‘Man City Are Back’, Says Guardiola After Thrashing Ipswich

Published

9 months ago

January 19, 2025

Pep Guardiola claimed Man City are back to their best after Phil Foden starred in a 6-0 rout of struggling Ipswich on Sunday.

Foden netted either side of Mateo Kovacic’s eye-catching goal as City blew Ipswich away with three first-half goals at Portman Road.

Jeremy Doku, Erling Haaland and James McAtee scored after the interval to give fourth-placed City their biggest league win this season.

Guardiola’s side have won three of their last four league games as they begin the long climb back to respectability after a dismal start to the season.

“We are really pleased, we are back in many things that have defined this team in the last decade, the last years,” Guardiola said.

“Really pleased for the players, they deserved it a lot. We recovered some identities that we lost in this path.

“Really pleased for the three points and to climb a little bit because qualification for the Champions League next season will be really tough.”

Sterner tests lie in wait for City, including a vital Champions League trip to Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday and looming Premier League clashes with Chelsea and Arsenal.

But this was the kind of confident display City used to make look routine during their march to four successive English titles.

Winning is almost certain to prove beyond them as they trail leaders Liverpool by 12 points.

Guardiola will settle for restoring City’s pride this term as he rebuilds a team that suddenly grew old and inconsistent before his eyes.

“The most important thing is that the players, they saw themselves recognise what we are, so that is the best thing I can say,” he said.

Haaland, who has scored 112 goals in just 127 appearances for City, this week committed himself to the club until 2034 when he signed a new nine-and-a-half year deal.

But Kyle Walker was again absent from the City side amid reports that AC Milan are ready to bid for the unsettled England right-back.

In City’s first visit to Portman Road for 23 years, the champions emphasised how powerful they can still be at peak form.

– Ruthless City –

Haaland scored a hat-trick when City beat Ipswich 4-1 in August and he threatened to net in the opening moments in Suffolk.

Kovacic’s pass split the Ipswich defence and sent Haaland clean through on goal, but the Norway striker’s shot was pushed away by Christian Walton.

Omari Hutchinson almost put Ipswich ahead against the run of play with a stinging strike from just inside the area that hit Haaland and flashed just over.

But City’s pressure was rewarded in the 27th minute when Doku and Kevin De Bruyne combined to set up Foden for a clinical close-range finish.

Foden turned provider as ruthless City doubled their lead three minutes later.

Kovacic strode onto Foden’s pass on the edge of the area and smashed a superb low strike past the flat-footed Walton for his first goal since October.

Guardiola’s men were rampant and they struck again three minutes before half-time.

Set free by Doku, De Bruyne raced into the area and cut the ball back for Foden, whose shot from five yards evaded Walton’s weak attempted save.

The England forward’s fifth goal in his last four games maintained his recent improvement.

City have scored 25 first-half goals in 22 games, more than any other team in the Premier League this season.

Ipswich were powerless to stem the tide. Doku danced through their defence to score City’s fourth with a low shot that hit Dara O’Shea on its way past Walton in the 49th minute.

City showed no mercy and Haaland joined the party in the 57th minute.

Jack Clarke conceded possession and Doku teed up Haaland to drill past Walton for his 22nd goal in all competitions this season.

McAtee came off the bench to bag City’s sixth in the 69th minute, the 22-year-old looping a header over Walton from Kovacic’s cross.
VANGUARD

Related Topics:Guardiola Manchester City

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PHOTOS: Fulham Marks Nigeria’s Independence Day With Players, Staff At Motspur Park

Published

2 days ago

October 2, 2025

Editor

Alex Iwobi at Nigeria's Independence Day party alongside other Fulham players and members of staff

English Premier League club Fulham on Tuesday hosted a gathering for its Nigerian players and staff to mark Nigeria’s 65th Independence Day anniversary.

The event, held at the club’s Motspur Park training ground, brought together members of Fulham’s Nigerian contingent, including Super Eagles internationals Alex Iwobi, Calvin Bassey, and Samuel Chukwueze.

Club officials said the occasion was organised to recognise the contributions of its Nigerian players and to celebrate their country’s national day.

Photographs from the gathering showed the Nigerian trio joined by several of their non-Nigerian teammates, who participated in the celebration.

The get-together included light refreshments and informal conversations, with the players using the opportunity to reflect on Nigeria’s place in football and beyond.

Nigeria gained independence from the United Kingdom on 1 October 1960, and the 2025 celebration marked its 65th year as a sovereign nation.

Sports

UCL: Spurs Snatch Late 2-2 Draw At Bodo/Glimt

Published

3 days ago

October 1, 2025

Editor

Tottenham emerged from a chastening trip to the Arctic Circle with a 2-2 draw in the league phase of the Champions League thanks to a late own-goal by Bodo/Glimt’s Jostein Gundersen.

Local-born Jens Petter Hauge scored a brace for the impressive hosts before Micky van de Ven and the 89th-minute own-goal snatched a point for Thomas Frank’s Europa League winners.

The repeat of last year’s Europa League semi-final, which Spurs won 5-1 on aggregate, looked set to finish as a first win for Champions League debutants Bodo/Glimt until the late drama.

The result leaves Spurs on four points after an opening win against Villarreal, while Bodo/Glimt have back-to-back 2-2 draws following their late equaliser last time out at Slavia Prague.

Playing at home for the very first time in Europe’s top-club competition, Bodo/Glimt grew into the occasion and soon took a firm grip ahold the match.

The referee awarded a penalty to the dominant hosts shortly after the half-hour when Rodrigo Bentancur followed through and caught Fredrik Andre Bjorkan.

But Kasper Hogh’s woes from the spot in the league phase this year continued as his effort flew over the crossbar — following on from his saved effort against Slavia Prague on matchday one.

Spurs remained penned in their own half through the rest of the first period, and Bodo/Glimt’s dominance finally paid off eight minutes after the break when Hauge curled in from inside the box.

The jubilant scenes at the Aspmyra Stadion were curtailed two minutes later when Pedro Porro’s free-kick drifted onto the post and Bentancur turned in the rebound.

However, the yellow-clad mass of Norwegian fans soon roared again as VAR spotted a foul by Van de Ven as Porro’s cross came in and the referee disallowed the goal.

Hauge doubled Bodo/Glimt’s lead in the 66th minute with a rifled left-footed finish that flew past Guglielmo Vicario after the 25-year-old had glided easily past Porro on the edge of the box.

Porro and Van de Ven made amends for their errors two minutes later when the Dutchman headed home the right-back’s pinpoint cross to give Spurs hope.

Tottenham manager Frank rang the substitutions in search of a leveller, and replacement Destiny Udogie found Wilson Odobert, but the Frenchman’s header glanced off the woodwork on 85 minutes.

The hosts responded to the pressure as Andreas Helmersen hit the crossbar down the other end.

But it was heartbreak in the end for Bodo/Glimt as Spurs forced an 89th-minute equaliser when Nikita Haikin’s save smashed into the stomach of Gundersen from close range and trickled over the line — the leveller validated after a length check for offside.
AFP

Sports

UCL: Galatasaray Beat Liverpool 1-0 As Osimhen Shines

Published

3 days ago

October 1, 2025

Editor

Liverpool slumped to a shock 1-0 Champions League defeat to Galatasaray on Tuesday as Victor Osimhen’s 16th-minute penalty handed the Turkish giants victory.

The English champions were punished for the latest in a series of poor performances in Istanbul as they suffered back-to-back defeats for only the second time under Arne Slot.

Liverpool were beaten for the first time this season at Crystal Palace on Saturday, but a series of late winners have masked an unconvincing start since a summer transformation of the squad that strolled to the Premier League title last season.

Slot responded by leaving Mohamed Salah and £125 million ($168 million) signing Alexander Isak on the bench among four changes.

The Dutchman was scathing in his assessment of Liverpool’s first-half performance at Palace as only Alisson Becker prevented an embarrassing half-time score.

However, Slot got little in the way of a response in another disjointed display from his array of star names.

Galatasaray had been thrashed 5-1 at Eintracht Frankfurt to start their Champions League campaign.

The Turkish champions are a far more formidable force on home soil, though, and made the most of Liverpool’s defensive deficiencies.

Slot’s decision to play midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai at right-back backfired.

Baris Alper Yilmaz gave the visitors a warning of the threat down Galatasaray’s left when he failed to beat Alisson when one-on-one with the Brazilian.

Liverpool should have led just seconds before they fell behind.

Hugo Ekitike was denied by Ugurcan Cakir as he tried to round the goalkeeper and Ismail Jakobs cleared Cody Gakpo’s follow-up effort off the line.

Galatasaray swiftly broke upfield and Yilmaz was awarded a soft penalty for a stray Szoboszlai arm into the Turkish international’s face.

Osimhen had previously seen a Champions League penalty saved by Alisson, but this time converted the resulting spot-kick.

Florian Wirtz has struggled badly to deliver on his £100 million price tag and is still waiting for his first Liverpool goal after his effort was turned behind by Cakir, while Ibrahima Konate headed just off target from a corner before half-time.

Konate’s poor form has been a major factor in the Reds’ defensive issues at the start of the season and the Frenchman nearly cost his side a second goal early in the second half.

Alisson saved his teammate’s blushes with another save from Osimhen but at a cost as the Liverpool number one suffered an injury sprinting off his line and had to be replaced by Giorgi Mamardashvili.

Slot introduced Salah and Isak on the hour mark, but Liverpool were still an impotent attacking force.

Isak fired tamely into the arms of Cakir with his first touch.

The closest the visitors came to a response was when French referee Clement Turpin intially pointed to the spot by a foul on Konate, but overturned his decision after a VAR review.

Instead it was Galatasaray who were inches away from the second goal of the night in stoppage time when Lucas Torreira drilled a shot just wide.

AFP