Our reporter Michael Plant gives his reaction after Manchester City's 1-0 win at the Etihad on Saturday in the Premier League.
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00:00 Hello, it's Michael Plant coming to you from the Etihad Stadium. After tonight, Manchester
00:05 City recorded a very impressive 1-0 victory over Newcastle. I actually thought that despite
00:10 the 1-0 scoreline, I thought City were really good during the game. I thought they played
00:14 excellently across the 90 minutes, perhaps didn't create enough chances, but it was a
00:17 match that City absolutely dominated from start to finish in terms of possession and
00:21 just in terms of having general control over the match. Now it was of course a very celebratory
00:25 atmosphere here at the Etihad ahead of the game. This is the first match that City fans
00:29 have got to see their side since they won the treble at the end of last season. Of course,
00:33 they won the FA Cup at Wembley against Manchester United and of course the Champions League,
00:38 a maiden Champions League trophy against Inter Milan last season in June. So it's the first
00:42 time I say City fans have been here and there was plenty of celebrations, plenty of banners
00:46 beforehand. The PA announced a reminder to everyone that they were coming to see the
00:50 European champions. There was a big banner unfurled from the stand behind me, a big,
00:55 what do you call it, another banner on the pitch. And yeah, all three trophies, the Premier
01:00 League, the FA Cup and the Champions League all on display here. And you can't dispute
01:04 or argue why City would enjoy this because this is something that's only been achieved
01:08 twice in the history of English football and City were just right, I think, in my eyes
01:11 to make the most of it without probably going overboard really with it. So yeah, before
01:15 the game, real celebratory atmosphere and an interesting bit of team news that Ruben
01:19 Diaz was involved. We weren't expecting him to make it. He was expected to miss out through
01:23 injury, but he was involved in the start of the 11th tonight and played very well. And
01:27 I think in general City did play really well. First 15 minutes or so, they knocked the ball
01:31 about and Newcastle could barely get on the ball and do anything, making many chances.
01:34 But actually when City were on the ball, they were fizzing it around. That was really interesting.
01:39 City started with a regular 4-3-3 shape. I don't want to get too tactical on this, but
01:43 Phil Foden, who's playing on right wing, moved inside. Kyle Walker pushed up and then
01:47 Manmohan Alkansi, who's playing centre back, also pushed into midfield and that made almost
01:51 five players in the middle for City. And City through that just had complete dominance in
01:55 terms of possession, in terms of control over the game. And from there, they merely moved
01:58 Newcastle about. Newcastle just could not get on the ball, could not get close enough
02:01 to City to try and really lay a glove on them. And for that reason, the City enjoyed so much
02:05 possession. But really up until the half an hour stage, they'd only created one shot,
02:09 a speculative effort from the edge of the area from Manmohan Alkansi, who'd curled it
02:13 over and then took him to the 31st minute to create a real goal scoring opportunity.
02:16 Phil Foden laid the ball into the path of Julian Alvarez and he curled a lovely shot
02:20 into the far corner, beating Nick Pope. And that was it really until the end of the half.
02:24 But I thought either side at half time, there was some really good chances for Erling Haaland,
02:28 who although he didn't score, I thought he looked really sharp. Not involving the build
02:31 up play is becoming more and more common with him and his performances, but it was certainly
02:35 very good in terms of, he looked really sharp, a couple of lovely long passes into him, took
02:38 a touching shot. So yeah, another good display, I thought, from him.
02:42 Plenty of chances without, as I say, City absolutely peppering them. But it was a game
02:46 where sometimes you come away from a match and you think it wasn't a case that necessarily
02:50 - I don't think that City played fantastic - I thought City played very well, but it
02:54 was more of a case of a really professional performance where they said, Newcastle are
02:57 not going to be able to win this game. They just, they limited Newcastle to one shot across
03:00 90 minutes. That was a speculative effort from outside the box that Ederson very comfortably
03:04 held. That was the sort of performance it was from City. Not a performance where they
03:07 absolutely wowed everyone, but they just made it, I would almost say made it impossible
03:11 for Newcastle to win. Some really good displays, I thought Kyle Walker was really good at right
03:16 back, Phil Foden at right wing was absolutely excellent. The sort of performance, cotton
03:20 inside. Obviously, the news this week with Kevin De Bruyne being out, there's so much
03:23 importance now, I think, on Phil Foden and him cutting inside made it really difficult
03:26 for Newcastle. A really superb performance from him. I thought Julian Alvarez was really
03:31 good in a kind of attacking midfield role where he pushed in and helped Erling Haaland
03:36 up top. And then I thought actually the man of the match was Mateo Kovacic in the centre.
03:40 I thought he was absolutely brilliant. And listen, there's a lot of talk at the moment
03:43 about De Bruyne being out, Gundogan leaving, Silva injured at the moment as well. But Kovacic
03:47 coming in has added an extra dimension in that he's very good on the ball, very quick,
03:51 very agile and also capable of dribbling as well. So I think it's really interesting
03:54 that he's brought another dimension in some ways to this team. But yeah, fantastic night
03:59 for City, played really well, they were really good in the transitions. On another night
04:03 could have scored two or three more actually perhaps and did have a couple of counter-attacking
04:06 chances at the end, but just couldn't put the game to bed. As for Newcastle, I actually
04:10 thought Newcastle were pretty good. I've just spoken to our Newcastle writers who thought
04:13 that Newcastle were far off their best. I thought they were pretty good. I think on
04:15 another day at Periside we lost two or three goals. Newcastle just played against City
04:20 who just, I was going to say were almost at their best, I don't think that would be quite
04:24 right but we're putting in this sort of performance that is just so difficult to beat. And then
04:28 yeah, as I say, not many chances at the end. City held on relatively comfortably in the
04:32 latter stages. Just one little thing to add, there was one interesting aspect of the game
04:36 where Pep Guardiola had a bit of an altercation with a fan. Pep explained after the game,
04:40 he was asked about it, he said that the fan was basically shouting on, telling him to
04:42 make a substitution and he basically said, "Well, if you think it's so easy, come and
04:45 sit in my seat and have a go." And I don't think any of us could really do much better
04:49 than Pep Guardiola sitting in that seat. But yeah, really encouraging display from City.
04:52 He was really delighted actually with the level of performance, considering how little
04:55 time they had to prepare. Compared to Newcastle, obviously they had that midweek game in the
04:58 Europa Super Cup or European Super Cup on Wednesday night. Got through that anyway and
05:03 yeah, he was absolutely delighted with the performance of his side. So next for City,
05:06 it is Sheffield United away next week. You'd expect there'd be another three points really
05:12 if I'm totally honest. Sheffield United have not started the season well. Important as
05:14 well for City that, you know, don't always start the season brilliantly but from the
05:18 first two games, picked up six points, you'd expect them to make it nine points next week.
05:22 So yeah, City started this season very encouragingly and I think you'll hope that you'll get the
05:26 likes of John Stones and Bernardo Silva back for that game and have a few more options
05:29 back. But from me, Michael Bland at the Addy Hat, thank you very much for watching.