Pep Talk: “The strikers have more responsibility, but everyone is involved to try to win games.”

Pep Guardiola had his press conference this morning and was fired up. Discussing injuries, replacements and much more.

Let’s dive in-

Pep on a January striker signing

“Absolutely not,” was the boss’ response when asked if it’s time to consider other options.

“Sergio could not play much and Gabriel has incredible numbers, his minutes to goals in the Premier League since coming here is one of the best.

“He scores goals. It is not just on his shoulders. We took 13 corners last game so everyone can score goals. The way we defend depends on the strikers and the same happens up front.

“The strikers have more responsibility, but everyone is involved to try to win games.”

Pep on tactical changes

“If 25 shots is not enough, create more,”

“The only thing is to insist, be positive and one day it will break.

“Be aggressive, put more players there and when we are able to score goals and win games the confidence will be back.

“But the reality is comparing the 40 goals we scored in the first 12 fixtures in the year we won the first Premier League, 36 for the second Premier League and last year we scored 35 at this stage.

“This year we have 18 so in the previous seasons we were there really well and we have to score more.

“Last season we scored more goals than the champions. We conceded too much but we have to score more.

“Everybody knows it but it doesn’t depend on one specific player. Everyone can score, it depends on the mentality and the desire.”

Pep on Aguero and other injuries

“I don’t know,” said Guardiola when asked if Aguero is ready for the trip to the South Coast.

“After the game he could not train. Yesterday no training, today he trained really well, but I don’t know how many minutes he can play.

“It’s important he makes training sessions but after the game he could not. It wasn’t the knee, it was another area.”

Pep on Lucy Bronze’s Award

“Lucy did a great job at Lyon, congratulations to her and we are proud she is here,” he said.

“The better players - men and women - we have, the more success. Big congratulations to her.

Pep on Southampton

“Southampton have an exceptional manager. I know him a little bit from my time in Germany. He was at many clubs, Leipzig played in a specific style.

“He has experience at the back and one of the best midfielders in the Premier League, [Oriol] Romeu. They have James Ward-Prowse, incredible player in set pieces.

“So no surprise in their success. Southampton for many, many years have been working well - so no surprise.

“But it is a challenge and we will see what happens.”

A bit fiery from Pep today on re enforcements. While not necessarily needed, it couldn't hurt to add competition especially as Aguero’s days at City are dwindling down.