Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola attended the post-match press conference following their 2-0 Carabao Cup win over Brentford.
How has Cherki been creating goals for you lately, and does this indicate his ability to score as well?
"When he gets close to the penalty area, he scored an absolutely brilliant goal. He’s an exceptional player—even blind people can see how magnificent that goal was.
I’ve seen Foden score many similar goals before, and De Bruyne too, so I’m delighted he opened the scoring for us."
The other goalscorer was Savinho. Obviously, you praised his defending a few weeks ago, commending his active tracking back and finally following your instructions. Did you also hope to see him contribute in attack, and what does he need to do?
"Well, I like that he can score deflected goals sometimes, but what I admire most is his constant work rate—he always gives 100%, never stops.
Of course, his final decisions can be better, but this professionalism always pays off, especially since he’s fully committed, just like Jeremy when he has the ball, and Gavin too with his constant movement. He played a lot for us last season.
This season, we haven’t always had the right wingers available, and our style is slightly different from last year. His playing time may have decreased, but he’s working extremely hard. He’s young, can play on both flanks, and is very proactive. As time goes on, his final decisions will improve, and he’ll become a top player."
I want to check on Oscar Bobb—he got injured. Do you know what the injury is?
“After 10 to 15 minutes, he complained of a muscle strain, obviously a hamstring injury. Hopefully, it’s not serious, and he can be back soon.”
Certainly, Trafford kept a clean sheet, put in a solid performance, and showed his ability when called upon. What can he do?
"What can he do when he plays… That’s a tricky question. He’s a goalkeeper—goalkeepers can only play in that position; he can’t play left-back.
You know, once you have a goalkeeper, that position should be theirs, but he’s a top goalkeeper, no doubt about it. So I’m happy he got to play two more games, including the Champions League, you know.
I’m someone who likes to give everyone a chance. Just like when we faced Bayer Leverkusen in the knockout stages, Lugo stepped up. So I included him in the new 10-man squad because I trust him. Today, James, Rico, Khusanov, Nathan, Devine—all these players who haven’t had much game time lately—performed exceptionally well. They stayed focused and played proactively."
In the first half, we weren’t aggressive enough in pressing because we didn’t commit enough players forward, so we didn’t play well. But yes, we ended up with a good result, even though we struggled to take control in the first 10 to 15 minutes. After that, Savinho and Bobb broke through the defense twice, and we turned the game around.
I’m particularly satisfied with the substitute players’ performances because Cherki was completely ineffective defensively in the second half—he was exhausted.
So Matheus, especially Bernardo’s excellent display, greatly helped us increase the tempo. Of course, I didn’t want Nico and O’Reilly to play the full 90 minutes; that’s too long, and we have a crucial game against West Ham this Saturday.
Like I said, I didn’t want them to play that much, but Oscar’s injury was something that could happen.
But yes, all the substitutes came on, and it’s great that they got to start. We’re through to the semi-finals again, so I’m really happy."
