Every word from extraordinary 11-minute Pep Guardiola rant after Man City 4-2 Tottenham

Pep Guardiola launched into a remarkable rant during his post-match press conference on Thursday night following his side’s 4-2 win over Tottenham Hotspur.

Manchester City trailed by two goals at half-time but an impressive display in the second period led the Premier League champions to victory, with goals from Julian Alvarez, Erling Haaland and Riyad Mahrez turning things around.

But Guardiola cut a dejected and irritated figure when conducting his post-match interviews with broadcasters and criticised his players, the fans and the club, before coming in to face the written media in his press conference. The City manager was asked about his reaction to the game and responded with an extraordinary 11-minute tirade. Here’s what he had to say…

Why have you criticised the players?

“I’m incredibly happy. But without change we aren’t going to win anything. I said I don’t care if we don’t win anything, I said the last years I said I have to see my team, you have to have passion for something. If our fans are comfortable, are you going to tell me we played bad in first half? Absolutely not. Against that team plays a good build-up, what a striker Harry Kane, [Dejan] Kulusevski, [Heung-min] Son, even [Rodrigo] Bentancur, [Pierre-Emile] Hojbjerg, the wing-backs. The organisation they have in many things. I’m pretty sure Antonio Conte wouldn’t agree with me but they are a fantastic team. We didn’t concede anything. At the beginning of the game, you have to see something is wrong and react. It’s too late. We have the problem that we have four Premier Leagues in five years and Arsenal have two decades without nothing. Gabriel [Jesus] and Oleks Zinchenko, they didn’t win every Premier League but every game, every ball, every action. Every time is there. We miss it, we don’t have it. Rico Lewis concedes four fouls, who defends him? I know it’s not a yellow because he’s 18 years old. Who defends him? No-one. You think I said anything special at half-time or changed players? I know I don’t play Joao [Cancelo] Kyle [Walker], Ayme [Laporte], Bernardo [Silva] or Kevin [De Bruyne]. It’s not about that, with them it’s the same. Play bad? No. We always play good. The quality that we have, we do it. It’s not about that, it’s about you have to lose something to do it. That’s why now I’m happy but they prove me. We give the goals, today it’s Eddy [Ederson] or Rodri. The other day will be a full-back or a central defender. It’s not about that, it’s about our fans. I’m here. Just listen to the Spurs fans.”

Can you get that passion back?

“Of course we’re going to come back, we have to. I have to move the team. I want the passion from Julian, I want it from Rico, from Nathan [Ake]. I want this every ball happen. 1-0, free kick, Rico and Manu [Akanji] , all the players up front, nine players to find and they play short. You have to read that. After, the manager has to tell them this? You think I said something tactical at half-time? Why should we change? We were playing good. It doesn’t matter the substitutions, it’s not about that. It’s that right now we don’t have it.”

Who was complaining?

“Not the fans, they come here and we have to give them. They expect ‘Oh, we’re Manchester City, we have to do it’. No, we don’t have it right now. The tendency of the human being when you’ve won a lot is ‘Ah, I should do this, I should do that’. No, you have to work. You have to put fire there - in every ball, in every action, in every situation. It’s not about being better or not. It’s ‘Come on, let’s go’. It’s normal to be in a situation behind another team. We have been in this position a few times, behind Liverpool, then let’s go. And now, we were lucky today. I didn’t expect to come back at half-time against Tottenham when they were 5-4-1 and aggressive. Bentancur, Hojbjerg fouls and every action go to the referee five, six players and defend each other. What do we expect? It’s football, sometimes you don’t know why we come back. At 3-2 I said to my staff ‘We are winning 3-2 after the way we played?’. Yeah, it happened. If we want to do something we have to come back.”

Reasons behind drop

“This is a challenge. I want it, this is what I expect. I see the team do this. They are the details, it’s not about the way we play. The quality of the players, are you going to judge the quality of the players? I love them, they are fantastic players, all of them. But they are the details. They come from the success we had in the past. People say it was not a success because we didn’t win the Champions League - bull****. We won a lot. In this country, two backs to backs and the consistency against this Liverpool. What a success, this is normal. But we have to look at ourselves, it is not enough. I said to Erling - ‘Erling, runners, you cannot drop because of runners’. One before half time. One. The quality is there, that’s why we bought it. I want to help you. I want you to go there. One [run]. I want more. ‘I want to score 50 goals. I want more from everyone. It is not about performing well or bad. It is Nathan [against] Kulusevski - what a player. Against [Mohamed] Salah in the Carabao Cup in the 10 duels, he won nine. That doesn’t make the highlights But without Nathan right now we can’t play good. Rico Lewis, 19-year-old - why we don’t play this one or the other one? Rico, look at the Carabao Cup against Chelsea, in Leeds, the most aggressive team in the Premier League - they don’t give you two seconds. Chelsea [in the league], second half he arrived and changed the game. Why? Because ‘I want to live in this job and world. I want a better contract and to win Premier Leagues I have never won’. Julian will run and that’s what we come back to, everyone. We need everyone and today we don’t have it. Football is not just about playing good or bad or having skills. Sometimes you need to have something inside all of us.”

Behind Arsenal

“The players don’t realise, but they want it. They train really good but there is something which is here in the clouds which you cannot express in a million details, and we don’t have it. I see the Arsenal games and they do everything good - that’s why they’re in front and they deserve it. I said yesterday and I say this after 4-2, and I said your colleagues. I am incredibly happy and I will sleep tonight like a baby, but it’s not about that. I have experience. In 14 years I won 11 leagues. That’s a lot. It means [being there] every day and seeing things that you cannot see because you are not there. It’s not one single player, everyone is there. If I said it was this 11 it would be easy - I would play this 11 all the time. But if everyone realises it, we will come back for here or for the future. Our fans have to push us, demand more, have to shout: ‘Come on guys, I know how good you are, show us again’. ‘Ah well we come, score a goal. No. It cannot be 2-0 down to react’. Today we were lucky. Nine times out of 10 you don’t come back. We are able to do it, we came back at Aston Villa and many times, but we are not able to do it every time.”

Why are you telling us this now?

“I want a reaction for all the club, the whole organisation - not just the players, the staff and everyone. We’re a happy flowers team. Happy flowers organisation, ah it’s good. No, I don’t want to be a happy flower. I want to beat Arsenal. But if we play in that way Arsenal will destroy us. Arsenal will beat us. People say ‘Pep doesn’t want to win the Premier League’. Of course I want to win the Premier League. I want to see my team. This is how I want to do it.”