Pep Guardiola praised Manchester City’s "amazing" reaction to an early error from debutant Abdukodir Khusanov as they recovered to beat Chelsea 3-1 on Saturday night.
Khusanov, the 20-year-old signed from Lens for €40 million last week, had a debut meltdown as Noni Madueke put the visitors in front just two minutes in, and moments later the Uzbekistan international was booked in a separate incident.
But Josko Gvardiol brought City level in the 42nd minute before Erling Haaland capitalised on yet another poor error from Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez to put City in front, before Phil Foden wrapped up the points late on, sending City into the top four as Chelsea’s recent poor form continued.
Khusanov, who speaks very little English and has barely trained with his new teammates, was given a brutal introduction and looked all over the place as his terrible header back to Ederson was swept up by Nicolas Jackson who squared for Madueke to tap in.
Khusanov picked up a yellow card moments later after losing the ball and fouling Cole Palmer. He eventually settled down but was withdrawn after just 52 minutes.
“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 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.”
Marmoush is a 'fantastic player'
City also gave a start to their new €70 million striker Omar Marmoush, who looked lively on debut. The Egyptian produced a cameo full of pace and attacking intent, showcasing the attributes that saw him score 15 times in the Bundesliga for former club Eintracht Frankfurt before his move to the Etihad Stadium.
Haaland believes his new strike partner will be a "fantastic" signing for City after an impressive debut.
"I think in the first half you could see he has something special. That is obviously the reason Manchester City bought him," said Haaland. "It's about giving him confidence. He's going to be a fantastic player for us.
"He had an amazing first half of the season for Eintracht Frankfurt. Hopefully he's going to have the same second half of the season for us."
Haaland added: "I think it was a really good performance. We started really bad. But we kept going and I think we controlled a lot of the game. It was a great team performance. We have to keep winning games. That’s what we need to do. Today we showed great spirit. Now we have to keep going, the Champions League game is a must-win, and then we go to Arsenal. The schedule has plenty of games so we have to get ready as soon as possible and try to stay fit.
"I think Chelsea quickly went man against man and there was loads of space because their line was high. As you’ve seen before Ederson has given me a few assists and I know how precise he can be. So it’s about having the right timing between me and him. Sometimes even City can go direct and I think that’s a good thing. It was a good goal and an amazing pass from Eddie."
Sanchez under the spotlight
Chelsea have won just one of their last seven Premier League games, dropping out of the top four. They had chances to double their early lead, not least when Palmer went clear but overhit a pass to Jadon Sancho when the shot was on.
Instead the focus was again on Sanchez. The goalkeeper came off his line to try to meet a long ball from City stopper Ederson but only allowed Haaland to chip him and put City ahead just after the hour.
It was Sanchez’s second major error of the week after he failed to gather a cross to allow Wolves to briefly draw level on Monday, and fifth of the season that led directly to a goal – more than any other Premier League player.
“We trust Robert for sure but the first one that is completely aware he is making mistakes in this moment is Robert,” Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca said.
“For sure, we continue to trust Robert. We trust Robert but now we have one entire week (until West Ham visit Stamford Bridge), we see the reaction and then we decide for the next game.”
Chelsea dropped to sixth, with Monday’s win over Wolves their only league success since they beat Brentford 2-1 on December 15.
“In my opinion we’re a better team than one month ago,” Maresca said. “These kind of games are going to make us better, we need to live this kind of experience. We can be third or sixth, every game can change it a little bit. We’re focused and trying to improve game after game.”
