Pep Guardiola was pleased to see his side come out on top against Chelsea and specifically had words of praise for youngster Phil Foden.
Pep Guardiola was delighted to see Phil Foden take all the plaudits on Sunday as the youngster grabbed a brilliant goal in City’s 3-1 victory over Chelsea.
The 20-year-old started at Stamford Bridge as part of a much-changed City starting XI. This didn’t come as a surprise given the club’s struggle with coronavirus over the past weeks.
City were missing the likes of Ederson, Gabriel Jesus, Kyle Walker, and Benjamin Mendy for the weekend’s Premier League clash. Regardless, they proved to be too much for Frank Lampard and company who were no match for the Citizens all through the game.
Ilkay Gundogan, Foden, and Kevin De Bruyne all found the score-sheet in the first half before Callum Hudson-Odoi netted a late consolation for the hosts. Out of everything, it was a brilliant outing for Foden that caught the eye of Guardiola.
“So proud – he never dropped one bit of his energy he can play up front in all four positions,” Pep told Sky Sports when asked about Foden’s performance.
“He has a sense of goal, he scored a fantastic goal. We rely on him incredibly, for England and the national team, he will be a top player because he’s so clever and calm.
“He made another great performance today.”
Despite Chelsea’s below-par performance, Guardiola insisted that his team had to dig deep for the victory and added that the result could easily have gone the opposite way.
“[Chelsea] press and push in the first minutes, we suffered a little bit because we didn’t concede almost anything except the goal in the last minute but we played really well,” he added.
“The result is excellent at Stamford Bridge but the way we play was really great you can’t win titles without playing like that.
Guardiola continued on his side’s victory: “Chelsea are one of the strongest teams, they are suffering from the last game but you see the quality of their players and the bench. We had a plan we tried to play like we have in the past and it worked.
“The players were excellent in every way especially with the ball. We cannot play like other teams, we have to play in our rhythm and attack in the right moment. We won titles in that way, more patient. We missed a bit of this tempo and today we had it.
“We don’t have the physicality and quality of players to make quick transitions, maybe Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne but the others haven’t played with the ball. You create problems and that’s what we have to do. From the keeper to the striker we have to put the ball on the grass, make 1000 passes and pick the right moment.”
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