Gary Neville spots the one thing Man City’s Omar Marmoush always does that is every defender’s worst nightmare

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It’s safe to say that Omar Marmoush has hit the ground running in a Manchester City shirt after his lethal hat-trick against Newcastle United.

Marmoush looks like the perfect replacement for Julian Alvarez as he is also a multi-functional goalscorer who gives Pep Guardiola the license to play him in a variety of positions.

Much like Alvarez, the Egyptian forward is also clinical in front of goal — as demonstrated by his three excellent finishes against Newcastle on Saturday.

Another problem Marmoush solves for both Manchester City and Erling Haaland is that he instantly takes a brunt of the goalscoring burden off the Norwegian international’s shoulders.

As for Pep Guardiola, he will be relieved that so far, the former Eintracht Frankfurt goalscorer, Abdukodir Khusanov, Nico Gonzalez and Vitor Reis have all instantly impressed at the Etihad Stadium.

Gary Neville says defenders would hate playing against Omar Marmoush

Gary Neville had his say on Marmoush’s phenomenal performance against Newcastle.

Neville was left impressed by the 26-year-old’s showing, admitting that he made an instant impression on him during his City debut against Chelsea a few weeks ago.

Gary Neville pointed out that Marmoush’s astute movement in behind defences is the biggest challenge for any defender to come up against when analysing his game.

The pundit said on Sky Sports’ The Gary Neville Podcast: “I watched the first half yesterday and [Omar] Marmoush was fantastic. I really liked him in the first game we watched him in the other week against Chelsea.”

“There’s certain players that catch my eye, purely because he used to play where I used to play or in the area where I used to play but on the opposite side, he’s obviously left side forward and I’m right-back. And he makes the runs that I wouldn’t want you to make.”

Gary Neville continued: “Those really quick runs, that run he made inside [Kieran] Trippier for the first goal, I know Trippier got under it at the end but making that run, you will get joy, any left-winger watching, any right-winger watching, if you run hard and fast in between your full-back and your centre-back on a regular basis, four, fives times a half and continue to keep going and towards the box, you will get joy, I promise you, it’s a fact.”

“Because the full-back hates it, the reason full-backs hate it is that obviously, the big decision for a full-back is, when do you let him go and play offside, when do you actually, to be fair, follow him. And that’s the challenge so one makes a run in between me and you, I’m looking across the line, the ball’s going to get played, I’m thinking I don’t want to get any deeper and then they stay and you go or vice-versa, it’s challenging one.”

Erling Haaland thinks Omar Marmoush “has something special”

After Manchester City’s 3-1 win against Chelsea, Haaland was full of praise for Marmoush and claimed that he is indeed a “special player.”

The star striker said live on Sky Sports: “I think especially in the first-half you can see he has something special.”

“There’s a reason City brought him because he has something special. He got straight in the team and It’s about getting to know him as soon as possible because there are so many important games coming.”

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
4	Man CityManchester City	25	13	5	7	52	35	17	44

“It’s about giving him confidence and he’s going to be a fantastic player for us. It’s always nice [to have new faces]. I’ve been a new player before trying to come in with a different energy and different personality. It’s also nice to get to know new people and of course play with good players, that’s what you want.”

Haaland concluded his praise for Marmoush, saying: “He had an amazing first half of the season for Eintracht Frankfurt and hopefully he’s going to have the same season with us now for the second half of the season.”