Shakhtar has excellent transfer policy
Wednesday, October 24, 2018
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Manchester City manager Josep Guardiola reflects on the game in Kharkiv
- The first half is the best of all that we had. We created many chances and played superbly. After losing to Lyon, we got under pressure, scoring the winner against Hoffenheim in the dying minutes. This time we did fine, controlled the course of events and achieved an excellent result. You saw in the second half what Shakhtar can be like - this team always has enough talented players. However, we claimed an away win, which is important, and we can rejoice at the victory.
- De Bruyne returned to the starting XI. What do you make of his performance?
- Good. In the second half, the opponents did better than in the first one. They brought their fullbacks up, with more attacking players, with Rakits’kyy creating pressure and swapping places with his teammates. Kevin missed two months, and he had some tough time. Of course, he got tired, but with every next match his fitness will improve.
- Did David Silva play well?
- Excellent! He scored in the game against Hoffenheim and this time he played superbly, being one of the best on the field.
- Oleksandr Zinchenko participated in the press conference before the match, but we did not see him on the player list. Why is that?
- For me, that wasn’t an easy decision. We have many players, everyone wants to be fielded. We communicated yesterday, he was fully ready. Zinchenko is young, and he will surely have his chances. I haven’t fielded him for simple reasons: he usually plays at left back, hadn’t Mendy played due to injury, Laporte could have appeared instead, we’ve got Walker and Stone at right back, the latter is actually the central defender. I also put on the list Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden. Zinchenko is practicing and playing well, I am pleased with him, but I had to make a choice, and the choice was like that.
- You said that you are not yet ready to win the Champions League. But you had a great match. Perhaps, you are ready?
- I agree, the first 45 minutes were excellent. However, it’s not enough to play well a couple of times to get the Champions League triumph - there should be a whole set of factors in our favour. We claimed two away wins? Wonderful. Now we hope to reach the Round of 16. But to win the competition, there must be a set of circumstances. Perhaps, this will happen a bit later.
- You score many goals. What else do you need?
- Yes, both here and against Burnley, but we need to increase the average number of goals scored per match. You’d better remember how many goals we haven’t scored. That is, in fact, we scored few goals. There won’t be such a number of chances at the more serious stages. I liked the fact that in the first half we played solidly and as one team, we are delighted that we managed to secure the 3-0 away win.
- For you, this is the milestone, tenth meeting with Shakhtar. How have the opponents changed over 10 years?
- Lucescu’s team always, even when we won, were very tough opponents. Shakhtar has an excellent transfer policy, the club has always signed up some amazing players. I can name many of them: Fernandinho, Willian, Douglas Costa, Mkhitaryan, Rakits’kyy, Chyhrynskyi, Pyatov ... Fonseca has a very well-developed teamwork. I remember well how we suffered a defeat last year. Back then, they had Bernard, Taison and Marlos on the roster. Unfortunately for you, the last two got injured, so it was easier for us, but you have a wonderful team and everything is still ahead. I want to wish Shakhtar to return to their home stadium in Donetsk. Perhaps, in the future we will see each other again.
- De Bruyne returned to the starting XI. What do you make of his performance?
- Good. In the second half, the opponents did better than in the first one. They brought their fullbacks up, with more attacking players, with Rakits’kyy creating pressure and swapping places with his teammates. Kevin missed two months, and he had some tough time. Of course, he got tired, but with every next match his fitness will improve.
- Did David Silva play well?
- Excellent! He scored in the game against Hoffenheim and this time he played superbly, being one of the best on the field.
- Oleksandr Zinchenko participated in the press conference before the match, but we did not see him on the player list. Why is that?
- For me, that wasn’t an easy decision. We have many players, everyone wants to be fielded. We communicated yesterday, he was fully ready. Zinchenko is young, and he will surely have his chances. I haven’t fielded him for simple reasons: he usually plays at left back, hadn’t Mendy played due to injury, Laporte could have appeared instead, we’ve got Walker and Stone at right back, the latter is actually the central defender. I also put on the list Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden. Zinchenko is practicing and playing well, I am pleased with him, but I had to make a choice, and the choice was like that.
- You said that you are not yet ready to win the Champions League. But you had a great match. Perhaps, you are ready?
- I agree, the first 45 minutes were excellent. However, it’s not enough to play well a couple of times to get the Champions League triumph - there should be a whole set of factors in our favour. We claimed two away wins? Wonderful. Now we hope to reach the Round of 16. But to win the competition, there must be a set of circumstances. Perhaps, this will happen a bit later.
- You score many goals. What else do you need?
- Yes, both here and against Burnley, but we need to increase the average number of goals scored per match. You’d better remember how many goals we haven’t scored. That is, in fact, we scored few goals. There won’t be such a number of chances at the more serious stages. I liked the fact that in the first half we played solidly and as one team, we are delighted that we managed to secure the 3-0 away win.
- For you, this is the milestone, tenth meeting with Shakhtar. How have the opponents changed over 10 years?
- Lucescu’s team always, even when we won, were very tough opponents. Shakhtar has an excellent transfer policy, the club has always signed up some amazing players. I can name many of them: Fernandinho, Willian, Douglas Costa, Mkhitaryan, Rakits’kyy, Chyhrynskyi, Pyatov ... Fonseca has a very well-developed teamwork. I remember well how we suffered a defeat last year. Back then, they had Bernard, Taison and Marlos on the roster. Unfortunately for you, the last two got injured, so it was easier for us, but you have a wonderful team and everything is still ahead. I want to wish Shakhtar to return to their home stadium in Donetsk. Perhaps, in the future we will see each other again.