Pep Guardiola dismissed any concerns about Manchester City’s defence following their 3-2 victory over Fulham, despite conceding the first goal. This pattern of conceding early has also been seen in their wins against Ipswich and Brentford earlier in the season. Andreas Pereira opened the scoring for Marco Silva’s side in the 26th minute. Similarly, Sam Szmodics scored early for Ipswich in August, and Yoane Wissa did the same for Brentford at the Etihad last month. When asked if this was a cause for concern, Guardiola responded, “I would say except Wissa against Brentford, in the other ones we were playing good. It’s not nice to come back from 0-1 but we created chances today to go 1-0 and 2-0.”
Pereira’s goal was a result of Alex Iwobi’s impressive backheeled volley. Guardiola commented, “Sometimes I give credit. The first goal – why don’t we give credit to them rather than [be critical] defensively? There are actions we can defend better but step by step we will improve.” Mateo Kovacic scored for City in each half, with Jérémy Doku’s 82nd-minute strike proving decisive, despite Rodrigo Muniz’s late goal. Guardiola praised Kovacic, who filled the No 6 role left vacant by the injured Rodri. His three goals this term match his total for last season. “I’m very happy he scored two goals, he’s not a guy to score [usually] those goals,” the manager said.
“We started really well with two chances in two minutes and they switched immediately to five at the back. When they do that, we have one man free on the 18-yard box and that is Kovacic. The two goals were because they couldn’t defend that. We have to exploit that more against teams that don’t play five at the back – now opponents know that they can’t leave him [Kovacic] alone, otherwise he will score a goal.” Silva reflected on the match, stating, “Looking at the performance the players executed the plan really well, the performance was an excellent one. Looking at the chances we create and comparing with City, we deserve more from the game, but that is football.”
