Pep Guardiola on Phil Foden
Right, I’m going to leave you now. Here’s Stuart James’s match report from Rodney Parade. What an enjoyable Cup tie. Thanks for your emails and tweets. Bye.
Pep Guardiola speaks: “Well, it was a really tough game. They scored a goal – a stupid goal – at the end and Phil’s goal helped the team to not suffer at the end. A big compliment to all the guys who played today. The first 15-20 minutes were difficult. The long throw-ins they were much, much better than us. But the last 50 minutes we were good. Winning here – I realise what English football is today – we are not used to these types of games. That is why the Cup is so difficult.” It’s Welsh football in an English competition Pep, but we know you mean well.
Are all four trophies possible? “Every challenge is different. When you want to be in all competitions you have to adapt. And today we adapt and that helps us to grow as a team. The big mistake is that you believe you are better than the other team.”
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Riyad Mahrez speaks: “It wasn’t easy to play here. Especially with the pitch. The most important thing is the victory. We played good and controlled the game. We are professionals and we have to be ready for anything. Everyone is happy to get through. We have to forgert the FA Cup and concentrate on the Champions League. We are just taking it game by game.”
And here’s Phil Foden, who must have had a lovely lawn in his back garden when he was growing up: “That’s the worst I’ve played on. We had to keep the ball moving and they tired at the end. We scored straight away after they scored. It’s a big squad and everyone wants to show the boss you can start.”
What a bizarre end to the game – a flurry of goals that didn’t really reflect the shape of the game. Having said that, there were moments in the second half when City looked like they could have kicked on and scored more had they opted for the forward pass rather than the sideways one. Pep said his team would “suffer” and in the first half they did. Newport gave them a few frights for sure. As for Laporte, his woeful header to gift Amond a goal will have done him no favours with Pep. Mahrez probably gave his manager a reminder of his different skillset to that of Sterling and Bernardo Silva, but both those players are probably simpler and more effective than the winger, who overplays at times. Foden was impressive too.
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Full-time: Newport 1-4 Manchester City
And that’s that. A valiant effort from the League Two side. To go in at half-time at 0-0 was a shock in itself. But the City machine clicked into gear in the second half. The home fans at Rodney Parade give their players a raucous send-off after a fantastic Cup run that will have filled up the coffers but more importantly, given the team – and town – a huge boost.
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Goal! Newport 1-4 Manchester City (Mahrez 90)
And that’s just rubbing it in. Stones cuts a delicious right-footed pass back into the box and in behind Newport’s defence for Mahrez, who takes one touch before rifling home at Day’s near post.
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90+3 min: … but smashes it into the wall and out for a corner. A corner that is played short. City hold on to possession and then …
90+2 min: City win a free-kick 25 yards out in a central position. Sane stands over it …
Goal! Newport 1-3 Manchester City (Foden 90)
Spoil sports! Sane wins possession in midfield and pops the ball off to Foden. The youngster glides towards the edge of the box, cuts on to his left foot, and hammers a shot into the roof of the net. How dare you score Newport!
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Goal! Newport 1-2 Manchester City (Amond 89)
Well, well, well. Poole hoiks a ball forwards, Laporte makes a hash of his header, trying to head it to Otamendi but finding Amond instead, who stabs a lovely finish over Ederson and into the net. Could they?
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88 min: Nope. City break but Sane is flagged offside …
87 min: Newport win a corner. Can they get a goal to remember the occasion by?
85 min: Sane has just stabbed the ball into Day’s conk (again). Day should ask Sane to foot the bill if he needs any cosmetic adjustments to his beak after the match. And then Jesus has a pop at goal from 20 yards but day plucks it out of the air.
83 min: Newport clear and Amond gathers possession on the halfway line and turns and tries to run into the inside-right channel … but a pack of four City players hunt him down and retrieve the ball like dutiful dogs. That almost seemed unfair. That was incredible workrate from City in the transition, considering the nature of the game now.
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82 min: Silva is off and Gundogan is on. Not a bad deputy.
80 min: Mahrez tries to find Jesus in behind the Newport defence but O’Brien stretches out a tired limb and snuffs out the danger. He’s been impressive here.
78 min: Fernandinho’s evening’s work is done. He’s replaced by Laporte, which may mean Stones coming into midfield but second guessing Pep is about as pointless as storing water in a giant sieve.
77 min: Liverpool fans will be happy with this. City’s schedule remains busier than Theresa May’s.
Goal! Newport County 0-2 Manchester City (Foden 75)
This is a lovely solo goal. Foden cleverly flicks the ball over Bennett in midfield and then delicately dribbles forwards to the edge of the area. Bennett faces him up but the youngster does a razor-sharp stepover and lashes a shot into Day’s bottom left corner. Day gets a hand to it, but not a strong enough one. The tie’s done.
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71 min: Foden jumps into Bennett and gives a free-kick away. It’s floated into the box, flicked on and headed straight at Ederson by O’Brien. It was a difficult ball to get any power on. But Newport are still in this while there’s just a goal in it.
69 min: Amond is set free down the inside-right channel after some neat interplay from Newport. Otamendi steams in to close the forward down and as they clash Amond’s studs dig into the defender’s ankle and leave him on the turf. It was a bright attack and an innocuous coming together. Otamendi will be OK. The magic sponge should sort that out.
68 min: Dolan is on for Labadie, who has put a shift and a half in for the home side.
65 min: Whoah! Ederson almost gifts Newport a goal, as the ball bobbles up off the pitch as he tries to join in the possession power-play and is closed down by Matt and Amond. He burst ahead of Matt to clear the ball, though. He made up for that error very quickly.
64 min: City are in total control now. Foden finds Mahrez, who finds Danilo, who finds Stones, who finds Otamendi etc and so on. Perhaps Pep has told his players to dominate possession and not go near a Newport player to limit the chance of picking up an injury. It would be peak Pep. “Don’t shoot too hard either, you could twang a hammy, lads.”
61 min: Mahrez does about 99 stepovers in a display of skill that is more a dance act than a football move. He eventually cuts inside and should shoot with his left foot but adds another unnecessary dragback to his act and pings the ball wide with his right foot. Guardiola mutters something under his breath. “Berk,” perhaps. Newport make a change. Sheehan comes on in place of Bakinson, who almost gave Newport the lead in the first half.
59 min: Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop go the Manchester City passes. Then Fernandinho wallops the ball into O’Brien and Newport break but Matt is quickly crowded out of it.
58 min: City are getting into the groove now. Danilo, who has been slick and threatening on the right, plays a one-two with Jesus and slams a shot off the near post. Day did well to spread himself and cover the angle, though. Newport need to stand firm here.
56 min: Danilo immediately tests Day with a left-footed sighter from 25 yards, making the keeper stretch low to his left to divert the ball around the post. He’s alert enough, though, keeping the City lead at just a solitary goal.
54 min: Day requires a fair bit of treatment on his bust nose. It was a strange goal, like watching a boxer send a straight right through an opponent’s guard. Day probably should have got his hands on the ball but the pace of the shot meant it breeched his palms and hit him square on the bridge of his nose. Oof!
Goal! Newport 0-1 Manchester City (Sané 51)
And then the bubble is burst! Sané and Jesus play a neat one-two on the left of the penalty area and Sané races in on goal. Day stands up tall and Sané smashes the ball at Day, the ball walloping the keeper in the nose and dropping into the goal behind him. Day’s nose has been bloodied by that – and the home fans fall just a little quiet for the first time.
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49 min: Amond flicks the ball on to Matt, who is put under pressure by Otamendi in the box. He holds the ball up diligently, though, and lays the ball off wide to Willmott. His low cross finds Amond, but he can’t turn and shoot. Promising signs for Newport, though.
47 min: Newport are pinned back early on but they keep their wits about them and stay compact to keep City at bay. Then Poole strides out of midfield like a latterday Beckenbauer and causes a wild roar from the home fans. Newport work it out wide but City press and win back possession and then give it away. It’s a bit of a scrappy start to this half. Newport will be very happy with that.
Peep! It's the second half!
45 mins: The teams have just emerged to this. Oof! That’ll get you going. No changes on either side.
Right. We’re almost ready for the second half. Newport looked a little tired towards the end of the first 45. Though I imagine the Newport masseuse is probably the most knackered member of staff at Rodney Parade at present. O’Brien and Demetriou must be inhaling Vicks Vaporub like mad men as they pysche themselves up for this half. They need to do the same again.
Some half-time chat
“Re: 26 min: I can reassure Peter Oh that Newport is EXACTLY like he imagines it. But sadly, it’s never recovered from the closing of TJs, rock club par excellence. The site of Kurt Cobain’s proposal to Courtney Love (allegedly). If County can keep the score like this, it might be almost as impressive!” whoops Matt Dony.
@GreggBakowski
— krish (@vkmagus) February 16, 2019
Considering that one London club conceded 4 goals inside 20 minutes just a week ago Newport can be promoted to PL without a second thought
Sarri will anyway be available to coach Newport by summer
😉
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Half-time: Newport County 0-0 Manchester City
Does that count as a Cup shock already? What an incredible effort by the League Two side to keep City at bay. They’ve been heroic at the back and punchy up front on set-pieces –exactly as Michael Flynn would have wanted them to be. Stay tuned. I’ll be back shortly. Here’s some half-time reading on another Welsh team:
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44 min: Danilo spies a gap at Day’s left-hand post and has a pop from 25 yards. The ball dips and curls towards goal and then drifts wide by a foot. Day was a little worried as that came fizzing in.
42 min: Silva’s toes begin to twinkle, he cuts through Newport with a delicious pass to Foden that gives City some added impetus. And then after some neat interplay Silva looks set to fire on goal when O’Brien stretches out a leg to clear the danger. A moment later, Sané dances into teh poenalty area and O’brien (again!) hurls himself at the shot in the Colin Hendry-style (ask your parents, kids) to deny the German. On closer inspection the ball hit O’Brien’s arm. That would be given in the Premier League, I reckon. Mariner’s been generous there. Sané didn’t really appeal, though.
40 min: Some sloppiness has crept into City’s play. First, Otamendi tries to play out from the back with a vertical pass that holds up on the pitch that Newport cut out. And when City pick up possession again Fernandinho puts too much beef on his pass forwards to Jesus.
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38 min: I was just writing that it’s not been an overly physical match and how Pep will be delighted with that, when Bennett clatters into Jesus from behind and leaves the centre-forward wincing. I think he’s OK though.
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36 min: The ball drops to Amond in the City box. He’s under pressure and needs to take his shot early. He swivels and shoots towards the near post but he only half-connects with the ball and it’s not bothering Ederson.
34 min: Sané plays a rapid-fire one-two with Silva and bursts into the box on the left. He looks up and watches Day go down early, firing high, but too high. The ball pings off the crossbar and out for a goal-kick.
32 min: After having been given the runaround for a few minutes Newport win a valuable free-kick and a breather. The ball is pinged over to Matt on the left wing. Newport keep possession admirably and are forced back to their keeper, but that’s OK.
30 min: City are pop-pop-popping their way forwards with a little more urgency now. Silva tries to slalom his way into a shooting position on the left side of the penalty area but three Newport defenders hurry over like panicked firefighters to put out the flames of danger.
29 min: It’s still goalless. Bravo Newport.
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28 min: And then Zinchenko whips a brilliant left-footed cross into the corridor of uncertainty that Jesus is an inch away from connecting with. This Cup tie is great fun!
27 min: Another long throw from Newport and another nervy moment for City, as Ederson punches, unconvincingly, to the penalty spot, where City scramble clear. Has Rory Delap been coaching Newport this week?
26 min: “Greetings from Northern California!” chirps Peter Oh. “I’ve never been to Newport but have an idea of what the city might be like, based on a couple of cultural references. Ok, so a parody video of the Jay-Z & Alicia Keys song, and a Manic Street Preachers tune may not provide the most accurate picture, but it’s all I’ve got! In any case, the photos of Pep Guardiola inspecting the pitch are priceless. It looks like he was fully expecting to find shards of glass and mole burrows.” Or an overturned shopping trolley.
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22 min: Mahrez looks like a player with a point to prove. He’s not started for City in the Premier League in 2019 and he’s trying his hardest to force his way into Guardiola’s thoughts here. This time he gathers possession on the edge of the box , rolls the ball out of his feet and whips a low shot towards the bottom corner that’s a yard wide. He might be trying a bit too hard, actually. Cool it.
20 min: Mahrez ghosts into the box on the right and drills a low shot towards the far post that Day does well to palm away. It’s Newport who react quickest, though, and the League Two side clear the danger.
19 min: Newport create another chance from a long throw. Matt flicks the ball against Danilo, who turns and watches in horror as Labadie cocks the trigger but wallops a shot from 12 yards wide. He was under pressure, in his defence. But what an effort this is by Newport.
18 min: Silva pops the ball off to Fernandinho on the edge of the Newport box. He looks to his right and sees Mahrez is covered. So he whacks a hopeless shot wide instead. Rather impatient that.
17 min: City look comfortable enough in possession but the pitch just look a little on the stodgy side and I think it’s taking some of the zip out of their play. They’re a little slower going forwards than they usually are.
14 min: And Ederson has just used that agility to deny Newport from going 1-0 up! What a save this is! A long throw is flicked on to Bakinson. The ball bounces in front of him and the midfielder nods the ball at the corner only to see Ederson, at full stretch, claw the ball away. A wonderful stop. One Banks would be proud of. We have a Cup tie all right!
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13 min: Nope. Butler fails to beat the first man. City can break but Jesus is robbed of possession and Matt has a sniff of a chance but Ederson snuffs it out by racing off his line. What an alert stopper he is. As well as being incredible on the floor, like Gordon Banks, he’s an agile and keeper too.
12 min: Newport win a corner! A roar goes up from the home crowd. Can they?
10 min: City are hogging the ball like a team that have had £1bn invested in them. Funny that. Then Fernandinho of all people decides he’s had enough of all this possession, drilling a shot a yard wide from just outside the area.
9 min: Mahrez twists O’Brien this way and that and leaves him behind as he heads for the touchline. He looks up and drills a cross-shot at goal that Day tips away for a throw-in on the far side. Some lovely trickery by the City winger there, though.
7 min: City dominate possession for a minute but then the ball gets caught behind Silva and his pass is cut out in Newport’s half. Poole does well under pressure to knock a ball down the line that Amond hares in to behind Otamendi. He dribbles into the box but is crowded out as Stones get back to cover.
6 min: Jesus flicks the corner on at the near post and Newport clear. No alarms so far. The home side are doing better than Hyde in 1887.
5 min: City finally get on the ball and after some slick passing on the right they win a corner. Set pieces are supposed to be the area Newport are stronger than City in.
3 min: Demetriou curls a testing cross towards the back post that Ederson stretches to pluck out of the air. More positive signs for Newport.
2 min: Poole chases a long ball down the right and it needs an alert Ederson to race off his line and wallop the ball out of play and possibly out of the ground. That’s a promising start for the home side.
Peep! We're off!
1 min: Newport, in their amber strip, get the game under way. They’re shooting left to right on my screen. So imagine that if you will. City, in dark blue shirts and shorts with luminous yellow socks, are going the other way.
Before we kick off, Gordon Banks is remembered fondly at Rodney Parade. Both sets of supporters give the brilliant goalkeeper and lovely man a warm round of applause, as do the players. “England’s NO1” is chanted loudly too. Lovely stuff.
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A dismissive tweet for sure:
@GreggBakowski 26-0, bah, amateurs. The record in Scotland for a SFA cup win is Arbroath 36-0 Shotts Bon Accord.
— Cuthbert Artichoke (@bertartichoke) February 16, 2019
It’s Magic of the Cup time! The teams emerge from the tunnel into a riotous din at Rodney Parade, the noise pure bouncing around the compact little stadium in south-east Wales. What a night for Newport! City’s players have their poker faces on, they’re in the zone. Some of Newport’s players, however, betray just a little astonishment at the sight before them. They’ve had some famous nights here in recent years but this one must have caused the butterflies to flutter around their stomachs more than any other.
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Ian Kay is glad that a certain Argentinian is playing: “I’ve never said this before, but I’m very glad we’re playing Otamendi – it sounds like his sort of game.” Are you sure? He loves to race out to connect with a high ball, miss it, and then play catch up. Mind you, he doesn’t do that as often these days. He doesn’t start as often either.
Matt Rayner is having none of this plucky Newport talk: “When all of Wales and England are against us, it’s lucky for us that we have one nation funding us. So surely that’s two against one. City are the underdogs.”
Pep speaks: “In three or four days we have a Champions League game and then a Cup final. We have to remember what we have done, the good and the bad things, in the past. Newport play a different game [to Wigan, who knocked them out last season]. We are a different team to then.”
Boos rain down on the City players as they make their way off the pitch after limbering up on the Rodney Parade turf. And then the partisan home fans launch into some lusty chants of their own. They’re right up for this. It’s going to be a fierce atmosphere come kick-off.
Ian Sargeant, like most neutrals, is wearing Newport County amber tonight: “Having seen them kick off their Cup run at my local team, Met Police, and with them outlasting my own team (West Ham) I’ve adopted them as my Cup team. A couple of the local scrotes ee-yored the Newport centre half (Franks) for a lot of the game. I’d love it (love it Keegan styley) if he came off the bench to bury the winner, and yelled Eee-yor into the cameras …”
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Even if City put a truckload of goals past Newport this evening they will have to go some way to better the biggest ever FA Cup win. We have to go back to 15 October 1887 for that, when Preston beat Hyde by just the 26 goals to nil. Yes, 26-0! Did Hyde spend the afternoon in the pub or go on strike in the 1st minute? That’s a goal every three-and-a-bit minutes!
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Millwall join Watford and Brighton in the quarter-finals. They’ve beaten Wimbledon 1-0.
Of course, Wales has played host to one of the biggest ever FA Cup shocks. Step forward Wrexham in January 1992 who, like Newport, were in the fourth tier when they shot down the Gunners. Arsenal, like City, were the reigning league champions at the time. Mickey Thomas scored a belting free-kick in a famous 2-1 win at the Racecourse Ground. Oh, and get well soon Mickey.
Here’s what the Newport manager, Michael Flynn, has to say having just seen that City lineup: “That just goes to show how much respect Pep Guardiola has not just for us but for City fans too. We want to put on a show and stop them. I think it would be [the biggest Cup upset ever] because of the finances in the game and the level they are playing at.”
On the pitch, which looks pretty good to me from the few shots I have seen: “ I want football to be played the right way. The people of Newport deserve to see how good these players can be. Not just City players but our lot too. This day is for our fans too. It’s a one-off but who knows?”
Flynn has made two changes from last Tuesday’s 1-0 defeat at MK Dons but his team is the same as the one that beat Middlesbrough. so that means starting spots for on-loan Manchester United defender Regan Poole and strike duo Jamille Matt and Padraig Amond.
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Team news
Newport County: Day, Butler, Demetrio, O’Brien, Bennett, Poole, Bakinson, Labadie, Willmott, Matt, Amond: Subs: Townsend, Pipe, Franks, Dolan, Marsh-Brown, Sheehan, McKirdy.
Manchester City: Ederson, Zinchenko, Stones, Otamendi, Danilo, Fernandinho, Sane, Silva (C), Foden, Mahrez, Gabriel Jesus. Subs: Muric, Laporte, Walker, Gundogan, De Bruyne, Sterling, Bernardo Silva.
Referee: Andre Mariner.
Yeah, not bad that City team. Seven changes but, bloody hell, that’s strong. Danilo, Nicolas Otamendi, Phil Foden, David Silva, Leroy Sane, Riyad Mahrez and Gabriel Jesus come in.
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Preamble
Evening. Newport have had a magical Cup run so far. They’ve seen off the Met Police, Wrexham, Leicester and Middlesbrough to set up the juiciest of home ties with Manchester City in the fifth round. Romance is very much alive in this corner of south Wales. The brilliant thing about today’s match is that even if Pep Guardiola plays an understrength team, it will still be capable of beating most sides in Europe, meaning that anything other than a City win will be considered a PROPER CUP SHOCK.
However, the chances of seeing a PROPER CUP SHOCK are as slim as a pencil shaving on a diet, aren’t they? City have put seven past Rotherham, nine past Burton and six past Chelsea in recent weeks. And while Newport boss Michael Flynn can be grateful he hasn’t got David Luiz in his defence this evening, his side will have to be on it whatever the City XI. The pitch may be a leveller and Guardiola has even suggested there are things Newport can do better than his £1bn squad, who will “suffer” at Rodney Parade.
Anything can happen in one game, especially away from home. I’ve seen Newport’s last few games and they are incredible at set pieces and throw-ins. What they do, they do really well. They are taller and stronger than us and, in some areas, might be better than us, so we will have to make sure we play our own game and not theirs and focus on what we are good at. They have all been in this situation before, it is part of football and we will absolutely not be complaining about it. The players know what FA Cup football is about too, these sort of challenges arrive every year and we know they can be tricky. Last season at Wigan for instance I thought we played a decent game, but then we had a man sent off and when it was 10 v 11 they scored a late goal.
So Newport might want to pepper the City box with some inviting crosses early on given that Pep has admitted his team are more vertically-challenged, compared to the strapping but plucky hosts. In any case, Newport will need the backing of a raucous crowd at Rodney Parade if they’re to ruffle the feathers of their illustrious visitors. If we are to see the upset of all upsets in this year’s competition it will require a collective loss of focus by City – and Guardiola’s sides very rarely do that, not when he’s always within the eyeline of his players gesticulating wildly to get his instructions across. Expect goals.
Kick-off: 5.30pm GMT
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