Expert reveals Pep Guardiola showed signs of distress during press conference
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola showed signs of distress, frustration and even helplessness during press conference in which he sported several red marks on his head and a bloodied cut on his nose, a body language expert has revealed.
Guardiola sparked concern after joking that he wanted to ‘harm himself’ after City threw away a 3-0 lead to draw with Feyenoord in the Champions League last night.
The result extended his side’s run to six matches without a win in all competitions and post-match, the disappointed Catalan repeatedly fidgeted with his face.
Guardiola was then asked about his deep nose cut and accompanying scratches.
‘Yes, it’s from my nail on my finger,’ he explained to reporters. ‘I cut myself with my fingernail (during the game).’
He then added ‘I want to harm myself’ before smiling and leaving the room.
Analysing the interview, expert Judi James said that Guardiola performed several small ‘self-attacks’ on himself, which may stem from ‘frustrated aggression’.
She told Mail Sport: ‘Guardiola’s default, performed body language signal here is what could pass for a cheerful-looking eye-smile complete with crinkling at the corners.
‘But, combined with his other signals of distress, frustration and even helplessness, the smile appears incongruent and more of a wry smile than anything approaching genuine happiness.
‘He even giggles as he leaves the conference but that ritual is so deeply incongruent he even gets a reassuring cry of “You’ll be OK” from a normally unsympathetic press pack.
‘His head and nose scratches look like war wounds brought back from the field of battle. He even mimes his fingernail scratching down his nose and the gesture looks like an angry striking of a match and comes with a tongue-poke of disgust and rejection at the end.
‘Self-attacks like this can vary from chewing fingernails to more serious self-harm.
‘Scratching and nail-biting body language can occur from thwarted or frustrated aggression. When an animal can’t fight for any reason it will often turn the attack on itself from a state of frustrated aggressive arousal.
‘Guardiola is obviously frustrated here and the fact he has to watch a game rather than getting stuck in out on the pitch seems to have led to this behaviour.
