'He reminds name of a mini Rodri!' says Guardiola of new recruit Nico Gonzalez
MINI RODRI: Manchester City manger Pep Guardiola has praised new recruit Nico Gonzalez and referred to him as a mini Rodri. Pic: Stu Forster/Getty Images
THE plaudits went to Omar Marmoush - and quite rightly, following a 14-minute hat-trick - but Pep Guardiola did not hesitate to herald the arrival of “mini Rodri,” Nico Gonzalez.
The 23-year-old Spaniard, signed from Porto for £50 million in the January window, has some illustrious shoes to fill in the form of current Ballon d’Or holder Rodri, whose season-ending injury in September started Manchester City’s spectacular decline.
But against a miserably uninspired Newcastle, Gonzalez at least put in a passable impression of his new, but currently injured team-mate. Guardiola, not usually one to offer hyperbole, even went as far as to compare his new holding midfielder with the old one.
“The presence of Nico helped us a lot,” said Guardiola. “The 50-50 balls; if we win seven out of ten, we will run (attack), if we lose seven, they will run.
“I have the feeling we bought an incredible player for the future, in terms of mentality. He was in Barcelona Academy and they show you the best players in the world, how they teach you concepts, body shape, how to pass the ball.
“But I think in Porto, Sergio Conceicao helped us a lot, to make his football aggressive, to play smart and play different types of games, and he is so young, 23.
“He reminds name of a mini Rodri! It’s a big compliment but I have that feeling with his presence, his size, his duels. Of course, he is a mile away from Rodri, he is the best, but I have the feeling, everybody has the feeling, Nico is going to help us in this part of the season.”
The City performance, and Gonzalez’s first start, allied with the Marmoush hat-trick, certainly helped dilute some of the bad taste left by their late collapse in the 3-2 home Champions League defeat to Real Madrid on Tuesday.
But while there were other decent contributions - defenders John Stones and Abdukodir Khusanov, for example, kept a first clean sheet in seven games - it was Gonzalez who seemed to have the greatest impact on those around him.
“Yes, absolutely, absolutely,” said Guardiola. “So, you tell me why do they play good? For many reasons, it's not because just because of Marmoush.
“You know, he gets the highlights, he deserves it. But, I mean, it was because Nico was there, and Nico, because maybe Khusanov was there, or maybe, the best, John is there, you know. So, always when we analyse that player play bad, or that player play good, everything is connected.”
City’s victory, courtesy of that first half Marmoush hat-trick and a late fourth from substitute James McAtee, may have been a vast improvement on some recent disasters, but even Guardiola was struggling to make a case that they can turn around their Champions League play-off next week.
“Of course, the victory helped us, but, listen, the margin to win in Bernabeu in that position, everybody knows that if you ask before the game, the percentage to go through, I don't know, we arrive at 1%, or I don't know what … it will be minimal,” said Guardiola.
“But as much as you have a chance, we will try, that's for sure. We are going there like we have always done, but this season, the reality, we have been miles, miles away.
“If you tell me that we performed like this every game and we finished 22nd in the Champions League? Of course not, we would have finished higher. But the reality, we have been really, really poor in performance in the results this season.
“And just for one game, that today, we played really good, it's not going to change the opinion, the reality, the team, where it is right now. And we are still not good in terms of day by day, being that, but, of course, it's better to travel to Madrid with this result, than imagine either defeat in the last minutes, or defeat.
“So in the end, okay, the chance is, minor, because the result was not good. At 2-1 to us, it would be different, but 2-3? As much as you have a chance, we are going to take it, and we'll see what happens.”
For Newcastle manager Eddie Howe, defeat followed home losses to Bournemouth and Fulham that have come after Newcastle effectively booking their place in next month’s Carabao Cup Final with Liverpool. Howe, certainly, does not want his players’ thoughts to be on Wembley although the evidence suggests that is what is happening.
“If that is the case we're in trouble, because our Premier League season will be over by the time that final comes around,” said Howe. “It can't be the focus. It's on the horizon, it should be a positive, it shouldn't be a negative distraction for us. I'd encourage the players to look at it that way.
“It's an excitement, but we have to go back to work and work is the Premier League the day and day out, and we have to perform. Three of our last four performances in the Premier League haven't been good enough. And they've all had similar traits in them, so yes, back to basics.”
: 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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