BOSS OF MANCHESTER CITY Kalvin Phillips received an apology from Pep Guardiola for his public declaration that he was overweight after the World Cup in Qatar.
When Guardiola benched the City and England midfielder during a Carabao Cup match against Liverpool in December 2022, he made this statement at a press conference.
42 notes The World Cup was undoubtedly the hardest for Phillips, who signed a loan with West Ham in January. He told the Observer earlier this month that while he did not disagree with Pep, “I took a big knock on my confidence and how I felt at City.”
When asked if he regretted revealing Phillips’ weight to the public during a press conference on Monday, Guardiola responded, “Yeah, I’m sorry.”
“Once in eight years is not bad. But I’m so sorry. I apologise to him. I do apologise. I’m sorry.”
Instead of talking to Guardiola about the miscommunication regarding the expected return date, Phillips claimed he “just took it on the chin.”
Guardiola emphasized, “I never, never before I said something here did not speak with the players in that case,” in reference to his conversation with Phillips prior to making the public comment regarding his weight.
The manager was speaking ahead of Tuesday’s Premier League home match against Brentford, whom City defeated 3-1 at the Gtech Community Stadium on February 5th after coming from behind.
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In the latter moments of that game, Kyle Walker, a defender for City, became enraged over something that Neal Maupay, an Everton forward on loan to the Bees, had said to him.
Guardiola Apologies
“I don’t want it, but sometimes there are emotions and it happens, and you know that,” Guardiola remarked. However, this incident is lost to memory. It appears that they only had a conversation.
When asked how he handled it when players would verbally abuse him while he was playing, the former Barcelona midfielder replied, “It depended on my mood!
“Hey, during my time at Barcelona, I hold the record for the most yellow cards given out. It was all talk, talk, talk all the time.
“So it depends, sometimes I controlled (myself), sometimes (I was) being crazy. People say ‘ah, he cannot control’. As a football player I was the same.”
In Tuesday’s match, third-placed City will play second-placed Arsenal and leaders Liverpool, who are four and two points behind, respectively, in the standings.
The 1-1 league draw between Guardiola’s treble-winning team and Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday marked the end of an 11-match winning streak across all competitions.
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