Josko Gvardiol’s rise, is John Stones really OK, wanting Manchester United to win – Every word from part two of Pep Guardiola’s Fulham review | OneFootball

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has discussed a number of subjects in part two of his post-Fulham press conference from Saturday afternoon.

The Premier League title chasers secured yet another mammoth victory in the top-flight over the weekend, now finding themselves just two wins from a record-breaking fourth successive English top-flight crown.

Josko Gvardiol continued his remarkable rise in the Manchester City side this season by putting the team ahead with a sumptuous solo effort, before the scoring was added to in the second-half thanks to Phil Foden.

The aforementioned Croatian would secure himself a brace to seal the three points, while an injury time penalty from Julian Alvarez added the cherry on top of the icing on the cake, and pile on more pressure onto Arsenal in the race for the league crown.

Manchester City travel back to London on Tuesday night as they face Tottenham in the Premier League, while their top-flight campaign closes with a meeting against West Ham at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Speaking during part two of Pep Guardiola’s post-match press conference, the Manchester City boss discussed the rise and development of Josko Gvardiol this season, the truth behind John Stones, and support for Manchester United.

Here is every word from the embargoed section of Pep Guardiola’s Fulham review from Saturday afternoon!

On whether he has seen changes in Josko Gvardiola’s personality, confidence, how comfortable he is throughout the season

“Yeah, of course. Definitely. There is an aspect in football, in all of life, in our lives; it’s confidence. Confidence in the things you do. And it’s game time, a lot of games, talking about the not proper things that you have to do, and the good things, and you cannot forget he’s come to the Premier League, it’s his first season, at 21-years-old.

“I would say it’s not easy to handle it, and in the beginning he struggled a little bit, coming to a team that won the Treble and he was a little bit shy, and ‘Oh I don’t want to ruin all the structures that they have with what happened’.

“It’s a question of time, but he didn’t come here for a few months, he’s come for many, many years to come, and he’s proving himself that he can do it, that he can play with us. I said before, we gave three days off, everyone after Wolves had three days off, and on Sunday – the first day off – he went alone to the training centre to make a recovery.

“His focus is football, and he wants to be better and better, and when that happens, you have something special in your hands.”

On whether John Stones is OK

“Yeah, really okay. Sometimes the players make a step up, the other ones; Manu (Akanji) is playing unbelievable now, and Nathan (Ake) was unbelievable as well. And that’s why (John Stones isn’t starting at the moment).

“When you play in those games in that position; Jack (Grealish) last season played a lot, and this season plays less. At the end, in this team, you have to perform consistently well, well, well for many times.

“I know the qualities; with (Ilkay) Gundogan he was the first signing when I arrived here eight year ago, so we know eachother like… I would not say like a father and son, but we know eachother quite well.

“So it’s a question that he will rebuild to his best, because we need him in the last part of the season and of course, in the future.”

On Tottenham

“One step at a time. In the press conference on Monday you can ask me whatever you want about that. Now it’s… I have much time, I had a lot of time to see Fulham, now much less for Tottenham. Now tomorrow, the focus is on Spurs, Spurs, Spurs.

“When it’s not in your hands, like it was from months ago but now it’s not the case, of course you can take a look (at opponents’ games). It depends on the other one. If you ask me if I want United to win, yeah. Please. Of course, I want it.

“But it is not about that, it’s just like Arsenal today wanted Fulham to draw or beat us. It’s normal. It’s not that you have to be so smart to realise that, but we have to win our games. We know that we have two games left, and if we win the two, six points, we will be champions.

“It’s the only thing we have in our heads, the only. It’s Spurs, Spurs, Spurs, and after that, it’s West Ham, West Ham. And after that, of course we will know the result and what’s happened, but we have to see ourselves.”