One on One | Guardiola on the pressure of last season, why he's easy to work with and seeing Oasis! 

0:06Are you really easy to work with? Yeah, so easy. For the players, a little bit less, but my staff is so easy. It's so easy, yeah, yeah. I felt a lot of pressure, maybe more than ever, because I know today the clubs win the Champions League or not is a massive, massive difference. We'll be more consistent than the world last season. I'm not checking silverware and this kind of stuff, because nobody knows. but I think we'll be more solid than we were last season. How good was Oasis? Ah, really good. You have been the best band in the last 50 years. They come back again and sold out all around the world is because, guys, they are good.

0:43Otherwise, it's not sold out.

0:51Hello, I'm Joe Tomlinson. And I'm Juliet Farrington. And welcome back to a brand new season of One on One from Sky Sports. It's the podcast where we speak to some of football's biggest names about life both on and off the pitch. Throughout the season myself and Jules sit down for a one-on-one chat with a manager or a player to go beyond what we see on the pitch and find out a little bit more about them. And this is our second season so if you're new to one-on-one then hello, welcome along. There's plenty of episodes from last season to go back and listen to because this show isn't just about an upcoming fixture or results we try and get behind the headlines and the results on the pitch and here's a little taster of what you can expect to hear football change in england because of pep why do you think that is why do you think he's been so influential in spain and then in germany and now in england because he's uh he's a genius he's the number one my first season where i went from sort of like working at asda like not really playing football and then three months later I was playing in League 2 and I couldn't quite get my head around it.

1:54He shows a lot of clips from the training and says, Lucy, you didn't run now. Why? What did he say about you? Nothing. Do you think players themselves are now more focused on numbers and things than when you were a player? Yeah, the only number I cared about was the mark I got in the paper. Yeah, exactly. I bet the former Man United player WhatsApp group is insane. It is good. It's good. Who's admin? I think it might be real, you know. You know what he's like? He just chats and chats. He likes talking. Oh, he likes it. He loves it.

2:32So that's who we are and what we do. If you haven't already, give one-on-one a follow wherever you listen to your podcast so you don't miss an episode. And you can watch our one-on-ones as well on Sky Sports News, on the Sky Sports website and app, and also the Sky Sports Premier League YouTube channel. We're literally everywhere, George. We are. We heard at the top of the show as well. What a way to start, by the way. Today, we're the one-on-one with Pep Guardiola. It really is a good place to start, Jo. The Manchester City manager was in really good spirits and you could feel and you could tell a difference from last season.

3:07Full disclaimer, though, it was a really hot day. I cannot tell you how hot it was inside that indoor training pitch at the Etihad campus. There was no air con and even the white chocolate buttons in the pick and mix that the club had put on for us on the media day, they had well and truly melted. When he arrived, he had a towel to wipe the sweat off his face and his head. And we had to move as well because we just needed some form of draft, some form of fresh air, a breeze. So we opened up one of the shutters that led to one of the training pitches, one of the many training pitches at the campus.

3:40And to be honest, I think when we both sat down, we just wanted to get the interview. We just wanted to get it over and done with. And you'll hear Pep talking about the Club World Cup. Many people spoke about that before the tournament started, but he really enjoyed it. His new look backroom team, he's got a new captain as well. The pressure of last season and finishing in those Champions League places. He also says he's really easy to work with. And like so many throughout the summer who went to see them play live, we spoke about oasis but that was right at the very end of the interview as well so here's how we got talking starting with the moment manchester city secured that all-important champions league place on the last day of the season harland sends lennon the wrong way sends the traveling city support into raptures and that should be enough that should be enough for Champions League football for the 16th successive season.

4:41Pep, thank you so much for your time. I know it's been a busy, busy summer, what with the Club World Cup and everything else. I just wanted to ask you first, on the final whistle of last season, what was the one thing you wanted to achieve or accomplish in this time going into this season? Well, the last whistle in the last moment against my friend Marco Silva and Fulham, I said, OK, we're going to play the Champions League next season. That was the incredible relief. I felt a lot of pressure, maybe more than ever, because I know today the clubs being the Champions League or not is a massive, massive difference.

5:19And it was six, seven teams, you know, fighting for that and being there have been incredible relief. And after that, we went to the World Cup and tried to create a good vibe, I would recover something that we lost last season. And from there, we start to create a good foundation. But hopefully this season, we can move on. And talking to people in and around the club, I'm getting the impression that was the vibe you wanted in America. You got exactly what you wanted. We were too early in the last 16. We could not arrive. But we were so good there. First of all, the place we were in the bike and the training session.

6:01and the games, the vibes between the players was really, really, really good. That was, it was a pity go out, not just for the win, because Chelsea will deserve it to win, it's for the fact to extend a little bit more weeks to be there, because we were comforted, training sessions, playing golf and in front of the sea, and good dinners, good lunch, everybody laughing and training seriously and enjoying the same time. So, but it's what it is. But I took that like, OK, this is the... Because in that way, we'll be more consistent than the world last season. I'm not taking silverware and this kind of stuff because nobody knows.

6:40But I think we'll help us to be more solid than we were last season. A more, I use that word normal, but a more normal Manchester City competing when you're getting to the spring of next year. And yet, rather than being sort of not in and around it, you're going to be alive and going for it. Is that what you're looking for? Yeah, absolutely. At the end, we want to be happy. Be happy is not to win the silverware because after two days, it's forgotten. It's the journey to arrive until May, June. Every week, winning games, we've got to make that moment between games. After winning games, it's better.

7:14You sleep better, your life is better. And here, more people talk more, laugh more. And when you lose, they are more sad. That is normal. But that was a good experience at the end. And we fought a lot last season. And I take it like one of the satisfaction because a few of my players didn't give up and I didn't give up in the tough, tough moments. And that's why this season we can play the Champions League. Is the energy different with you this season? When you talk about how you were feeling at the end of last season, because 10 years ago, the energy would be different for you. So how is it this time around?

7:51Listen, the energy comes from every day. Don't come and have energy. Maybe in two hours, I don't have energy. now I'm happy because I'm with you and in two hours maybe I'm sad. So that's come and go. So people don't pretend to be happy all the time. So the energy is being built, what you see, what the results, of course, but we see in every day in the training sessions and the communication between the staff, the players, that energy is always, you know, have to regenerate. It's not one thing. Before the end of the season, all the clubs are the energy we're going to make a good season of course could not be differently but you have to build it and keep going and that is what we want to do this season Pep Guardiola has added to his backroom staff bringing in Pep Linders former coach at Liverpool two spells most recently with Jurgen Klopp until he left in the summer and another coach of the set piece goes James French who also joins from Liverpool so these are just this moment being announced.

8:55You changed your staff. We know you've changed players. You've brought players in. You've refreshed it on the field. You've refreshed your coaching team as well. Do you like them challenging you with their ideas and their opinion? One of the reasons why is that personally I had, with the clubs I've been in Barcelona and Munich and here a lot of success because I've had an incredible staff. My assistant coaches and staff or backroom staff have been massively important, massively. So there is no complaint, not even once. But I felt last season that we need to change things just for the feeling for a new mythology, new training.

9:38And of course, the new ones, I want to convince them and the knowledge that they have all of them because I said many times, so it's not Pep say, what do you have to do to my staff? So my staff say to me what we should do and after we talk and after we design. So the knowledge that I have right now, Pep Linders or James or Colo Ture, they have knowledge that I don't have, I didn't have. And he can transmit to me and maybe I can help you from other things and all together make the team better. That is the reason why we are here. So it's not just Pep say that, I have to do that. No, I'm incredible.

10:15People who work with me know I'm incredibly open-minded and I like to be with people that for themselves feel a manager, feel how we do this, how we do that, that we should do this. I love that because after that, we grow up as a team. And I'm pretty sure this year for the people who come, they will help us a lot to be a better team. So how do you go about finding those staff? Well, sometimes come for all, sometimes come and come. This happened with Pep. I know it was for many, many years from Jürgen. And I thought, okay, if I've been many, many with Jürgen, this guy must be good. And after, of course, I've been in Salzburg, I have experience as a manager.

11:01And yeah, we talked just one day and I said, I would like to, you know, if you... I have sometimes decisions come from the feeling. And I knew for... A good feeling. Yeah, the Liverpool play outstanding in the decade we've been together and I think can give us something that maybe we didn't have in the last season in terms of rhythm, intensity, in terms of another vision of football. And since day one, I think we were incredibly connected. I would say it's so easy to work with me. Sorry to tell you because I'm so easy, I would say, because I give incredible space to do what they believe, what they have to do.

11:41And since there's one, yeah, I think we need one phone call. And I said, OK, let's do it. Let's go together. So that was. Are you really easy to work with? Yeah, it's so easy. For the players, a little bit less, but my staff is so easy. It's so easy. Yeah, yeah, it's so easy. What I want is I want to see or let them feel that they act or react like you are a manager. Like, what would you do? And tell me, what would you do in this situation, in that game or previous game? What would you prepare? And after, we will see. I will say my opinion and after, we take a decision. And that is what I want.

12:16I don't want followers, you know, like Pep have this name and I'm going to do this. No, I don't want that because after that, we don't grow up. We don't grow up. You're listening to One on One with Pep Guardiola. When we come back, we hear from and talk about the new Manchester City captain. We talk about leadership and also one of those many sold out nights at Heaton Park watching Oasis. We'll be back with you shortly.

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13:29Welcome back to One on One and our chat with Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola. In this part of the interview, you'll hear how he likes to be challenged by his staff, why every team needs leaders and his thoughts on Oasis. But Jules, you also talked to him about his new club captain. I did, Bernardo Silva. And the only reason, Joe, we got talking about him was because I was fortunate enough to speak to Bernardo about an hour and a half before I sat back down with Pep. So it kind of made perfect sense. Here are the thoughts of the new Manchester City captain first. It's a lot of responsibility, big responsibility, but at the same time behaving exactly the same way that I've been doing for forever.

14:08trying to be an example in the way I behave every day and then also because I'm a bit older now trying to pass to the younger guys and to the new players my experience and all the things that I learned over the years to help as many players as possible and put the team as close as possible to fight for things. Have you always been that vocal character, that voice? Before you took over the captaincy as well? Over the years, with experience and with also the confidence and with getting to know everyone at the club, you start being more and more vocal. And of course now, as you said, being the captain, there is a big responsibility in terms of helping the guys, in terms of trying to not allow for some things to happen.

15:03And yeah, I will try to do my best. Bernardo Silva there then talking about wearing the captain's armband this season. Here's the second part of our conversation with Pep Guardiola and why he decided Bernardo was his number one choice. Bernardo Silva, an absolutely brilliant counter-attacking goal from Manchester City. Talk to me about Bernardo Silva because he's your new captain. How did you go about that decision? He's been here quite a while. So obviously he knows about the success and has that experience that he can bring. Was that an easy decision to make? I could have. I chose for one reason.

15:42In the last season when we were in big, big trouble, in trouble in results in period November, December, January, we didn't win games. Always he was there. Always he was there. Training every day. Massage, exhausted. it. We have just 13-14 players in that moment, plus Academy. And every three days I lose a game, I lose a game, I lose a game, I lose a game, and I was there, I was there, I was there. And it's the player that in the last, in my period here, it's the player who played more games, more minutes with me. So all have been available, you know, for his nature, physicality, and for his generosity when he doesn't play.

16:28always the biggest smile, always when I try to help. She playing left-back, I'm going to play left-back. I'm going to play right-back, I'm playing right-back. Playing a winger, right winger, play there. Holding midfielder, holding midfielder. So it doesn't matter positions. Always thinking where he's the best for the team. And all his attributes, I said, he will be a good captain. And he's been a really, really good captain. He's your captain now. But the importance as well, because you're a leader, he's a leader on the pitch, but to have other leaders within a team, within a new team, how important is that to have?

17:01When one team has one leader and one leader, it will be a s*** team. So everyone has his own responsibility, has his own leader. The team has followers and like Pep said that, everyone has to do it. No, confront me. Tell me you are not agree. Tell me that maybe we should do differently. Because I try to convince them. I don't say you have to do that. I have to tell them, look what happened if we do that. And after that, they can visualise and say, oh yeah, here will be a better team. That is our role. And after that, in the game, in the team, I want to have to be a lot of players, especially in the bad morning, and say, make a step forward.

17:38This is what we want. It's a ball for Evan Nilsson!

17:45The Vitority Stadium erupts! AFC Bournemouth 2-0 up against the champions! You put yourself through it, and you just use that word, confront me, Was there a lot of confrontation last season or the season before? Even when you're being successful, is there a lot of confrontation when they take you on? I don't like the confrontation just for the fact that you don't play. That I don't like the confrontation about ideas. I love it. I love it. I like to know what the people think or what happened. And like season, I learn a lot about even being many, many years together. so at the end the results make you feel they trust you and your result is not good, they don't trust you.

18:28In the moment I have to convince them again and convince them again but it's natural it's normal so when we lose we doubt and everything and you have to reveal something the process to do it and we are working on it. Can I ask you one more question? How good was Oasis? Really good. This is the first time I've been in his concert so it's nice, it was nice. He's been in Manchester the first time he came here after many, many years. Maybe I've been the best band in the last 50 years, a rock band in the last 50 years. And I'm happy he's back. It's the first time I knew Liam. Noel, I've been many times, but Liam I never met before.

19:06And I met him before the concert. They were so kind. Did you get why all the hype was around them? Because they hadn't performed for so long. Yeah, yeah. I think it's good, you know. But listen, I don't know how many concerts they sold out and everything. That means how good I've been. So always I say the same, right? Look, one team, when I said, ah, this team will be one of the best, always they ask, ask me after 25 years. In after 25 years, the people talk about that club, that team, that was a good team. It's like a books. If after 25 years, the people read the same book, that 20 years, this is a good book.

19:42It's like OSS, no? After, I don't know, 60, 70, I don't know how many years, they come back again and sold out all around the world. is because, guys, they are good. Otherwise, it's not sold out. Would you go again? Yeah, they invited me that time. Now I had to pay the ticket, yeah, because maybe they are in trouble, so I have to do it. Maybe I come back. If I came back in Etihad, I would be back again. Okay, I'm sure lots of people will be there to join you. Yeah, for sure. Pep, good luck for the season. Okay, thank you. Jules, honest conversation here. Oasis, the best band of the last 50 years for you?

20:18In our lifetime, Joe, yes. 100%. Do you not agree with that? I think they're definitely in the conversation. I wasn't lucky enough to go to Oasis. Have you been to Oasis Live this summer? Yeah, I went twice. Of course you have. Heaton Park, not the night Pep Guardiola went, but I was there along with the masses. And then Wembley Stadium. It was kind of, Heaton Park was open air, obviously, in Heaton Park, had that festival feel about it. Wembley Stadium was just a rock concert, completely different atmosphere because obviously you're in a stadium and you're surrounded by about 80 ,000 fans. It just hit differently than it did at Heaton Park.

20:54But Pep Guardiola on fantastic form and on Oasis, he totally got it and the hype and the scramble for tickets to watch them play. He'd never met Liam Gallagher before that night at Heaton Park. And if Oasis tour again, as you were hearing, And if they play the Etihad Stadium, he said he'll be there, guaranteed, along with thousands of others who will be lucky enough to get tickets. And as he said, if you're still talking about a band after 25 years, about a book or about a football team after such a long period of time, then you know that you've done and you know that you are doing something right.

21:30But he was just re-energised, the shake-up as well, just going back to Manchester City, the shake-up of his backroom team. that has helped him but also the players he's brought in they did their business early the younger players he's brought in as well it's relit that fire and you can feel that from him so many people in and around the club have told me how good that Club World Cup experience was behind the scenes for morale for starting the season and you saw that in the build-up to the new season obviously at the weekend as well in the opening weekend of the Premier League and also how it only took a day to get Pep Linders on board don't forget Kolo Torre as well as part of the coaching team for this season too.

22:08And it's definitely not quiet when he's around. Joe, despite the heat, despite the sweat, despite the melted white chocolate buttons, I really enjoyed it. Good, yeah, absolutely. I hope you guys listening at home did as much as me. That is it for this week's one-on-one. We'll be back next week for another exclusive chat with a big name from the Premier League. So if you don't already, make sure you do give this podcast a follow so you don't miss an episode. and as well as listening to Joe and I you can watch our interviews across Sky Sports on YouTube, on Sky Sports News and the Sky Sports website and at Jules Topworks, speak to you next week See you soon, Joe

22:50Fantasy Premier League is back and so is the Sky Sports Fantasy Podcast We're here to give you all the tips and advice you need to beat your mini-league rivals Are you struggling to find the best budget options or wondering whether to pick Mohamed Salah, Erling Haaland or both? Don't worry, we've got the answers to all of those questions. I'm James Savandra and every week I'll be joined by one of the best FPL managers in the business. They'll be on hand to answer your dilemmas, so don't hesitate to get in touch. Every week our expert will also reveal their transfer plans and tell you the best captaincy options.

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