Pep Talk: “It’s another test and another game to try and win..”

Pep Guardiola certainly had time today as he went in to various topics of interest. From covid, injuries, the Chelsea game and more, this conference had a little bit of everything.

Let’s dive in-

On Chelsea

“Football is (about) constant evolution. You have periods where you play good, but the key is to sustain that for as long as possible, this is what you have to do,” the City boss declared.

“Tomorrow, the test we have ahead of us is to face the European champions.

“(They are) an excellent team in all departments and the way they play with personality.

“It’s another test and another game to try and win, make three more points and come back in our best way.

On Injuries/covid

“No, some people are coming, some people are positive again,”

When you test twice negative you come back otherwise you stay at home isolating, which happens at all the [Premier League] clubs in the last three months.

“We have some new cases, yeah, but we want privacy, I can’t tell you [who is out].

“We are used to it, unfortunately, to handling this situation for a long time. It’s happened for one or two years.

“We adapt and hopefully the cases are handled and players come back in a good condition.

“I think the COVID is all around the world. It is not that in this part of the world there is no COVID. That is not true.

“We had a lot of cases and a lot of injuries. We played Aston Villa with 11 first-team players.

“The last four or five games we played with academy players on the bench. We are in the same situation as all other clubs.

“Injuries may be less because our medical department is incredible. But in terms of COVID, we are the same.

“It is not that we are smarter or wiser or do the protocols better. When the virus comes into the bubble, everyone suffers. There’s no exception.”

On previous Chelsea match

“Our commitment with and without the ball was exceptional. That’s why we won, unfortunately it was a small margin because we could have scored more.

“The victory was nice but tomorrow will be completely different because we learned from that. We can do better, especially in attack.

“They will change like the Chelsea manager said. They are going to change their approach and they know they have to get points to still be there.”

On youth players

“It’s a question of patience,” he added

“Not all academy players can play with us. Some of them can and they play in the cup.

“Cole is more settled right now and McAtee can play as well. There are one or two more players who can help and be involved in the future.

“They have to be patient. There is a big road to follow to become settled and officially a player with us.”

Pep is sure to have the players available more than ready for this match and we should expect a cracking match.