Pep Guardiola claims the Man City midfielder’s performance against Newcastle was “one of the worst I’ve seen” in nine years

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola gave a brutally honest assessment of Ilkay Gundogan’s performance for the club against Newcastle United last weekend.

The German midfielder is expected to play a more prominent role in Manchester City’s starting lineup in the coming months and foreseeable future, especially given Rodri’s long injury layoff last week.

Gündogan played in defensive midfield against Slovan Bratislava on Tuesday evening and scored his first goal for Manchester City since returning to the club and his first goal for Manchester City since their FA Cup final against Manchester United in 2023.

That performance in Slovakia, and an all-round strong performance from the 33-year-old, was in stark contrast to a disappointing performance against Newcastle United in the Premier League on Saturday, when City were held to a 1-1 draw at St James’. Park.

Following Manchester City’s win in Slovakia, Pep Guardiola gave an honest assessment of Ilkay Gündogan’s performance against Newcastle ahead of the midweek game, but admitted the performance against Slovan Bratislava was more in line with the German’s usual standards.

“Tonight (Tuesday night) he played at a level that we know he can do. It’s his strong mentality,” Guardiola said. “The Newcastle game wasn’t really, really good, maybe one of the worst I’ve ever seen from him in the last eight, nine years!”

He continued: “But it happens, it’s rhythm. And that’s why he has to play, and he’s so intelligent in his position and in defensive midfield. He played a fantastic game today. Apart from the goal, the first one, he played a fantastic game.”

The confident 0-4 win in Bratislava now means that, in addition to their first goals and the first three points of the new league phase in the UEFA Champions League, Manchester City are now significantly higher up in the table.

Matchday 1’s 0-0 draw with Inter Milan left Pep Guardiola’s side 19th in the division, while their win this week took them into the automatic qualification places in the knockout group with six games to spare. -round brings.