Embargoed Press Conference: Pep Guardiola hopeful of Rayan Ait-Nouri injury recovery | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola remains hopeful that Manchester City’s long week before their next game will play a significant part in recovering Rayan Ait-Nouri from injury.

The Algerian international has played a significant role in some of Manchester City’s brightest performances since he joined the club from Wolverhampton Wanderers earlier this summer, and began his career with the side by starring at the FIFA Club World Cup.

However, Ait-Nouri’s debut at home in front of the club’s Etihad Stadium support ended inside the opening 25 minutes, as he was forced to withdraw from the action following a knock to his left ankle, with Nathan Ake coming on in his place.

Unfortunately for all involved, Manchester City fell to a 0-2 defeat to Thomas Frank’s Tottenham, who secured all three points once again on the road in the north-west courtesy of goals from Brennan Johnson and Joao Palhinha.

Pep Guardiola and his players will be hoping to bounce back immediately when they take on Brighton & Hove Albion at the Amex Stadium on Sunday afternoon, with Pep Guardiola moving on from the defeat to Spurs with a round of media duties.

Here is every word taken out of the embargoed section from the Manchester City manager at the Etihad Stadium following the defeat to Tottenham on Saturday evening!

On whether the season starting with the transfer window ongoing is unsettling to players: “We never know. I think everybody’s trained really good, and they don’t have any complaints, they have energy.

“We have many good things and the quality they have, just today [vs Tottenham] in the simple things, we missed it. I know the aggression there is high but the question of the pass is a little bit and we missed a little bit of that, a little bit more composure with the ball, but that – through the games – we’re going to take it.”

On whether the simple things are harder to do with so many new players – only three City players started on Saturday and in the 0-4 defeat to Tottenham last season: “Yeah, that’s why I changed! If this is the argument, it’s because I have to put a lot of players in and we lost 0-4, so you give me the right, right?”

“It’s the team we’re going to do for the next years, this year and the next years. So we have a squad and when we finish next Sunday, when we finish for the international break, you’ll ask me about the squad I have and that, and we’ll move forward.

“We will move forward with that. So, maybe, maybe it will happen and maybe… but I take the decision because I felt in the training sessions Nico made a step forward, Tijjani [Reijnders] is going there.

“I imagined in the past, when playing against Spurs or Brentford in the past, when we are able to drop them and they defend so deep and that they need talent, need the quality, need the vision, like Rayan Cherki is extraordinary for that and I knew that when playing inside, Rico [Lewis] is really, really good in smaller spaces in his work ethic. So many reasons that involved.

“It depends how they defend the opponent and just is in the build up, when they’re man marking, you have to track them to find the next stages, next passes and that we didn’t read it. But a part of that, that is not a big problem, when we arrive in the position that is more comfortable, we lose the simple things because we need the continuity with the pass.

“We cannot attack in three passes and four passes, we need that, and today the players that we have, we miss it a little bit. That’s all.”

On whether Brennan Johnson’s goal will make him reassess Manchester City’s high aggressive defensive line: “No, I don’t think so. During 10 years, 14 years, 16 years, I like to be aggressive as a team. I like it. Sometimes we cannot do it.

“It was an action, a slippery, you make offside or whatever, and for centimetres it happened. But yeah, we will continue to do it. We’ll adjust, of course. It’s not saying all the time, I’m not naïve to say when the situation is going bad, but the intention to be aggressive, to be the game, we’ve done it all the time, so we continue to do it.”

On Rayan Cherki and the different of moving from French football to the Premier League: “I’ve not been in French football, I’ve not been a manager there, so I don’t know exactly what happened. But of course the new players do it.

“But that’s why I gave at [a start] at home, he made an incredible 20 minutes at Wolves, being involved in small spaces, made a fantastic goal, the creativity to find the wingers, to find Erling [Haaland], to find Tijjani [Reijnders], to find Rico [Lewis], all of them have good, good movements from behind. And that was the reason why.

“It’s the first game, he will learn and keep going.”

On Rayan Ait-Nouri’s injury: “I didn’t speak with the doctors yet. It looks like the ankle, but I didn’t speak with the doctors yet. We have seven days, hopefully it can be recovered.”