Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola praises players after Premier League victory over Newcastle - 'everyone fantastic'

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola made no effort to hide his delight with his players after the 1-0 defeat of Newcastle United on Saturday evening.

After watching a performance far more dominant than the narrow scoreline might suggest, Guardiola was beside himself with joy at his team's display.

Speaking to TNT Sports, he said: "No words. Where we came from, the success after the last game in Athens, that's the reason why we are a very good team. The talent, how they follow us, still they have the desire to do it."

Guardiola was referring to his team's packed schedule. Having claimed the European Super Cup in a penalty shoot out win over Europa League winners Sevilla on Wednesday evening, City turned out another excellent performance against a fellow Champions League team.

Pep underlined Newcastle's quality, observing that City needed to be at their best once again: "To come here against that team everyone saw against Aston Villa, it is magnificent. The way we played it was more than deserved. Everyone was a top performer."

He summed it up with a piece of typically effusive Guardiola praise: "Everyone is fantastic, what can I say? It means a lot to all of us."

Late in the match, Guardiola was captured by television cameras having an animated exchange with a fan.

The former Bayern boss explained: "He said to me 'make a sub', I said 'come sit here and do it'. The game was in a good tempo, a good rhythm. I didn't see the players too tired. It wasn't easy to make the changes so I didn't do it."

Switching to the BBC, Pep continued to pour praise on his tired players.

He said: "There are no words to express my gratitude for the performance we gave. It was really, really good. It is the second game, but after what we done in the last season, we are still there. We spoke about mentality. The reason we won was about our mentality and we proved it again."

While Guardiola had been complimenting his whole team, he singled out England midfielder Phil Foden for special praise.

He said: "Phil is a reality as a player. He can play many positions. He is a real threat. I am really pleased. The way he behaves with everyone. The mentality is always there. That is the most important thing."

While Guardiola didn't have a negative word to say after a complete performance from his team, his opposite number was more critical.

Speaking to TNT Sports, Newcastle boss Eddie Howe expressed his disappointment: "It was a tough game, as we knew it would be. They're an elite team. We tried our best to execute our plan.

"We did better in the second half, but when the moments came we weren't clinical enough. We really wanted to be ourselves but didn't execute it properly."

With City taking the lead midway through a thoroughly dominant first half, Newcastle came out after the break with a point to prove. While they were unable to trouble Ederson in the City goal, there was a notable improvement.

Howe agreed, saying: "The second-half showing was much better. There were moments we looked good fitness-wise, but technically we weren't at our best."

Speaking to the BBC, Howe continued on the same theme.

He said: "We had moments we could hurt them but didn’t have our quality. The second half was much better. There was a moment around 60-70 minutes in and I thought we could get control but they are a very good team and played through the press a few times.

"They strangle you with the ball to a degree. You tire yourself out getting it back and with fatigue the decision making goes slightly. There was an element of that but technically we were not where we needed to be. Collectively, we were slightly off. I was frustrated we didn’t create more."

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