Manager Manuel Pellegrini was delighted with our penalty shoot out victory over Roma earlier today in the International Champions Cup.
With our ending regulation time tied at two all, it pretty much became the Joe Hart show with two saves and a 12 yard hammer of his own along with a little bit of gamesmanship but Pellegrini being quoted on the Official Site chose instead to focus on what a good test it was for our quality and fitness levels and he saw fit to praise both new signing Raheem Sterling but also young duo Kelechi Iheanacho and Manu Garcia for their performances on the day.
Beginning with Sterling who scored two minutes and 17 seconds into his debut, he explained.
‘For a striker it`s important to score, especially as he scored so early. He just played 45 minutes as he`s only worked a few days. He demonstrates why he`s here, not only as player now but I think he will improve a lot in the future, playing with Yaya, Silva and Aguero.’
Pellegrini went on to say that we signed him because he has a ‘big future’ and whilst it’s a big fee that we’ve paid for him when it comes to potential it’s a potential he more than believes will pay off in the near future.
Until that potential is hit though, in the moment he offers us a speed that we don’t have upfront and he gives us another way of playing and another threat.
Moving onto our youngsters, he added.
‘I think that the big positive was to see two young players like Manu Garcia and Kelechi – they both really had very good performances. After that, it was a good game for both teams. You are not playing to win the game, you are not making the substitutions of players who are playing bad or well, you are trying to give an average amount of minutes to all the players. Overall, I am very happy in the style we played with.’
With Wilfried Bony missing from the game and the trip itself, the gaffer confirmed that he was carrying a knock that wasn’t thought to be too bad and because of that he’d been allowed to remain in Manchester for treatment.
‘Bony is in Manchester at the moment – he has some physical problem from his holidays so I think it`s better for him to stay in Manchester and not lose the time coming back. The doctor can say more – I don`t think it`s too serious but he can`t work at the same level as the rest of the squad.’
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