Man City 3-1 Red Star Belgrade: Post-match reaction

ManchesterWorld

Our reporter Michael Plant gives his verdict on Manchester City after their 3-1 victory over Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League.

Transcript

00:00 Hello, it's Michael Plant coming to you tonight from the Etihad Stadium where Manchester City

00:05 have begun their Champions League campaign with a 3-1 home victory against Red Star Belgrade.

00:12 Of course, the first Champions League game City have played since they won the competition

00:15 back in June and a superb performance I think from City even though it wasn't all quite

00:20 plain sailing for the champions. They did win 3-1 here tonight with goals from Julian

00:25 Alvarez and own goal from the Red Star Belgrade goalkeeper Omri Glazer. Glazer of course is

00:32 quite a significant name in Manchester football but no relation I have no doubt to the owners

00:38 of Manchester United. And then Rodri scored a third in the latter stages of the second

00:42 half to hand City an important three points in the Champions League group stages. They

00:47 were actually trailing 1-0 at half time incredibly despite having 22 shots in the first half.

00:52 Yet from their one shot Red Star Belgrade managed to go in at half time 1-0 up an offside

00:58 call that just marginally went in the opposition's favour and they went in at half time as I

01:04 say 1-0 up front but City very good in the second half and came away with an important

01:08 three points. City actually I thought were really good throughout the entire game. There

01:11 was no stage where they dominated from start to finish really. They moved the ball really

01:16 well they created lots of chances as they say. I think in the first half there was quite

01:21 a few chances from the edge of the box and quite a few chances that perhaps a couple

01:25 of clear cut chances they could have done a little bit better with. It was actually

01:29 the clear cut chances behind that they weren't actually hitting the target with Erling Haaland

01:32 in particular didn't have a particularly fantastic night. For his usually impeccable

01:37 standards he actually missed quite a few chances. The Norwegian tonight he actually hit the

01:41 crossbar at one stage and he saw a chance at the near post saved by Glazer the Red Star

01:46 goalkeeper. So yeah a bit of an off night from him but as I say City throughout the

01:49 game were really good in the first half but managed to somehow go in at half time trailing

01:54 1-0 and in the second half came out and played the exact same way. Actually Pep Guardiola

01:58 spoke after the game and said that he actually just told them to keep doing what they were

02:01 doing in the first half not to change anything and he did that in the second half and ultimately

02:04 did come away as I say with the three points. It's an important three points because I think

02:08 for City and the Champions League as well particularly the last couple of years City

02:11 have started the Champions League campaign really well and it's meant that they've managed

02:14 to accumulate a lot of points and as they've gone into the latter stages of the group stages

02:18 it's meant that they've managed to rest and rotate which as I will come to is quite an

02:22 important aspect I think for this season for City because they do have quite a number of

02:25 injuries at the moment particularly in last season City had won the first three and in

02:31 the second three games of the group stages they just rest and rotated throughout. So

02:36 yeah important that City have got off to a winning start and also starting with a win

02:41 in City's group were Red Star, RB Leipzig who beat Young Boys 3-1 so I mean the two

02:47 sides you would expect to top the group have both started the campaign with a win and Leipzig

02:53 are actually City's next game in the Champions League on a away trip to the Red Bull Arena

02:58 which will you suspect be City's most difficult game of the entire group stage so yeah as

03:02 I say really good start from City. In truth there wasn't a huge amount to talk about in

03:06 terms of it was a very typical City performance where they moved the ball really well created

03:10 lots of chances a couple of interesting perhaps pre-match selections that Sergio Gomez came

03:15 in at left back doesn't start very many games I actually had a chat with a colleague before

03:19 the match about how Sergio Gomez never starts games and lo and behold of course he did start

03:24 just a couple of well about half an hour later when the teams were announced and interestingly

03:29 City only named eight substitutes tonight two of which were goalkeepers and they finished

03:33 the night with just of those eight substitutes they made five so they actually finished the

03:37 night with just one remaining outfield substitute on the bench particularly an issue because

03:42 Bernardo Silva went off injured tonight went off in the 44th minute Pep Guardiola said

03:46 speaking after the game that he didn't really know exactly what the issue with Silva was

03:51 but the doctors had confirmed to him that he would miss in Guardiola's words the next

03:55 games now exactly how many games that is we're not sure at this stage but you know you would

03:59 just suspect in that that it's going to be at least the next two home to Forest here

04:02 at the weekend and then away to Newcastle in the Carabao Cup next week so that is a

04:07 real concern for City and because they also tonight were missing Jack Grealish, Mateo

04:11 Kovacic, John Stones all of which doesn't seem to be when they're coming back I think

04:16 of any of them that are soon to come back Kovacic is probably the one that's looking

04:21 closer than perhaps Grealish and Stones at this stage then we also factor in the Kevin

04:26 De Bruyne is a long-term absentee there's a lot of injury concerns at the moment for

04:30 City and and a lot of I think a lot of things for Pep Guardiola to be concerned about in

04:35 that aspect Guardiola actually said tonight we are in trouble which I think is quite a

04:39 big thing for Guardiola to say of course he prefers to work with these smaller squads

04:43 and that's fine when as has tended to be the case for the last two years you don't pick

04:46 up many injuries but tonight he obviously did pick up or well he is picking up more

04:50 injuries now which you know it's becoming as I say a bit more of a bit more of a concern

04:53 for the City boss but yeah I mean just to finish just to talk about two individuals

04:58 from tonight's game who I thought played particularly well, Rodri who Pep Guardiola has just claimed

05:02 below I don't know if he said he was the best midfielder in the world or the best holding

05:05 midfielder in the world but certainly pretty high praise from the City boss I thought Rodri

05:09 was just amazing tonight actually he played in a slightly more offensive role he was getting

05:13 forward a little bit more and scored the third goal obviously as well but was actually bypassing

05:17 Mateus Nunes who actually started his first City game here tonight and made his full debut

05:21 but he was bypassing him quite a bit creating a lot of chances and I think had three or

05:26 four shots throughout the game of course scored the goal, the goal is brilliant actually a

05:28 lovely little side footed finish into the far corner really well taken he is just going

05:33 from strength to strength at the moment he has made such a good start to the season finished

05:36 last season so well as well and I think he is just such a superb player for City I actually

05:40 gave him you know I did my post match ratings I gave him 9 out of 10 he was one of two players

05:44 I gave 9 out of 10 to because the other one was Julian Alvarez who I thought was just

05:47 absolutely spectacular tonight you know when you think that Kevin De Bruyne has been out

05:51 then there is a real absence for City in that attack on the field road Alvarez has just

05:54 come in and played a fantastic role there actually you know he scores more goals than

06:00 De Bruyne realistically will ever score in terms of just pure numbers but he also linked

06:07 well with Erling Haaland linked really well for the first goal he is taking his game to

06:11 new levels as well obviously only his second season at City but in his first season it

06:14 was a bit difficult for him because he mainly wanted to play up front couldn't get in because

06:18 of course Erling Haaland was in front of him but he is now starting to I mean I think Guardiola

06:22 said at the weekend he was undroppable and on tonight's display and some other displays

06:26 this season you can totally understand that why Guardiola is saying that but yeah listen

06:30 just to repeat really good night for City it wasn't completely plain sailing as I say

06:35 with a difficult well I was going to say a difficult first half but a difficult scoreline

06:39 at half time anyway superb end to the game though the three second half goals I don't

06:43 think there was any fear really at half time that City weren't going to come back and win

06:46 this good start from them in the Champions League group stage and as I say just a couple

06:49 of concerns now with injuries but next up for City it's Nottingham Forest at home I

06:56 watched him last night Forest not particularly huge amount to be concerned about if it was

06:59 Pep Guardiola but you know you would never take a side like Forest lately obviously recently

07:04 won away at Stamford Bridge as well played well at Old Trafford so yeah plenty going

07:08 on of course with both clubs in Manchester we've got Manchester United playing tomorrow

07:11 night in the Champions League as well so make sure to check out their websites we'll be

07:14 covering that throughout and of course all the reaction here from the Etihad but for

07:17 me Michael Plant after Manchester City 3-1 win against Red Star Belgrade thank you very

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