The Manchester City manager Pep Guardiolaspeaking to BBC Match of the Daycommented on the 8-0 defeat against Salfrod in the FA Cup: “We finally won a game with a good margin, all due respect to Salford. It wasn’t easy with man-marking, but we were clinical in attack and satisfied with the performance.”
On James McAtee: “I’m so happy for him, he’s a special player. Scoring a hat-trick isn’t easy. He started a little flat but then he has incredible sense in front of goal. He has the right pace, he changed his pace to score I’m really happy for him and for Nico O’Reilly, who was playing in a position he had never played before, as left back. We have a lot of problems in that position.
We could have let Josko play [Gvardiol] or Rico [Lewis]but they need to rest with the amount of games that are coming and that they have played in the past. Jeremy [Doku] he played really well, I’m happy for everyone. Certain, [McAtee] he can play better. He scored three goals but can play better. The first half wasn’t his best but his work ethic, his composure and his pace… he’s a special player. He has been at City for a long time, is a City fan and was one of the greatest academy talents of the generation of Jadon Sancho, Cole Palmer, Morgan Rogers and Liam Delap. He played with these guys and was their captain. I’m really, really happy he’s here with us.”
On Jack Grealish who ended his goal drought: “He also made a good assist, not just the goal. He scored a goal, he made an assist. Jack is a special player, not always one who scores a lot of goals, but it depends on him. If he can play well, he will take the opportunity to continue playing and move forward. All players depend on their performances in training sessions and when they have minutes to play. It’s simple, not just for Jack. for all of them.”
In closing: “I was manager here for more than 500 games and we had an incredible run of 487 or 488 great games. Then we had 11, 12 or 13 bad games. The problem we had was an incredible amount of injuries , so we couldn’t train and we couldn’t compete. It’s so difficult, but step by step, people are coming back. This season or maybe next, new players come in and you have to fight for your position. When someone pushes you, you have competition and give it your all.”