Pep Guardiola says the ‘smell’ in Manchester City training is encouraging as he noted a positive difference in his players from the last time they tried to win a third Premier League title in a row.
Pep Guardiola said: “I think we were quite consistent in these five games. Even in America, in pre-season against Bayern Munich, we were quite consistent. We don’t change our patterns much. When we talk, it is [do] the same, the same. It gives confidence to the team and helps. It feels good. It is just five Premier League games though. After back-to-back Premier League titles I said I wanted to take a look at how the people come back in pre-season, how they start the games, because the third season after back-to-back was really bad, how we started. Liverpool flew and we could not catch them. I was curious this year, about the smell in training sessions and in pre-season. Since day one, I like what I’ve seen. We have to try to continue because if you relax a little bit in this league then I know what is going to happen. The big mistake for tomorrow is to think ‘ah, Aston Villa’ and then not start well. Huge mistake for us.”
Guardiola then stressed that he has never had an issue with his players’ behaviour in his time at the club, but he was instead referring to how motivated they are in training — and how that then translates into games.
Pep Guardiola said: “In general, the behaviour of the players has always been beyond fantastic. I’ve only complained a few times. It’s my seventh season here and most of the players, I know them. One of my main jobs is just to take a look a little bit more than in training. It’s the behaviour, how they behave… if they arrive on time, if when they start they have really started – not 10 or 15 minutes after we start the training session – and many other details. I looked and said, ‘OK, they are ready’. That is why we are focused in our games and the best example is the last two games. The second half against Palace and then against Nottingham Forest. The team was there. This is what we have to continue. Our duty is to go for 11 months. It doesn’t matter what happened in the past, it’s about doing our job. That is why we’ve had success in the past. We said after Forest that we have made our people happy, the 55,000 who came here. They went home and said the 90 minutes was nice. Talking about titles is ridiculous, it’s about Forest. We had fun, the fans had fun. We felt it. People have forgotten about Villa last season, we have to do our job.”
Pep Guardiola thinks that Julian Alvarez will allow Manchester City to return to a system that they have not been able to use for several years. Having bested the Premier League for the last two years, Pep Guardiola now finds himself with not one but two goalscorers who specialise in being both clinical and prolific. Erling Haaland has wowed English football with nine goals in five games and Julian Alvarez netted twice on his first start this week
Pep Guardiola said: “It depends on the shape of the opponent as well but in some games we can do it. When we figure out that teams defend deep or in those positions, maybe we can think that we need guys with a sense of goal and we have guys to solve games because they have this quality. Everyone has their own quality and they have this quality. We have players behind who can make incredible assists like Gundogan, Kevin, Bernardo, Riyad and Phil and Rodri, – they have big talent to create assists for them. We cannot forget that you need a good process to have chances, to do well, not to concede transitions to avoid set-pieces, free-kicks, corners and throw-ins where every team can beat you. Of course in the final third when there are a lot of players in the 18-yard box, you need strikers. We had it in the past with Sergio, Gabriel and Raheem’s sense of goal, and now we have another two different type of players. In games where we imagine one idea of the game or we are losing and have to win, I put on the guys with this quality.”
