Guardiola relief as Fulham leave Manchester City off the hook
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola on the touchline during the game with Fuham. Pic: Martin Rickett/PA Wire.
PEP Guardiola didn't know who to thank the most between the profligate Adama Traore or his reliable goalkeeper Ederson after Fulham let Manchester City off the hook.
Guardiola was spotted deep in conversation with Traore after the final whistle of a see-saw game at the Etihad Stadium and admitted he was hugely relieved that the former Barcelona academy graduate had failed to finish three glorious one-on-one chances with Ederson.
Guardiola admitted Traore is "unstoppable" when he is in full flight - he swotted Rico Lewis aside like a fly in the build-up for his first chance and left even the fleet-footed Kyle Walker for dead for this third - after Fulham had given City an unusually anxious afternoon.
"I was thanking him," joked Guardiola. "I've known since he was in Barcelona's academy. He's an incredible threat. When he takes the ball, forget about it. He even took it past for our fastest player, Kyle [Walker]. He's unstoppable. With that big space, he's so difficult to control."
Guardiola praised Fulham boss Marco Silva as a 'top manager' in his programme notes, adding that he always "learned something when facing his teams." Fulham's performance underlined just why with the City boss saying: "It didn't surprise at all how well Fulham played and how tough and resilient we had to be to get through that game."
The win brought up an unbeaten half century of home games for City in all competitions but apart from Traore's lack of a killer touch Guardiola was also grateful that Ederson stayed with City in the summer after being tempted by a lucrative offer to join Cristiano Ronaldo at Al Nassir in the Saudi Arabian pro league.
Fortunately for City, Al Nassir didn't match their £50m valuation for the Brazilian and they refused to sell.
"He [Ederson] knew from day one I didn't want it, we didn't want it," said Guardiola. "But the truth is a realistic offer didn't come. They made an offer but a goalkeeper who has won four Premier League titles in a row has a value. And if that price is not met he cannot leave."
Ederson was apparently under pressure from his family to make the money-spinning move but Guardiola says his focus and form has not suffered from staying put.
"He is so strong [mentally]," added Guardiola. "It can be an idea, [in his mind] but when they [Al Nassir] changed their mind. In one second, he said 'OK, I'm here, I'm going to do my best.' He's such an important player for us. We're lucky to have him. I cannot visualise the success we've had over the last eight years without him because he's made so many important saves - like today."
Ederson could do little about Fulham's opener from Andreas Pereira after a brilliant assist by Raul Jimenez, who produced a clever volleyed back heel pass to bamboozle City's defence at the end of a fine move involving seven players.
For all City's attacking talents it was Mateo Kovacic, the player with the unenviable task of replacing the injured Rodri as City's midfield anchor man, who produced their first two goals, both owerful shots from the edge of the area, with the first one taking a big deflection off Joachim Andersen.
When Jeremy Doku added City's third late on with a fine shot it looked all over only for Rodrigo Muniz to pull one back to ensure a nervy finale for City before they could chalk up their 17th successive win against Fulham.
This was easily the toughest of those victories however and underlined the London club's progress under Silva. Former Manchester United midfielder Pereira said: "I'm very proud of the players. We played well.
"We created a few chances and could have come away with a draw and I would say that would have been fair. It's a difficult place to play and they have some quality players. But we showed that we can compete against them."
As for Jimenez's eye-catching assist he added: “After the build-up, when Raul got the ball, I know that he has a little bit of an acrobatic style and he can always give balls in a special way. When I saw he was going for the back-heel, I took a little bit more space and tried to read the trajectory of the ball, so I was lucky there.” Not as lucky as City though after Traore - not for the first time - left his shooting boots at home.
: Ederson 8; Lewis 6, Akanji 6 (Walker 61, 6), Dias 6, Gvardiol 7; Kovacic 8, Gundogan 6 (Nunes 88, 5); Silva 6, Foden 6 (Stones 77, 6) , Grealish 6 (Doku 61, 7); Haaland 5.
Unused subs: Ortega, Savinho, Carson, McAtee.
Leno 7; Tete 7 (Castagne 76, 5), Andersen 7, Bassey 7, Robinson 7; Lukic 6, Berge 6 (Cairney 64, 6) Traore 5, Pereira 7 (Smith Rowe 64, 6), Iwobi 7 (Nelson 76, 6); Jimenez 8 (Muniz 77, 6).
Unused subs: Benda, Reed, Wilson, Diop.
: Peter Bankes 7.
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