Ahead of the Manchester derby Pep Guardiola discusses his football philosophy, Kevin De Bruyne and what the future holds for him
Ahead of the Manchester derby, Pep Guardiola stepped into the Sky Sports Match Zone to share some of his footballing philosophies.
The Manchester City boss can secure his first Premier League title on Saturday if his team beat Manchester United at the Etihad, a game you can see live on Sky Sports Premier League.
Ahead of a day of destiny, Guardiola explained why he is so desperate for his players to keep passing the ball over short distances – and also revealed his thoughts on switching his defensive system next season.
He was also effusive in his praise for star player Kevin De Bruyne and sounded a warning to his rivals, by insisting he wants his team to be even stronger next season.
Watch Guardiola in the Match Zone in the exclusive video at the top of the page and read on for a snapshot of his thoughts…
On his passing philosophy
“I think when teams are able to make short passes of four or five metres, you lose the risk to lose the ball. If you play long passes of 15 or 20 metres and the players are not together in position, then even if you are faster you cannot win the second ball. We try to pass the ball because we believe the players are football players to play with the ball and we try to let them enjoy [being] with the ball.”
On Kevin De Bruyne’s ‘extraordinary level’
“He has achieved, this season, an extraordinary level. In terms of continuity, it is not just a good performance, it is every single game during three days. He is the guy who always runs the most and he is one of the more talented players we have in England in our team. In terms of how aggressive he goes and how much intensity he has, when one of the best players does that, the others have to follow him. He is a guy who is never injured and a guy who always wants to play and has more energy to keep going. He is a huge competitor.”
On switching to three at the back
“It is a system we can use, maybe in the Champions League. We can use it in some parts of the games, for example, if Benjamin Mendy came back. On the left we have Fabian Delph, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Danilo so in this season we cannot do that, but maybe when Mendy comes back then sometimes we will do that because with Vincent Kompany, Nico (Otamendi), Aymeric Laporte and John (Stones) we have exceptional central defenders, so maybe we can use it.”
On whether Man City can get better
“In football you can always do better, no doubt about that. It’s not the manager’s job to help 11 players to be better, it’s to help 19 or 20 players. We have made mistakes and the nice thing is we can do better when that has happened. We will try.”
Man City vs Man Utd
April 7, 2018, 5:00pm
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