Pep Guardiola conceded that fortune had favoured Manchester City after beginning his tenure as manager with a laboured 2-1 win over Sunderland on Saturday’s Premier League opening day.
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But with just four minutes on the clock van Aanholt made a clumsy challenge on Raheem Sterling as the England man turned inside the area, leaving referee Bobby Madley with no choice but to point to the penalty spot and Aguero made no mistake.
Moyes handed Adnan Januzaj his debut off the bench as Sunderland sought an equaliser, and the Manchester United loanee played a part as Defoe snatched the leveller after 71 minutes.
Pep Guardiola’s decision to remove Joe Hart from Manchester City’s team stemmed from the new manager wanting “good build-up play” and apparent concerns about the England worldwide goalkeeper not fitting in with the style he wants to begin that process out of defence.
Ilkay Gudogan and Leroy Sane were not listed for the match as Yaya Toure and Nicolas Otamendi were other big names omitted from the starting XI.
The victory was welcome but the new Blues boss immediately discovered it’s not going to be easy in the Premier League.
Even when under no pressure from a surprisingly unconvincing City side, Sunderland often played as if too ready to accept the role of gallant losers.
Southampton recovered their poise, but, having lost their two top scorers from last season – Sadio Mane and Graziano Pelle – they seemed to lack in cutting edge up front before Nathan Redmond memorably marked his debut just prior to the hour.
David Moyes urged patience as he will need time to turn around Sunderland’s fortunes following a season-opening defeat at Manchester City.
The defender knew very little about it, but his unwitting involvement proved to be the deciding factor in the game as City squandered another late opportunity through Kelechi Iheanacho. There are a lot of things to work on as well but we’re pleased to get the three points. We were a team. Of course we want more from him but we are very happy.
It’s only the first game of the season but a performance like that will give huge confidence as the season goes on – he could become Guardiola’s most important player.
“In the second half until the goal from Defoe, we played really, really well”.
The Spaniard, who took over from Manuel Pellegrini in the summer, said: “In the end I have a squad and I decide what I see”.
Sunderland’s defence was impressively marshalled by Ivorian centre-back Lamine Kone, who was the subject of an unsuccessful bid from Everton.
Despite the result, Moyes took heart from his team’s doggedness and urged his players to build on the momentum they generated during their escape from relegation last season under his predecessor, Sam Allardyce. We spoke many times what we should do like a team, this is just the first step. “It is better to improve and make a correction when we win”.
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John Stones recaps Man City’s tense 2-1 win over Sunderland.
