The manager was thrilled that his team continued to press
despite being 4-0 up at half-time while he also backed Joe Hart after the
goalkeeper was dropped from the first team.
Manuel Pellegrini praised Manchester City for maintaining
their performance levels over 90 minutes in the 7-0 victory over Norwich City.
City cruised to a 4-0 half-time lead in the Premier
League clash courtesy of a Bradley Johnson own goal, as well as efforts from
David Silva, Matija Nastasic and Alvaro Negredo.
Yaya Toure, Sergio Aguero and Edin Dzeko completed the
rout after the break, as pre-match speculation surrounding Joe Hart's eventual
omission was quickly forgotten and Pellegrini was pleased that his players did
not take their foot off the gas in the second half.
The team played really well during the 90 minutes," he told reporters.
"Winning 4-0 in the first half - normally, in the second half, most teams
stop playing.
"I think the team continued playing exactly the same
and that's very important for me. It was important to see the team play the way
I want them to play.
"They are very good technical players and when they
move the ball quickly, it's very difficult for our team not to score, so we
must continue in the same way.
"I think Norwich is a very good team. I didn't
expect to score seven goals, but I think the team played to do it so it's great
for me."
Pellegrini benched Joe Hart for the game following a
string of poor displays as Costel Pantilimon was handed his Premier League
debut, but the Chilean believes that the England No.1 will be back to his best
in due course.
He continued: "I was not thinking about team
selection. My duty is to see which are the best players to play every game. For
this game I think Joe needs a rest.
"He has played every game for over two years here
and every player can have a bad moment. We will work behind Joe so we can
return him to his normal performance as soon as possible."
Meanwhile Norwich boss Chris Hughton was understandably
disappointed with his side and claimed that they had let down the travelling
support from Norfolk.
"It’s very tough to sit here on the back of that
defeat," he said. "Apart from two goals they it was too easy for City
to score. The early goals made us nervous and it showed the quality they have.
"You have to make sure you defend well and we
weren’t able to do that.
"We all let the club down. We’ve had a support that
travelled to Manchester midweek then had to come back up again today, and we’ve
let them down.
"I’ve always had confidence in my ability and the
ability of the players. I know how a heavy defeat makes everyone feel but we
have to bounce back from it. We now have to prove we are a good enough side to
get up this league."
Culled from Goal
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