Pep Talk: “We will be in trouble if (City) are not (fully focused),”

Pep Guardiola is a man happier than usual at this weeks UCL pre match presser. He spoke about how his team can’t lose focus, injuries hitting at a bad time and much more!

Let’s dive in-

Pep on mentality

“We will be in trouble if they are not (fully focused),” said Pep.

“It’s our job and our duty. We have to do it. Once we are there we can try to do well or do it wrong, it’s the same price, no discounts.

“Do what you can. Try. I am not asking to perform like we did against United for example in the second half.

“Football is not like this - but try - that is all.”

Pep on scoring

“We played with a number nine, but when teams press high, maybe drop in you can find spaces,” he said.

“When a team defends so deep and doesn’t move you don’t need a false nine, you need a striker but we don’t have it.

“We have Gabriel, but he likes to move more in the sides.

“From day one we want everyone involved in the process to defend and attack and they have permission to arrive in the box.

“Why did Kevin score two last game? Because he was there. Why score the first goal in Portugal when cross hit the post, deflection, Kevin passed to Riyad? He was there.

“To score goals you have to be there. How we arrive as many players after a lot of passes, they don’t lose stupid balls to counters and with a lot of passes we arrive.

“We make good transitions, Bernardo can’t make 40-50 metre transitions, Leroy (Sane) could do it, Raheem Sterling can do it, Sam Edozie can do it, but the rest, Riyad can’t do it.

“We need to go with the ball and when this happens, we arrive with four or five players in the box and we can score otherwise we struggle a lot.”

Pep on injuries

“We don’t have many, many players - we have just 14 available,”

“Nathan may be ready in the next days, but tomorrow is too risky and with Ruben out for a long time, we cannot risk another central defender.

“I know we have five days before Palace after this game, so we have some recovery time, but we cannot lose Nathan. It’s too risky, the doctor said to me.

“We have a few problems - suspension for Kyle and Joao can’t play. Of course, we had an incredible result in first leg and it’s 5-0, but nothing is done - football is unpredictable.

“There can be red cards, quality of opposition... We will pick a top side as much as possible. We will try to do our best team as possible to win the game.

The team does need to be focused and depth will be an issue, but this team should see this one through. Would be cool to see a couple new faces in from the start.