Pep Guardiola gave his thoughts on a 3-1 victory for Man City against Newcastle United.
The Citizens claimed their fourth win across three competitions against the men of Eddie Howethis campaign, moving into the next stage of the FA Cup thanks largely to an Omar Marmoush brace.
The Egyptian earned praise from his manager whose rotation policy worked well on this occasion. However, the Spaniard was not completely satisfied with the evening’s work, having received a touchline ban for the Premier League fixture against West Ham and the next phase of the FA Cup.
“In Bayer Leverkusen, it was a strong squad too, but we won today, so it was fine. It was a good decision and when I lose it was a bad decision. This is the best performance we have played in this stadium since my decade here. That is consistency and that is why I am proud.
“Really pleased because the game against Nottingham Forest we were disappointed. [So] I’m really pleased with how we played, how we behaved, offensively, defensively. We will be in the draw on Monday. [It’s] Eight times in a row we are in the quarter finals, this organisation is top.”
“I will tell you something – we have all the records in this country, all of them, despite everything.
“We have the record of the manager with the most yellow cards. I want all records and now I have it, two-game ban now and I’ll go on holidays the next two games. There are things after 10 years that I can’t understand. Review the action. Of course, I’m going to defend Jeremy Doku and all my teams.
“I had the feeling that [Omar] scored a lot of times against them. He’s a top striker and the finishing, especially our second goal and our third is his biggest quality. He has to improve in small spaces and his first control but he deserved it.
“I am happy for [John Stones] because for a long time he was injured, and he needs time to do his best. He was the captain today and he deserves it.”