Guardiola: Rodri is getting more and more aware of the situation on the pitch and has more presence on the defensive end

Live bar December 14 news On December 15, at 4:00 a.m. Beijing time, in the 17th round of the 2021-22 Premier League season, Manchester City will sit at the Etihad Stadium to meet Leeds United. Before the game, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola spoke about the team's midfielder Rodri at a press conference. Guardiola said Rodri had become more and more aware of what was going on the pitch.

Asked if there are more outstanding back players in world football by now, Guardiola replied: "There are a lot, but there is definitely Rodri in it. Now he's 25 years old, he's still young, his mindset is a contender and he's able to show that in every training session and every game. ”

"He's done that perfectly in the Premier League, as was last season, and hopefully he can avoid a downturn in form like what happened in the final stages of last season. His performance is at the top level, which is very important, the back, the centre-back, the striker – all the players in the middle are very important. ”

"We tried to help juanma (assistant coach) understand the game, especially what a back-back player should do. Last season he moved too much, the back didn't need to move too much, he needed to be in that position, not move, just show up there. It's as if you move to the back seat while driving, you might crash and the driver has to be in front. ”

"Rodri has become more aware of what's going on the pitch and has a more presence on the defensive end. With the ball on hand, he knows exactly where the space for the attack is and he knows exactly what kind of rhythm we need to play. As a back-up player, sometimes you need 5 touches, sometimes 1, sometimes 3, and now he has that rhythm in the game, which helps our game. ”

"He's been very good so far, but like I've been telling him, he can get better. Whether he wants to do it or not is up to him, but we're here to help him. ”

(Ma Dongyu)