‘You need to believe in yourself’
Etihad pitch. Guardiola prodded Redmond several times, tapped the 23-year-old’s chest and told him in animated terms how much he admired him and what he needed to improve on. A source close to the England player told Sportsmail: ‘Pep said, “You’re a good player, you destroyed us last season and I’ve been watching you ever since. But you need to play with more confidence, with your head up. You need to believe in yourself”.’ Redmond took to social media last night to expand on what Guardiola had said. ‘Yes he was very passionate, intense and aggressive but he was only very complimentary and positive to me,’ he said. ‘He commented on my qualities as a young English player and how he wanted me to attack his team more during the game in a similar way to last season. ‘I told him I was doing what my manager had asked. That’s it. Nothing more, nothing less. ‘Nothing negative or offensive was said towards me from Pep. Losing the game the way we did after working so hard for 90 minutes was very disappointing, but when one of the world’s best managers compliments you or gives advice in any way, you listen.’ After the match, Redmond returned to the Southampton dressing room to relay what had happened to team-mate Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, who was at Bayern Munich when Guardiola was there. Hojbjerg told Redmond such behaviour was not unusual and, if Guardiola liked a player, it did not matter whether they played for his side. Speaking after the match, Guardiola said he told Redmond ‘how good a player he is’. He added: ‘Southampton have some super-talented players. Redmond is so good one against one. But they didn’t want to play, they were time-wasting from the ninth minute. I just wanted them to play.’ Guardiola expects to find out today if he faces FA action over the confrontation. The governing body charged Chelsea manager Antonio Conte last night after he was sent to the stands in the 1-0 victory over Swansea on Wednesday. The Italian was dismissed by referee Neil Swarbrick for protesting to fourth official Lee Mason when Swansea were awarded a goal-kick. He apologised to Swarbrick and Mason after the match and admitted he had made a ‘mistake’. Conte has until 6pm on Tuesday to respond to the charge. He faces an £8,000 fine, but not a touchline ban.