feel Omar and Erling, when you can win that duel in the space
04:09and the ball comes in the position, it's one against one with 30-40 metres.
04:13And Edison is the best in the world in these kinds of situations,
04:17and look at yesterday's action, I saw the Brighton with Mitoma,
04:22it's a long ball, it's one against one, you win the duel and do it.
04:27But Edison has done in the past with Sergio, I remember one game against,
04:33I don't remember the game, here, the neighbours, I don't remember the team.
04:39He made an assist as well, so when the team defend, we can do it.
04:44But we need the pass, we need the movement, we need many things,
04:47and today we have it.
04:51Hi Pep, we were talking a lot yesterday about the problems that the team's got,
04:55and how difficult the game would be today,
04:57so what was it that went so well for your team today?
05:01I would like to tell you a secret why,
05:03because after that you will ask me why we didn't do it before.
05:07Our intention was to do it, but it didn't work.
05:10I don't know, I think the presence of Nico helped us a lot,
05:14because these 10 balls, the 50-50,
05:16if he wins 7 you can run, if you lose 7, they will run.
05:20I think I had the feeling that the club contacted and bought an incredible player
05:27for the future in terms of mentality.
05:29I think he was in Barcelona Academy,
05:31and Barcelona Academy shows you the best in the world,
05:35how they teach you the concepts, the body shapes, the pass, the ball, the tennis.
05:39But I think in Porto Sergio Gonzalez helped us a lot to bring in his football
05:45the part of being aggressive and being smart,
05:48and how to play different types of games.
05:50He's so young, 23.
05:52I remember like a mini-Rodri, it's a big compliment,
05:56but he's had the feeling for the present,
05:58the big, you know, that have the duels,
06:00and the other one, of course, he's miles away from Rodri,
06:02but Rodri is the best.
06:04But, of course, I had the feeling, everyone had the feeling,
06:07his mates, that he's going to help us as part of the season,
06:10his presence, the long balls and backwards,
06:13and these kind of things with Rodri was really important.
06:16Of course, the energy for the new, the guys up front,
06:19close to Erling, guys like one against one, two against one,
06:22shoot right to the box.
06:24Many things for the players that help us, you know,
06:27to give this energy, the pace from Kusanov,
06:30his mega transitions and his pace behind.
06:33That's why we bought him, he's unstoppable,
06:35because he's so fast, he's so young,
06:37he's still too much aggressive, always in the duels,
06:39he goes to win the ball,
06:41sometimes when you don't win the ball, it's a transition.
06:43But it's a question of time, he will learn.
06:46But he adapted to the group really well,
06:49so, yeah, that's why many of these kind of things help Savio.
06:53You know, the impact on Savio for the first season in England,
06:55how many goals, how many assists,
06:57the impact has been, I wasn't expecting.
06:59I knew from Girona that he was a top, top player,
07:02but I didn't expect, you know, the influence
07:04that he had in our game since he arrived,
07:08and hopefully we can be calm,
07:10because this season is just to survive, we will survive,
07:15but hopefully this game can give us this boost
07:19to trust in ourselves that we were able to do,
07:22and still we are able to do.
07:25And for the rest of the season, it's massively important.
07:28Can I just ask about Haaland as well, because he was captain.
07:30Was there a new vote about captains after Karl Walker left?
07:33Yeah, when Kyle left, Kevin became the first,
07:40it was one back-end, and I nominated, not them,
07:42I nominated Erling to be a captain,
07:44because when one player will be 10 years here,
07:47hopefully it will be 10 years,
07:49sooner or later you take a separate responsibility,
07:51or what does it mean, better will be in the future,
07:54so sooner or later, per question of time,
07:56Erling will be.
07:58And it's nice that the first time in the Premier League,
08:02I think it happened from the beginning,
08:04get a good result is just a gesture,
08:07it's not important, but at the same time it is.
08:10Sam, for the embargo?
08:12No, before you, you and then the embargo.
08:16Pep, just going back to what you said about Gonzalez,
08:19he's obviously come through the same system that you came through,
08:22how did you, did Chiqui just bring him to your attention,
08:25or did you check your own contacts with him,
08:28and find out about him?
08:29I knew it, listen, I knew it from Barcelona,
08:32I was already I think in Munich,
08:34I was not there, but the rumour was always
08:36that I'm being contacted by someone at the academy,
08:38this player, this player,
08:39and in his generation he was one of the best,
08:41and Chiqui tried to bring him a long, long time ago,
08:44when he was in the academy, but it was not possible,
08:46because of course we had Fernandinho, we had Rodri,
08:50and thinking maybe he came to go to the academy,
08:53so one player for the academy of Barcelona,
08:56come for the academy for City, it's better to stay in Barcelona.
08:59But after, you know, Barcelona could play,
09:02but at the end it was a gap,
09:04like it was important players there,
09:06like could not play, or Valencia, or Porto,
09:08but always was there, in the radar, right?
09:10The club always had him, and after the options,
09:12and in this season we struggled in that position,
09:14we had options, and after this side,
09:17we discussed many times that we need a role there,
09:20a central defender, not like Rodri,
09:22impossible, but in terms, not quite similar neither,
09:25but, you know, this presence in the Premier League
09:28is inevitable, you have to, you know, to have,
09:32and at the end the club made an incredible effort
09:35to bring him here,
09:37and when we saw the 20 minutes in Orien,
09:39in the FA Cup, and today,
09:41with just 23 years old,
09:43it's not how you could see the place,
09:45you know, how he talked, the personality,
09:47it was a moment that was correcting Erling,
09:50you know, doing this, doing that,
09:52and when that happens, it's nice, you know,
09:56because you say, okay, in the next six, seven years,
09:58we'll have Rodri, we'll have him,
10:01and that will give us, you know,
10:04more presence, more stability,
10:07like this season, of course, we miss it.