Pep Guardiola was extremely pleased that Manchester City took their first points of the new season with a 5-0 hammering of Norwich City and praised Gabriel Jesus and Jack Grealish for their impact on the game.
Goals from Grealish, Aymeric Laporte, Raheem Sterling, Riyad Mahrez and an own goal helped Cityzens recover from their defeat on the opening day against Tottenham Hotspur, as they dominated the newly marketed Canary Islands from start to finish.
Leave Norwich without a chance! ?
? #ManCity | https://t.co/axa0klD5re pic.twitter.com/5XrgM720WY
– Manchester City (@ManCity) 21 August 2021
Guardiola was pleased with his players’ reaction to the shock loss in north London and spoke at length about the “exceptional” Jesus, while encouraging Grealish to learn from Sterling in the art of scoring.
Here is the Spaniard’s quote from his post – match interview.
Hugs allround / Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA / Getty Images
The Man City boss first congratulated his players for their response to the 1-0 defeat to Spurs and stressed that this result was “a consequence of how many good things” they have done in the past week.
“This result was a result of how many good things we have done,” Guardiola said.
“We are still not at the top – there are still many things to do. We trained, we were alert, happy for these first points … hopefully they will not be the last! ”
INCREDIBLE! ?
⚽️ @EASPORTSFIFA? #ManCity | https://t.co/axa0klD5re pic.twitter.com/2ZsvhmHa4O
– Manchester City (@ManCity) 21 August 2021
Guardiola then opened up to Jesus, who impressed in the demolition of Norwich. The Brazilian received a couple of assists and remained a constant threat all the time, and the coach praised his “exceptional performance”.
“He is a player who likes to be wider than central position. One of the reasons I am a manager is when you can work with people and people like Gabriel, says Guardiola.
“He never complains, he plays five minutes, he plays the best five minutes he can do. He is happy on the left, right or center and today the contact with Kyle was exceptional.
“I am pleased with his performance; he was involved in three of our goals and is an incredibly important player for us. He made an exceptional performance today, and I repeat that if he plays three minutes, he plays the three best minutes for the club and everyone.
“The more you have in this position, the better we are. When someone plays like this, they deserve to play. He is so young, congratulations because he deserves the best in life. He is so generous and as I say I am incredibly happy for him. ”
HALF TIME | Two goals for the good! ?
? 2-0? #ManCity | https://t.co/axa0klD5re pic.twitter.com/ClXOadufFY
– Manchester City (@ManCity) 21 August 2021
Grealish enjoyed a fantastic home debut, scored his first goal for the club and played until his change. Guardiola was keen to applaud the English star, while recommending that he take a leaf from Sterling’s book to become a goal machine in the penalty area.
“If he gets the mentality to score goals like Raheem, yes (he can do more),” he said. “When Raheem was here when I first arrived, he had no goals in mind and we immediately changed his arrival.
“Today he scored a goal because he gets to the middle, he is a machine there. He changed his mind and decided to score. Jack has this mentality to score goals and win matches as well.
“But if he has the Raheem mentality, he can do it too.”
