08.08.2010 18:02
Guardiola positive about Tour
Aida Soriano
Pep Guardiola returns from the Asia Tour with positive feelings, happy with his team’s performances and especially the response from the Barca B team youngsters.
Speaking after the
0-3
win over Guoan, Guardiola declared: “I know the B team youngsters well and all in
all the Tour has been very positive. It’s a pity that Cristian Tello picked up an injury in
training yesterday. We have trained hard and worked well. We have a good group of young players and
I really can have no complaints. Now we are off home to prepare for next week”.
Poor pitches
The only negative for Guardiola was the state of the pitches in Korea
and China: “it’s a pity they were in such a state they are impractical and it’s
not good to play in such conditions”. The Bird’s Nest pitch cut up from the start and
Guardiola explained: “it’s hardly been used for three years and the Stadium’s
virtually been closed. All we ask is that the pitches are usable. There was a risk of injury out
there and I’m happy that no one actually did pick up anything. Nowadays, you have to balance
sporting and commercial interests. There’s no point complaining too much, we just have to
adapt, but I’m making these comments so that maybe we can improve this aspect in the
future”.
Confidence in the squad
As to any more summer signings, Guardiola was non-committal: “the market is still open,
we’ll look at what is available, but we are in no hurry. I’m sure we are in for a good
season because we have plenty of good players and we can compete in all the competitions”.
Quality coming through
Guardiola once again stressed his confidence in the club’s own
young players: “I know these lads and when we were in the third division, not all of the
players had the capacity to play in the top flight, but Pedro and Busquets came through. Right now
we have a generation who are not necessarily any better, but there are more of them coming
through”.
Even so, the boss is aware of the dangers of pushing too hard: “we have to protect them
as much as possible and let them grow. They still have space to improve and they can help us a lot
throughout the year. The most important thing is that they have the quality and we are happy with
that. They just need to learn from the players in the first team squad”.