Contrary to how the majority of the season has passed, Manchester City scripted a comeback on Saturday against the vibrant Chelsea, who struck early in the game at the Etihad Stadium. Having gone behind in the initial minutes of the match, City finally buried their chances later in the match and emerged victorious by 3-1. Following the culmination of the game City boss addressed the error committed by debutant Abdukodir Khusanov.
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Pep Guardiola on Debutant Abdukodir Khusanov's Error
Pep Guardiola was pleased with how his team reacted after going 0-1 down in the 3rd minute of the game. Labelling it as an "amazing" performance. Khusanov, the 20-year-old sensation who came at a fee of £33.6million from Lens, was out of sorts in his first outing for City. He made a mistake which made the team pay in the form of Noni Medueke's goal. Moments later the Uzbekistan international was booked in a separate incident. It was really a baptism by fire for the young lad. However, Pep has come to the rescue of the debutant, stating that he will learn from the mistake and get better.
“He will take a lesson,” Guardiola said. “He’s so young, he’s come for many years. It’s not the best start of course, but dealing with Jackson, with Cole, with all these incredible players is not easy. And I love the reaction of his mates.
“He didn’t make one training session with us, he didn’t make absolutely anything because we came from Paris, so it was just recovery, recovery, recovery. And yeah, he will learn.
“He’s young, he will learn, I’m pretty sure. Take a lesson from that and the reaction from the team… the reaction was amazing.”
Khusanov was replaced in the 52nd minute by John Stones, a player Guardiola is keen to get back up to speed with Wednesday’s critical Champions League match against Club Brugge looming – for which City’s new signings are not eligible.
“I made the substitution mainly for the yellow card, not just for the mistake,” Guardiola said. “Especially I need John for Wednesday, because (Omar) Marmoush, Khusanov and Victor (Reis) cannot play. I need John and John came on for the rhythm.”