24.09.2008 22:45
“These wins are worth more than winning 6-1”
Roger Bogunya
Guardiola has said that wins like the one against Betis are more important than those by a wide margin, like the one on Sunday in Gijón. He believes it is games like this that will teach his players not to relax ahead of future challenges.
Guardiola was delighted by the way team reacted after Betis pulled back from 2-0 down. “The
team changed things around when it became 2-2 and unlike against Racing, when they also equalised
against us, Betis didn’t close us down and we managed to react well”.
From 2-0 to 2-2… why?
Asked how Betis had been allowed to come back from 2-0 down, Guardiola was clear in his
words. “There was a drop in the tension after the break” he said. “That is when
you have to quickly reconnect to the game, something we did not do. We let things go a bit and
failed to find our rhythm. In the second half, we also suffered physically as a result of the
number of games we have behind us.”
Decisive changes
Asked about the substitutions, he said Busquets and
Gudjohnsen went on in the 70th minute because “we were losing our presence in midfield
… I wanted to create more rhythm. Also Touré was on a yellow and I was scared of ending up
with ten men.”
Bojan went on six minutes later. Guardiola said that was because “I know how much Bojan
enjoys this stadium and he can generate a good atmosphere on the pitch.” Speaking more
generally, the manager added that “changes are made because you think they’ll work.
Sometimes you get it right and other times you blow it.”