WHY DOES PEP GUARDIOLA WANT TO "KISS AND SHOUT" AT HERO RAYAN CHERKI
Pep Guardiola credits "energy" over tactics as Man City beat Forest 2-1. Read how Rayan Cherki and Tijani Reijnders secured the win.
Pep Guardiola thinks Manchester City's title challenge comeback isn't about fancy tactics. He said after their tough win against Nottingham Forest that it's all bull****.
He believes the team bounced back from last season's dip because they found their energy again.
"Energy, energy, energy," he said. We lost it last season.
They found it in America during the Club World Cup, where team bonding helped the tired players get a new spark. New players who made an immediate impact helped, too.
Rayan Cherki, who cost €36.5m from Lyon, was the hero this weekend, scoring the winning goal and helping Tijani Reijnders, another newbie from Milan, score the first one.
Cherki is now starting to shine, but it took him a bit to get used to the Premier League. Guardiola still sees some ups and downs in the French attacker's game, but at the City Ground, he wanted Cherki to show his talent.
Guardiola admitted, Sometimes I shout at him, and sometimes I want to kiss him. I have mixed feelings about him.”
But Guardiola seemed happy with Pep Lijnders, the assistant coach. Reijnders' goal came from an adjustment that Guardiola was downplaying. Forest did well to stop City in the first half, only letting them take blocked shots from far away.
But moving Reijnders into a more attacking midfield spot let him run forward unmarked to get Cherki's pass. Guardiola immediately pointed at Lijnders in the technical area and gave him a big hug to show who came up with the switch.
Forest fought back, with Omari Hutchinson scoring, but Cherki scored the winner after Josko Gvardiol headed down Phil Foden's corner. City then switched to a five-defender formation for the final minutes.
"It was a nightmare, a really hard game," Guardiola said. At 75 minutes, I thought if we draw or lose, I'd congratulate Forest because of their Premier League passion.” He felt they would have lost this game last season ten out of ten times, but they kept pushing and believing.
That's why energy is so important to their comeback. It doesn’t mean you're going to win, but you can see the team, he said. Now we have eight wins in a row. It's not easy to do what we do. We need to get better, but this mindset is better.
“After that, we can talk about three defenders, four defenders, wingers, or fullbacks—that's all bull****. We needed energy, and then you have a good environment.
“Last season, how often did you see me judging and criticising the club? I could; I have big numbers in my career as a manager. How many? Never, ever. It's not about you or you or you; it was something… Something was in the fog in Manchester, around our training centre. We missed something.”
Even during last season's rough patch, when injuries and a tight schedule led to an older team finishing far behind Liverpool, he says he never lost hope they'd get their spark back.
“Energy can go down, but energy can go up,” he said. It’s never the same in life. You're never happy or sad all the time. You have to know why to know what we missed to come back. Everything in life… There is the sentence, right? This too shall pass.”
Things improved at their fancy place in Boca Raton, Florida, even though Guardiola was annoyed they lost to Al-Hilal in FIFA's new tournament.
Everyone was happy, he said, with the sun and beach helping. We had a lot of dinners and talks about what to do next season. We wanted to stay longer, just to feel that. I think we turned around there and felt something had changed.
Losing two of their first three Premier League games might just be because the new players needed time to adjust.
“Still, we were figuring out how to get the best out of the players, what they're good at. Sometimes it takes time. Managers aren't magicians; we can't just snap our fingers and make everything clear. You have to find out how they can play as a team.”
Guardiola says this is still a work in progress. People praise him for changing things up more than ever before, adjusting the style for different opponents, but it's also because of who's available to him.
The latest problem is the missing wide players. Oscar Bobb and Jeremy Doku are injured, and Omar Marmoush is at the Africa Cup of Nations with Egypt.
We only have one winger now; the others are injured, he said. We have to change the way we do things. You have to realise, 'Oh, it's not working; we need to change a bit.'
“It’s new players, and the opponents always face us in different ways. Winning helps this process move forward.”
This should make Arsenal feel uneasy.
BERNARDO SILVA TO LEAVE MANCHESTER CITY; LIJNDERS CONFIRMS "END OF THE STORY"
Bernardo Silva prepares for a Man City farewell. See the latest on Barcelona links and Elliot Anderson rumours.
Pep Lijnders, Manchester City’s assistant manager, dropped a pretty big hint that Bernardo Silva’s time at the club is wrapping up. After Saturday’s 4-0 win over Liverpool in the FA Cup quarter-final, Lijnders said, "Every good story comes to an end.” It sounds like Silva’s nine-year run at City is almost over.
Silva’s contract ends this season, and he hasn’t signed a new one. He’s being linked with Barcelona, Juventus, and even some American teams, so it feels like everyone’s expecting a move.
Lijnders was front and centre with Pep Guardiola banned from the touchline. He went on about how important Silva is to City, saying, “You never replace a player with the same kind of player because they don’t exist. Bernardo Silva is unique in the way he controls games, how he moves, receives the ball, leads the team, and finds solutions. All of that.”
Lijnders made it pretty clear: when Silva isn’t out there, City misses him. Sometimes, sometimes you notice it even after just one game. Imagine a whole season without him. But"Everyded, “every good story comes to an end,” and he hopes Silva enjoys his last few weeks and gets the proper send-off he deserves.
Silva joined City from Monaco back in 2017. Saturday’s match was his 450th appearance, and he’s racked up 18 trophies since he arrived. Guardiola’s always bfan; a huge fan, he’s picked Silva more than any other player in his career, and after Kevin De Bruyne left last season, Silva got handed the captain’s armband.
People are already speculating about who could come in next. City’s been linked with Nottingham Forest’s Elliot Anderson, but Lijnders pointed out that the club doesn’t look for like-for-like replacements. They focus on whaneeds: team needs someone who’ll fit right into the starting lineup. He also kept saying how much he values City’s Academy and the young talent breaking through.
He summed it up: the young academy players need to make the step up and grow into those midfield positions, but it’s vital to keep the senior guys around for stability. else, anything else, new signings or academy promotions, builds around that core.
HOW PEP GUARDIOLA’S ROTATION IS SABOTAGING PHIL FODEN’S 2026 WORLD CUP DREAMS
Thomas Tuchel admits Phil Foden is "struggling" and offers no guarantee for a World Cup spot after poor England form.
Phil Foden just hasn’t found his groove with the England squad lately. After friendlies against Uruguay and Japan, manager Thomas Tuchel pointed out that Foden isn’t in top shape, and it might cost him a World Cup spot.
Even at Manchester City, Foden’s spot in the starting lineup isn’t a sure thing anymore. Still, Tuchel picked him for the internationals and put him in the starting eleven both times. Instructions first, behind Doand's instructions, and Dominic Solanke for the Uruguay match, then behind Morgan Rogers when they faced Japan. But neither game saw Foden really come alive for England.
Tuchel didn’t hide his disappointment. “He tried everything,” he said. “He was outstanding in training, but once the game started, he just couldn’t bring that same energy to the pitch.”
Tuchel also mentioned that Foden just hasn’t been getting enough minutes at City. Even so, he arrived at the training camp in good spirits and looked sharp during the sessions. “I honestly thought he’d bring that spark into the games. But he’s struggling to show what he’s capable of.”
When reporters asked if he’d really take a player who isn’t playing much for his club, isn’t in form, and hasn’t been making an impact for England, Tuchel was upfront: “Yeah, I can take him. The question is whether we actually will. There’s no guarantee he’ll make the squad.”
Now, Foden has about two months to turn things around before Tuchel names England’s World Cup squad. “I’m always learning,” Tuchel said. “Every training session, I see how the team fits, how the players respond to times applied and instructions, how quickly they catch on. Instructions were followed time and time again, and then applied during matches.”
Everything’s still up for grabs. The priority now is for the players to finish strong with their clubs, then come back ready for England training camp. That’s when Tuchel and his team will make the final calls.
