Head coach Enzo Mariska expressed his joy after Manchester City's hard-fought 2-1 win against Bournemouth, praising the team's character and the quality of chances created:
"I'm happy mainly because we won the match. I genuinely believe it was a game we deserved to win earlier as we controlled the play and created several good chances. Before conceding, we had three or four excellent opportunities, yet we missed them. After conceding, it became tougher, but overall, I feel we fully deserved the victory."
The manager also spoke about the challenges of integrating players who joined the club shortly before the season kicked off:
"Today, we had four or five players who arrived very late, just ten days ago. For them, it still feels like pre-season. Erling Haaland is one of them, along with Elliot Anderson, Marc Guehi, and Nico O'Reilly. It’s challenging for them, but they’ve put in tremendous effort to help the team. Even Marc Guehi, who has never played in midfield, was outstanding today, so I'm pleased with the commitment shown by the players."
Defender Josko Gvardiol also summed up the match:
"We performed well. We created a lot of chances early on, even before they scored their first goal. After that, I felt we had a good response. I’m very proud of every one of us and of the fans who supported us. That’s the attitude we need to have in every game, until the very end when the referee blows the whistle."
