Pep Guardiola encourages ball boys to speed it up
Manchester City ran out comfortable 5-0 winners over Crystal Palace on the weekend but it wasn’t all plain sailing for Pep Guardiola’s side.
For much of the first half, City were slow and lethargic according to the manager, who took things into his own hands to try and rectify this.
Guardiola spoke with a ball boy, who in turn passed on the message to his fellow ball boys during the half time interval, that they needed to recycle the ball faster and get the ball to the City players faster when it goes out of play.
“If you analyse 30 minutes in the first half, we were not ready to be there,” said the coach.
“Maybe over 90 minutes you cannot be there all the time. But it was slow.
“If there was a foul, no-one went to take the ball and start to play. There was five, ten seconds before someone goes to take the ball and start to play. When this happens everything is slow.
Nothing to see here, just Pep Guardiola giving tactical instructions to a ball boy. ?? #MCFC #MCICRY pic.twitter.com/0NVELyOijT
— Yahoo Sport UK (@YahooSportUK) September 23, 2017
“So the ball boys were slow, everybody was slow. And we have to create in the game, to provoke the game. And we didn’t for most of the time in the first half.”
“In the second half, you could see immediately that the team was ready.
“We started well but after that we forgot that the ball should be moved. And the first half the ball was at the players’ feet; it’s not good.
“There were too many touches. When that happens everything is slow and our rhythm is slow and concede counter attacks and anything can happen. But in the second half we had tempo, patience and attacked quick.”