Guardiola said he was delighted with the players who came on against Brentford.
The manager made seven changes from the weekend’s win over Crystal Palace but the Blues still beat a strong Brentford side 2-0 with goals from Rayan Cherki and Savinho.
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The young Brazilian says Pep can become a world-class talent through hard work and the right decisions.
Guardiola said: “What I like about Savinho is that he is always digging, constantly digging.”
“Of course, the final decision could have been better, but I always reward that kind of work ethic, especially because he keeps working hard.
“Just like Jeremy, when he gets the ball he keeps running. He played a lot of minutes with us last season.
“At times we didn’t play with the right winger. We’ve played a little differently in the last few seasons, maybe played fewer games. But we have a lot of trust in him and he’s young.
“He can play left and right, left and right. He is a very aggressive player. Over time we will improve the final decision and will become a top player.”
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The coach also expressed his appreciation for Rayan Cherki’s wonderful goal in the first half. The French playmaker once again put in a thrilling performance when he fired into the top corner from 20 yards.
“He scored a great goal,” Pep said with a smile.
“Blind people, blind women realize, you don’t have to be a reporter or a manager to realize that this is an amazing goal.
“We’ve scored goals like this many times before with Phil. It’s nice that it started the game.”
James Trafford once again put in a confident display in goal and Pep says he will play a vital role in the coming weeks and months.
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“[James ]It’s a goalkeeper,” he said. “There can only be one or the other. He cannot play left back. At that moment, if you have a goalkeeper.
“Gigio is playing in that position but there is no doubt he is a top goalkeeper.
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“I’m a guy who wants to give everyone a chance. When we played Leverkusen. Look what happened.
“So I put him in the new 10 players because I rely on him. That’s why today I substituted Rico, Kusa, Nathan, Devine.”
“These guys who didn’t play a lot played very, very well. We tried to be more aggressive in the press; it wasn’t top quality.”
“We didn’t bring back as many players who could move on and that’s why we were in trouble.
“We got a good result. We struggled for the first 10/15 minutes, but then we won the game thanks to Oscar and Savinho’s counterattack.
“I’m very happy with the impact of the players on the bench because in the second half Rayan Cherki’s job should have been to defend but didn’t have the energy to do it.
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“That’s why we need Josco, Matthews and Bernardo to help us improve our tempo.
“Of course I don’t want to play against Nico or O’Leary again, they played another full 90 minutes. They played a lot of minutes and we have a very important game against West Ham.
“Like Phil, I didn’t want to play the minutes he played, but Oscar was injured.
“But yeah, everyone who came on off the bench did really well so we’re in the semi-finals again so very happy.”
Finally, when asked about Oscar Bobb’s injury, Pep added: “After 10/15 minutes he complained of a muscle injury.
“Obviously a hamstring injury. Hopefully he’ll be back soon.”