Manchester City drew 1-1 away to Newcastle United in the 6th round of the English Premier League last night. After the match, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola expressed his views on several players in the match in a press conference and praised his opponent Newcastle United and its manager Eddie Howe.
Guardiola started by talking about Foden's performance after coming on as a substitute. He believes that Foden is probably one of the best players in that position, very intelligent and one of the best performers in the league last season. Despite missing some games, Foden was at his best last night, showing great energy and form. Guardiola said it was great to see that Foden is making a step back and emphasized that everyone has a pace of play that suits them.
Regarding Harland's condition, Guardiola revealed that he took a few knocks and said that the team will assess his fitness over the next few days.
Guardiola then highly praised the performance of young player Rico Lewis. He thought Lewis was very smart and intelligent, knew exactly what he needed to do and excelled in tight spaces. Guardiola said that even though Lewis is only 19 years old, he has already played a very good game and believes he will continue to improve.
Speaking about the opponents Newcastle United, Guardiola expressed his admiration for the manager Eddie Howe and appreciated the way they handled the game. He believes that Newcastle United are a difficult team to deal with and have many players with great footwork such as Murphy, Gordon and Harvey Barnes. Guardiola admitted that even though City controlled the game well for most of the game, Newcastle United deserved the win and accepted the point as a result.
Finally, Guardiola spoke about the team's performance in Rodri's absence. He said that of course Rodri will be missed as his physicality and presence is important for the team. But Guardiola also emphasized that he would judge the team's performance based on the performances of players such as Kovacic, Rico Lewis, B-Square, and Gralish, and felt that they did a great job last night. Guardiola admitted that sometimes it happens that players miss out, but the team has to adapt and show their character against strong teams.
