MANCHESTER, United Kingdom, Nov 2, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Manchester City manager
Pep Guardiola has extended an invitation to England rugby union coach Eddie
Jones to visit him after the World Cup.
Guardiola planned to watch on television when England take on South Africa
in the final in Japan on Saturday.
His thoughts will then turn to City’s Premier League game at home to
Southampton later in the day, but the Spaniard is keen to exchanges ideas
with Jones.
Guardiola was in charge of Bayern Munich when Jones came over to Germany to
watch him up close up in training.
And the Australian has openly described the City boss as a major influence
on his coaching methods during England’s run to the World Cup final.
“We spoke once or twice and Eddie was so kind. It was a pleasure to see him
and meet him,” Guardiola told reporters on Friday.
“We talked about some movements in rugby. I’m a big fan and I watch on TV
but I don’t understand too much about the sport.
“We can learn a lot from them. We didn’t spend too much time together but
hopefully they can win the final and we can invite him and his staff to come
here and talk more.
“It would be nice for all of us, and especially for me. So we wish them
good luck.”
The biggest admiration Guardiola has for rugby regards player recovery, as
the Spaniard is amazed at how they can bear the 80 minutes of intense and
physical demands of the modern game.
“I will ask him how they can regenerate the players like they do after the
games,” he said.
“How can they survive? It’s incredible, I cannot imagine.”
– Pursuit of excellence –
Jones revealed that what most impressed him about Guardiola is the ability
to get even more out of his star players and to never be afraid of working
his squad hard on the training ground in pursuit of excellence.
It is something that Guardiola had instilled in him from his days as a
youngster at La Masia in Barcelona.
“I learned from where I came from at the academy in Barcelona. They taught
me to win and win and win again. If not, it is not good enough,” he said.
“When you feel this pressure that it is never enough and that you can
always do better, you learn from that as a player.
“Then I followed this instinct to do that when I became a manager. But most
managers are like this.”
Guardiola’s side face Southampton again only four days after beating Ralph
Hasenhuttl’s men 3-1 in the League Cup.
But he expects a tougher challenge from the team that lost 9-0 to Leicester
in their last Premier League game.
“We know each other, Ralph and his staff know what happened on Tuesday and
so do we,” he said.
“They are going to change and we will change but we will try to win the
game.”