Pep Guardiola praised the impact of Jeremy Doku after the summer signing from Rennes scored his first Manchester City goal to help the champions recover to beat West Ham.
City fought back from a 1-0 deficit at half-time to level within seconds of the restart, Doku cutting inside Vladimir Coufal with excellent footwork and sliding beyond Alphonse Areola for his first goal for City.
Silva and Haaland struck in the final 15 minutes to ensure City maintained their perfect start and stayed top of the Premier League with a 3-1 triumph.
All that had looked less likely when James Ward-Prowse headed in from Coufal’s cross in the first half to give West Ham a deserved lead and put them on course to overtake Guardiola’s side in the league.
The manager said he had not expected such an immediate impact from the 21-year-old Doku, who cost £55million to sign from the Ligue 1 side in the final week of the transfer window, and feared there was a shyness to his performance when he made his debut against Fulham before the international break.
Guardiola watched that game remotely from Barcelona whilst he recovered from back surgery, but since returning to Manchester has been impressed by the progress the Belgium international has made following the 5-1 win against Marco Silva’s side.
“I was in Barcelona, I had the feeling that he played a little bit shy (against Fulham),” he said. “He’d just arrived, had two or three days training, with a team that won the Treble. Maybe he was a little bit in this way.
“But today, no. (I said) use your quality as a winger. One against one, one against two; go. If you don’t have the feeling, pass back to Josko (Gvardiol) and play again.
“Today was from the first minute incredible, aggressive, great determination, arrived many times to the byline. Many, may good things he’s done. Really, really pleased. We thought the quality was there and today he started to prove it.
“When you buy a young player like him for many years (contract), we have to be patient. We cannot expect, I didn’t expect the second game for City to play like he did today. The way he played today, I don’t remember from a long time ago something like that.
“There are processes that he has to learn. Always we are there to help him. At Manchester City, every player has to be (himself). All the players here have a lot of quality.”
City have won all five of their league games this season as they seek an unprecedented fourth consecutive league title.
They were placed under pressure by West Ham for a period in the second half as David Moyes’ side went close through Michail Antonio, Emerson and Kurt Zouma, with Ederson in goal producing a string of fine saves.
“I would say West Ham had more chances in the second half than the first,” said Guardiola. “We created against a team that defends so deep and really, really well. We created a lot of chances in the 90 minutes.
“I’m so proud of the team. It’s great win for us, for the problems (injuries) we have in the squad. It doesn’t matter, the guys always respond well.
“We spoke at half-time, don’t be affected by the result because you’re playing really, really good in the first half. In the second half we were lucky to start and score a goal immediately, we had to be patient then and we had our chances, they had their chances. But really, really good in the way we played.”
Moyes reflected on a game in which his team ran the European champions close but ultimately did not have enough to avoid going down to their first defeat of the season.
“Our other games have had a lot similarities,” he said. “Chelsea missed a penalty kick, then Mick breaks through and scores to make it 2-1. Small margins in football. To be fair, the early season ones have gone for us.
“Today we played against a top team and we’ve done an OK job. Bits l liked, bits of it I didn’t like. But overall I have to say the players did a brilliant job.
“We tried to make it difficult, we always do against City. I think you have to be really clinical and also really clinical defensively as well. You can’t afford to make many mistakes.
“I thought the first goal came at a bad time. I thought their second goal was a mistake and we should have dealt with that much better. It changed the game really at that point.”
KC, JC through to Manning Cup semis as champs Mona booted
A new ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup champion will be crowned after Kingston College (KC) registered a decisive 2-0 victory over reigning titleholders Mona High in their Group A quarterfinal showdown at Stadium East on Friday.
Kvist Paul (8th) and Demario Dailey (70th) did the damage for Kingston College in a win that not only ended Mona's campaign but also propelled the North Street-based team into the semifinals alongside Jamaica College (JC), who trounced Tivoli High 4-0 in a simultaneous fixture at the Ashenheim Stadium.
By virtue of the results, Jamaica College topped the group on seven points, one point ahead of Kingston College (six points), while Tivoli High (three points) and Mona High (one point) will now turn their focus to the Walker Cup knockout competition for redemption.
Kingston College’s Head coach, Vassell Reynolds, lauded his team's composure and execution.
"It was a fantastic performance. We knew Mona would come out strong, but the boys stuck to the game plan and delivered when it mattered. Now, we look ahead to the semifinals, but as always, we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves. The aim is to keep the boys grounded and focused, and we will see what happens when that time comes,” Reynolds said.
With a lot at stake for Mona in particular heading into the contest, it was expected to be a close affair, but the manner in which Kingston College started ensured otherwise.
In fact, Mona had very little say in the contest as Kingston College’s show of intent resulted in an early strike inside 10 minutes. Damaine Smith delivered a perfectly placed corner kick, which Paul rose to meet and headed past Mona's goalkeeper, Riquelme Edwards.
Mona High, desperate to respond, almost found themselves further behind in the 15th minute when Dailey fired wide from a promising position.
As Mona struggled to contain Kingston College’s tactical discipline and attacking enterprise, Deshawn Byfield almost added his name to the scoresheet but had his effort dramatically cleared off the line by Dante Peralto.
Despite KC’s dominance, Mona’s goalkeeper Edwards produced a string of superb saves to keep his team in contention.
Just before halftime, he acrobatically parried a powerful shot from Kajay Fletcher, diving full stretch to his right, and Byfield failed to capitalize on the rebound.
Seconds later, Edwards was called upon again to deny a stinging shot from Smith.
Matrim Martin then unleashed a venomous right-footer, but Edwards once more stood tall, ensuring the scoreline remained 1-0 at the break.
The purples continued to assert their authority on the resumption as Dailey threatened in the 68th with a firm shot from close range that went straight at Edwards.
However, the Kingston College striker, sporting the number nine jersey, made amends two minutes later. Sent on his way by a brisk through pass, Dailey powered a low drive past a flat-footed Edwards to double Kingston College’s lead and effectively end Mona’s hopes of a comeback.
Clarke hails solid Scotland as Croatia win boosts Nations League survival hopes
Steve Clarke credited Scotland's defensive resilience after they boosted their hopes of remaining in the top tier of the Nations League by beating Croatia 1-0 at Hampden Park.
John McGinn came off the bench to score the all-important goal as Scotland took advantage of Petar Sucic's sending-off to claim their first win of the 2024-25 Nations League campaign.
The result – coupled with Poland's crushing 5-1 defeat in Portugal – means Scotland will stave off automatic relegation to League B if they win in Warsaw on Monday.
While Clarke felt Scotland could have done more with the ball, he was impressed both with their off-the-ball work and with the impact of super sub McGinn.
"My first thoughts when I came off the pitch were that we could play better," Clarke said.
"We could be more clinical when we get to the final third of the pitch. The sending off changed the game, but we were due a little break.
"This is a group of players that want to be successful, want to do well for their country.
"That's another clean sheet, two in a row. If you don't concede goals, you always have a chance to win the game.
"It was nice to get John on the pitch and I thought his finish was really good because it wasn't easy. It was nice to be able to look at the bench behind and know we had people who could come on and affect the game. It's nice when we get everybody fit and available."
The victory was Scotland's first in a competitive match since September 2023, when they beat Cyprus 3-0 in Euro 2024 qualifying.
They had gone 10 games without a competitive victory since then, drawing four and losing six, including a return of just one point from three outings at Euro 2024.
Denmark 1-2 Spain: Oyarzabal and Perez on target as Roja secure top spot
Spain secured top spot in Group A4 of the Nations League with one match to spare after defeating Denmark 2-1 in Copenhagen.
Mikel Oyarzabal and Ayoze Perez were on the scoresheet as the unbeaten Roja made it four wins and a draw to pull six points clear of the second-placed Danes.
Luis de la Fuente's side capitalised on a poor pass from Denmark centre-back Jannik Vestergaard to open the scoring as Oyarzabal latched on to a ball from Perez and finished past Kasper Schmeichel in the 15th minute.
Villarreal forward Perez then doubled the visitors' lead in the 58th minute after Dani Olmo turned provider with a defence-splitting pass.
The hosts reduced the deficit with six minutes of regulation time left, as Fabian Ruiz's back pass to goalkeeper David Raya was intercepted by Gustav Isaksen, who had been denied by the woodwork moments earlier, and he slotted into an open goal to set up a tense ending.
But the Spaniards held on for the win and will now face Switzerland in their final group game on Monday, before taking part in the quarter-finals, scheduled for March.
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