Erling Haaland scored twice to give Manchester City the victory, but they were made to work hard for it by Everton
Phil Foden (right) and Ruben Dias (second right) both praised Everton's performance
Phil Foden (right) and Ruben Dias (second right) both praised Everton's performance
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Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola and two of his players acknowledged that Everton made them work hard for their victory at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Erling Haaland's second half brace eventually secured a 2-0 win for the hosts, with both goals coming within five minutes of each other either side of the hour mark. But the strikes came after an impressive first half showing from the visitors, for whom Beto missed two good chances and Iliman Ndiaye drew a fine save from Gianluigi Donnarumma.
City were eventually good value for their win, but attacking midfielder Phil Foden acknowledged that Everton made life tough for them.
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"It was difficult," Foden told Premier League Productions. "In the first half we weren't really at it. We weren't playing forward as quickly as we could do.
"We took too long on the ball and couldn't find the space in between the lines. The manager spoke about it at half time and in the second half we were much more meaningful with the ball going forward, breaking lines and yeah we created a lot. Overall we can be happy with the performance."
Defender Ruben Dias agreed that Everton proved difficult for the hosts to handle.
"A lot of work, they were not easy at all," Dias told BBC Match of the Day. "First half we were more troubled, we couldn't really set up our game. Completely different second half and three points.
And Guardiola also praised the Blues for their first half performance.
"Typical game after international break," Guardiola told Premier League Productions. "We were not there for the first 15-20 minutes. We lacked energy. We played good after the first goal. We had clear chances and we'll take it. A really positive thing for people coming from the bench and the energy is there but it's better to improve while winning games.
"Everton are a good team. We knew that, they play long balls and our process in the first half was not perfect. Scoring the goal helps for what is coming and that's when we play better."
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