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Barcelona's Pep Guardiola: We Are Not Polished, But I Know How To Fix It
Guardiola acknowledged weaknesses, but is confident in correcting them...
Feb 26, 2010 4:28:00 PM
By Cyrus C. Malek
In his weekly press conference, Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola admitted that his team is not achieving the level of play that he wants and that if they want to win any titles this season, they must be better. However, in comments reported by Marca, the Blaugrana coach assured Cules that he knows how to fix the problems.
"We are not polished, that is true. I am not going to mislead anyone about that, but I know how to fix it and that is why they pay me. This is my job to solve it because things are not going well. We can do a lot better and we will improve."
Guardiola revealed that he has the same feelings as he did last year at the same point in the season when Barca dropped a number of points in La Liga, but that the same would not happen this year. "I want to be in the final of both competitions that we are in. The team is following me and I feel that we are going to win something because I believe in this team a lot. If we do not end up winning anything, that is sport for you."
With respect to what Guardiola told his team at half-time of the Stuttgart match, during which Barca were on their heels for much of the first half, Guardiola revealed that he did not chew out his team as was so widely advertised in the press. "When things are going poorly, I never, I repeat, never yell at them. I yell at them when we are winning 4-0. I told them that they were great players and that we were going to go forward playing well."
Finally, the Barca coach spoke of Gerard Pique's contract extension, which ties the defender to the Camp Nou until 2015. "He is very ambitious, he dominates his duties, he is attentive, and is very good in the air. I think it was a historic decision to re-sign him after he left for Manchester and if he can continue at his current level of playing and take care of himself, we will have a great central defender at Barcelona for many years. I don't think there is a young player in Europe as good as him, although I'm a bit worried how he'll take my praise," said Guardiola jokingly.
| Bet: | Returns: | Bilbao £85.00 | Draw £55.00 | Barcelona £12.50 |
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| Bet: | Returns: | Bilbao £95.00 | Draw £55.00 | Barcelona £12.90 |
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| Bet: | Returns: | Bilbao £90.00 | Draw £50.00 | Barcelona £13.00 |
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| Bet: | Returns: | Bilbao £90.00 | Draw £60.00 | Barcelona £12.90 |
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| Bet: | Returns: | Bilbao £87.00 | Draw £53.00 | Barcelona £12.50 |
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"We are not polished, that is true. I am not going to mislead anyone about that, but I know how to fix it and that is why they pay me. This is my job to solve it because things are not going well. We can do a lot better and we will improve."
Guardiola revealed that he has the same feelings as he did last year at the same point in the season when Barca dropped a number of points in La Liga, but that the same would not happen this year. "I want to be in the final of both competitions that we are in. The team is following me and I feel that we are going to win something because I believe in this team a lot. If we do not end up winning anything, that is sport for you."
With respect to what Guardiola told his team at half-time of the Stuttgart match, during which Barca were on their heels for much of the first half, Guardiola revealed that he did not chew out his team as was so widely advertised in the press. "When things are going poorly, I never, I repeat, never yell at them. I yell at them when we are winning 4-0. I told them that they were great players and that we were going to go forward playing well."
Finally, the Barca coach spoke of Gerard Pique's contract extension, which ties the defender to the Camp Nou until 2015. "He is very ambitious, he dominates his duties, he is attentive, and is very good in the air. I think it was a historic decision to re-sign him after he left for Manchester and if he can continue at his current level of playing and take care of himself, we will have a great central defender at Barcelona for many years. I don't think there is a young player in Europe as good as him, although I'm a bit worried how he'll take my praise," said Guardiola jokingly.
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