Following today’s clash between Manchester City and Newcastle United, here are the instant reactions from both managers.
Manchester City hosted Newcastle United at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday January 20, with the hosts taking a three one victory.
Sergio Aguero continued his own goalscoring form as he hit a hattrick in the game to secure all three points. He opened the scoring just after the half hour mark before adding a penalty in the 63rd minute.
Jacob Murphy managed to make it two one to give the visitors some hope, but Aguero completed his three inside of the final ten minutes.
Teams:
Man City:
Ederson, Walker, Stones, Otamendi, Zinchenko, De Bruyne, Fernandinho, Silva, Sterling (Bernardo Silva 86), Aguero, Sane (Diaz 87).
Substitutes:
Bravo, Danilo, Gundogan, Mangala, Adarabioyo.
Newcastle:
Darlow, Manquillo (Yedlin 66), Hayden, Lascelles, Clark, Dummett, Murphy, Shelvey, Diame, Atsu (Perez 64), Joselu (Gayle 76).
Substitutes:
Elliot, Ritchie, Merino, Haidara.
Speaking to the BBC’s cameras a short time after match day referee Paul Tierney blew the final whistle, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola explained.
‘We need 10 more wins to be champions, and we’ll try for more points. It was an outstanding performance, often against 11 players behind the ball but we were patient, and we found the space really well. They crossed the halfway just once and scored, but we’re so happy. We reacted really well after dropping points before. It’s not how many goals you score, it’s how many chances you create, it’s how many chances your keeper has to save. It was important how we reacted at 2-1 – we didn’t panic.’
Adding.
‘We face these kind of teams – Southampton, West Ham, Bournemouth, who play with the 5-4-1 – that’s why it’s so important to attack this kind of team. When you have the ball, the opponent does not. To concede, they have to have it. It’s not easy, with 10 players plus the keeper behind the ball. I don’t know how many, but we created a lot of chances. Even at 2-1, how we reacted was good, we kept going, kept playing and made a difference.’
Newcastle United manager Rafa Benitez in his comparative interview explained.
‘It’s the Premier League and everyone is spending a lot of money. That is why we expect something in this window. Hopefully we can see some new faces before the end of this window.’
Adding.
‘We wanted to stay in the game and we did it, the penalty was a bit soft and it changed everything. After we scored we had a couple of chances. They are a very good team, our reaction was quite good. We changed at the end and played with four at the back, the idea was to stay solid and try to regain and play counter-attack. At the beginning we were giving the ball away easily. To find the balance between defending and attacking is what we were trying to do. I have been praising the players the whole season in terms of effort, sometimes it’s a bit of luck. If you have a little bit of luck you can be ahead in some games.’
