Pep Guardiola praised Mateo Kovacic after his brace against Fulham (Martin Rickett/PA) (Image: PA Archives/PA Images)
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola was brimming with pride as Mateo Kovacic took over, scoring two critical goals that turned the tide in City's thrilling 3-2 Premier League win over Fulham. With Rodri sidelined due to injury, Kovacic seized his moment in midfield and found the back of the net on both sides of the interval in the clash at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
In the absence of key player Rodri for the remainder of the season, Kovacic has emerged as an unexpected asset. Reflecting on the Croatian's impact, Guardiola admitted: “I'm very happy that he scored two goals. He's not a guy who scores goals.”
Guardiola further thought that Kovacic might have taken inspiration from Rodri, saying: “Maybe he saw Rodri, the goals he scored in that position.”
He highlighted Kovacic's freedom in the face of a five-man defense, saying: “When they defend with five in defense, there is a free man in the penalty area and that is Kovacic.”
The coach praised the midfielder's performance, saying the double goal was because: “These two goals are because they can't defend that position. The first goal was brilliant and the second too .”
Marco Silva felt his team deserved something from the match (Martin Rickett/PA) (Image: PA Wire/PA Images)
Acknowledging Kovacic's newfound attention among his opponents, Guardiola warned: “Kova was really important but now the opponents know they can't leave him alone, otherwise he can score a goal.”
Kovacic himself, meanwhile, relished a personal victory by dedicating his goal-scoring feat to his future wife during his chat with the BBC: “It means a lot because my wife is pregnant, so it was great to score goals for the little one.”
He humbly placed team success above personal glory, saying: “It's good to score but the most important thing is the team and that we won. It's never easy to playing in the Premier League and today we showed great character. It was a good game for us.
City escaped narrowly as Fulham's Adama Traore squandered several chances, but Jeremy Doku sealed victory with a breathtaking Jeremy Doku strike, before a late consolation from Rodrigo Muniz.
Guardiola commented: “My feeling is that the game was well played but what chances they had, especially with Adama, he's unstoppable, this guy, it's impossible to control him, we were a bit uh-uh.”
“It was a tough game but we knew that. They played really well. Marco (Silva) has been here for many years and they are getting better.”
Fulham manager Silva thought his team were unlucky not to win anything from the match.
He said: “Of course we have to be really unhappy with the result. The players executed the plan very well, the performance was excellent, but looking at the chances we created and comparing with City, we deserved more than match. But that's football.”
“We have to be really proud, we scored two goals here and we had four clear chances to score (more), going one-on-one with Ederson.”
This is not easy to achieve and we did it. This gives us the feeling that we are in the right direction and that we are growing.
“”.
Source: https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1957808/pep-guardiola-pinpoints-moment-mateo-kovacic-took-leaf-out-rodri-s-book-man-city