Embargoed Press Conference: Manchester City have “always” been better than United says Pep Guardiola | OneFootball

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has reflected on his side’s dominance in the city and English football since his arrival at the Etihad Stadium in 2016.

The recently de-throned Premier League champions of four successive seasons have a fight on their hands to return to their former dominance, and enter into a difficult run of fixtures with a handful of injury problems on their hands.

The first international break has come and gone with additional problems on the injury and fitness front, with Rayan Cherki and Rayan Ait-Nouri sidelined for more than another month owing to problems in the opening three matches of the Premier League season.

John Stones has returned from a brief stint with Thomas Tuchel’s England side with a muscular issue first sustained against Brighton, while Omar Marmoush picked up a knee injury that could leave him ruled out until the next international break in early October.

Having picked up back-to-back defeats prior to the September break, City will be desperate to return to winning ways, but come back to a schedule that features Premier League meetings with rivals United and Arsenal, as well as a UEFA Champions League opener against Napoli.

Here is every word taken out of the embargoed section from the Manchester City manager at the City Football Academy’s media centre from Friday afternoon!

On the importance of getting Phil Foden back to his best: “He’s the first I’m looking for, desperate to feel happy, in the joy, and in every training session he’s smiling on his face and can contribute.

“That’s one of the reasons why last season we struggled because we missed him a lot, in the final third, in the creativity, in the work ethic. He’s top with that.”

On whether he senses Phil Foden is getting back there: “We have a glimpse of, ‘Oh, he’s coming back’, and after a knock, one week or 10 days he stops, and after he comes back and another knock.

“And all the players have to, to come back, play games and day by day. That is what we have to try to do. He has to try anyway.”

On whether the Manchester derby is still a dangerous fixture despite all of the turmoil at Old Trafford since Sir Alex Ferguson’s departure: “Always I thought about that, there are teams that beat us. At the end, of course I have respect for United, we know, I’m so nice. I have a huge respect for their history, what they have done in the past, the legacy for English football, the legacy for football. So if they beat us, they beat us.

“At the end, we’ll finish the season. In the 90s, always [they] were in front, maybe Man City beat them sometimes, at home and away. And in 27 years, they won 30 times the Premier League. In the last nine years, we won six times the Premier League. In the last eight, we won six.

“So that’s why it’s what counts at the end. At the end we were better and since I arrived, always we were always better than them. Always. Ten years, nine years, always we were always better. With a huge, huge amount of points we have done.

“They can beat us, of course, we want be beaten tomorrow? No. Because we need the points, we need to break the rhythm, the two defeats and do that. But I don’t count about what happened.

“Of course it hurts because I want those points to help us to win the trophies or be there. Of course, it’s a special game for our fans and the other ones. But we will try to do it, yeah.”

On whether he still gets pleasure from beating Manchester United, or finishing above them in the league: “I’m happy to finish as champion of the Premier League. That is what I like. And to do it, you have to beat United, yeah. But sometimes we don’t win [against Manchester United] and we won it [the league title]. Honestly I don’t have much personal.

“Of course it’s important because it’s special, but it’s just trying to be focused on what we have to do, the emotions, have the emotions but not enough, and do what you have to do. I think that is the most, it doesn’t matter.

“At the end, it’s how far you are, you qualify for the Champions League, you fight for the titles, you are in the final in the FA Cup and this kind of stuff. United is United, going good or bad, always they have good players, just see how [much] they are spending in the last decade.

“But what happened, I don’t know. I didn’t speak with their owners or the CEOs or United to know exactly the reality of what happened.”

On what he takes from individual sports he has been watching or playing during the international break such as tennis and golf: “How good they are. When you live the final in a Grand Slam and after you see a round with Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrell Hatton, how they hit the ball in the golf courses – they play another game.

“All of us, we play tennis sometimes and play golf, but it’s another game. That [makes you] realise they are in the highest competition and highest level, another history and it’s always a pleasure to see their behaviours, how they behave, how they play. It’s really, really good.”

On whether there is anything he can take to take to Manchester City’s players: “In terms of mindset, no. In terms of mindset, we have a lot to learn from these kind of guys because they saw every point, [Jannik] Sinner, [Carlos] Alcarez for example, and every point that they lost or miss one shot, just in the sadness for one second, and another one, see his managers and trainers and say, ‘Let’s go, let’s go, let’s do it.’ The body language was unbelievable.

“The mindset can be the same, but when you analyse one player, another player is playing bad. It’s playing with 10 more. And 10 more makes that player good or bad sometimes, not it depends on yourself. So that’s why it’s that.”

“Thank you. Apologies again [for being late]. But tomorrow [Saturday] you have a day off, right?”