Marmoush announces himself at City with demolition job on Newcastle
HAT-TRICK: Omar Marmoush scored his first hat-trick for his new club as Manchester City ease past Newcastle. Pic: Oli SCARFF / AFP
OMAR Marmoush opened his Premier Leaugue account with a 14-minute first-half hat-trick that briefly ensured that Manchester City and Pep Guardiola could forget their current problems.
In a game in which pre-match talk had focused on the respective centre-forwards - Erling Haaland and Newcastle’s Alexander Isak - it was Marmoush who well and truly stole the show with his first goals for his new club.
It was a worrying display by Eddie Howe’s side, who appear to have had one eye on next month’s League Cup Final date with Liverpool, in the weeks since they beat Arsenal in the semi first leg.
But, for Guardiola, this was a rare afternoon of light amid a lot of dark recent times - most of it provided by Marmoush.
The 26-year-old Egyptian, signed from Eintracht Frankfurt for £59 million last month, had already shown promising glimpses in a couple of cameo appearances since his arrival at City.
But nothing could have prepared fans for his first half performance against Newcastle, a devastating display that could only be described as Haaland-esque in the way he tore apart the Newcastle defence.
The opener came on 19 minute, direct from Ederson’s long ball which was badly misjudged by Kieran Trippier, whose error allowed Marmoush a clear run on goal.
The finish was composed and uncompromising, and also earned Ederson the sixth Premier League assist of his career - the most by a goalkeeper in league history.
Trippier’s role in Marmoush’s day to remember was not over, however, with the defender found lacking five minutes later when the striker made it 2-0.
Ilkay Gundogan’s pass found Marmoush who checked past Trippier before sending an unstoppable shot past the diving Martin Dubravka.
Newcastle, it had to be said, were awful but Marmoush was offering City the confidence and creativity that had been sorely lacking in their recent decline although his hat-trick goal, on 33 minutes, owed everything to Savinho.
The Brazilian winger, an inconsistent presence in his first season at the Etihad, tore into the area, past Lewis Hall, and picked out Marmoush who finished clinically from a dozen yards.
It was an eye-catching half for City, especially in the wake of their 3-2 home defeat to Real Madrid on Tuesday and the pending return in the Champions League play-off in Spain this week.
But those defensive frailties that were on show in the Madrid game, and many others, were still present here.
A Josko Gvardiol mistake, on the half hour when Newcastle were only trailing by two, presented a shooting chance to Isak whose shot was deflected wide by John Stones.
But City should actually have taken an even more commanding lead into the break, with Savinho just missing from two shots and Dan Burn doing well to stop Haaland as he looked likely to score.
Haaland, clearly desperate to get in on the scoring act, headed straight at Dubravka from a Phil Foden corner soon after the restart and, even the most pessimistic of City fans must have been expecting their suspect defence to deal with the remainder of this contest.
And when unmarked Newcastle substitute Lewis Miley found himself in plenty of space in the City area, only to hit the effort straight at Ederson, there was just a hint of anxiety creeping in at the Etihad, it looked certain to be City’s day.
It was left to City sub James McAtee to complete the rout seven minutes from time, the youngster volleying in from four yards after Haaland had flicked on a Gundogan corner.
Haaland limped off five minutes from time, after twisting his knee with no opponent near him, although that move looked precautionary - more potential good news for Guardiola.
: Ederson 7; Lewis 7, Khusanov 5, Stones 6, Gvardiol 6 (O’Reilly 87); Gonzalez 7, Gundogan 7 (Kovacic 87); Foden 7 (McAtee 76, 7), Marmoush 9 (Doku 76, 5), Savinho 7; Haaland 7 (Nunes 87). Substitutes (not used) De Bruyne, Kovacic, Silva, Nunes, O’Reilly, Ortega, Reis.
: Dubravka 6; Trippier 5 (Livramento 46, 5), Schar 5, Burn 5, Hall 5; Guimaraes 5 (Longstaff 72, 5), Tonali 6, Willock 5 (Miley 46, 6); Murphy 5, Isak 5 (Krafth 90), Gordon 6 (Wilson 73, 5). Substitutes (not used) Barnes, Osula, Pope, Targett.
A Madley 7
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