Paul Dickov lauded Manchester City midfielder Mateo Kovacic after his impressive display in his side’s 6-2 thrashing of Luton Town.
Kovacic capped off a glorious night of FA Cup action for City with a stunning strike from outside the box, as Haaland scored the five goals for the visitors at Kenilworth Road before him.
The £25 million (Sky Sports) man deputised as the number six for Pep Guardiola’s men against Rob Edwards’ side on Tuesday night.
Paul Dickov hails “top” Mateo Kovacic after Manchester City thrash Luton Town 6-2 in the FA Cup
In the process, Rodri was allowed to sit back and put his feet up while witnessing his side rip the hosts to shreds from the sidelines on Tuesday.
As Mateo Kovacic more than ably deputised in place of the Spaniard for Manchester City against Luton Town, Paul Dickov sang his praises.
“Listen, I’m a huge fan. I’ve said that since the day we’ve first seen him in pre-season”, he said on City’s post-match show [via YouTube].
“I thought he was really, really good against Bournemouth on Saturday night and I thought tonight, with Rodri not being there, which we can mention, we’ve won a game without Rodri being in the team and I thought he sat in front of the back four, as Nicky [Weaver] said and he just kept things ticking over, broke up play.”
“When you’re a player like that, you get so much more appreciation from your teammates than when you possibly do from the outside and the goal was fantastic, great touch, great technique and that was past the goalkeeper. He’s a top, top player.”
Mateo Kovacic was in terrific touch against Rob Edwards’ side
Paul Dickov is right to have lauded Mateo Kovacic, who was one of the standout performers for Manchester City in their annihilation of Luton Town.
Particularly in possession, the Croatian international showcased that he is well-capable of operating at the base of midfield.
The former Chelsea midfielder exhibited his technical elegance and press-resistance, evading Luton’s high-press time and time again as he found the likes of Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne in pockets of space with his incisive passing.
On other occasions, Kovacic simply burst past Luton’s pressers to ensure that he was in acres of space, which also led to City suddenly being in counter-attacking situations.
Mateo Kovacic’s stunner was well-deserved, as his scorcher of a strike left Tim Krul with no choice but to watch the ball fly into the back of the net, capping off a wonderful performance from him.
