Manchester City picked up a point in their recent Premier League meeting with Newcastle United.
In their first match since Pep Guardiola broke the news that Rodri will be out for the season as a result of the knee injury he picked up against Arsenal, City drew 1-1 with Eddie Howe’s side at St. James’ Park.
Josko Gvardiol put the away side ahead in the first half before Anthony Gordon won a penalty, which he then converted, in the second period.
Despite losing their lead, the Manchester club are still undefeated in the league as they look to win a fifth consecutive Premier League trophy.
After the match against the Tyneside club, the City manager was full of praise for one particular figure from his side.
Pep Guardiola praises Mateo Kovacic’s performance in Man City vs Newcastle
When asked to sum up the performances of Mateo Kovacic and Rico Lewis against Newcastle, Guardiola said this on TNT Sports (via BBC Sport) in response.
He said: “They played really good. Mateo was brilliant, Rico as well. They played very good.”
Kovacic put in an assured display against Newcastle
After replacing Rodri in last weekend’s draw against Arsenal, Kovacic completed the full 90 minutes in City’s latest draw against the Toon.
With 94 touches of the ball in total, the midfielder successfully made 74 of the 80 passes he attempted.
This gave him a passing accuracy percentage of 93%, the second-highest in the City team behind Jack Grealish (97%).
In addition to that, Kovacic made more tackles (4) than any other City player as well as making two clearances.
This performance ultimately earned the 30-year-old a solid overall match rating of 7.6/10 from SofaScore, making him the third-highest-rated City player for this particular game.
With all of that taken into account, Kovacic certainly warrants this praise from Guardiola, who will be hoping the midfielder can continue delivering similarly strong performances throughout the season.
