Pep Guardiola claims Man City midfielder’s performance against Newcastle was ‘one of the worst I’ve ever seen’ in nine years

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has offered a brutally honest assessment of Ilkay Gundogan’s performance for the club against Newcastle United last weekend.

The German midfielder is expected to play a bigger role in Manchester City’s starting lineup over the coming months and for the foreseeable future, particularly in light of Rodri’s lengthy injury absence suffered last week.

Operating in the defensive midfielder role against Slovan Bratislava on Tuesday night, Gundogan scored his first goal for Manchester City since returning to the club, and his first goal for them since his FA Cup final heroics against Manchester United in 2023.

That performance in Slovakia and the 33-year-old’s strong overall performance came in stark contrast to a disappointing performance against Newcastle United in the Premier League on Saturday, when City were held to a 1-1 draw at St James’s. Park.

Speaking after Manchester City’s win in Slovakia, Pep Guardiola gave an honest assessment of Ilkay Gundogan’s performance against Newcastle ahead of the midweek game, but admitted the performance against Slovan Bratislava was closer to usual German standards.

“Today (Tuesday night) he played at a level that we know he can do. It’s his strong mentality,” Guardiola said. “The game at Newcastle wasn’t really very good, maybe one of the worst I’ve seen from him in the last eight or nine years !”

He continued: “But it happens, it’s the rhythm. And that’s why he has to play, and in his position and in midfield he is so intelligent. He played a fantastic match today. Apart from the goal, the first, he had a fantastic match.

The dominant 0-4 victory in Bratislava now means that as well as Manchester City scoring their first goals and claiming their first three points of the new league stage of the season in the UEFA Champions League, they find themselves much higher up the table .

The 0-0 draw against Inter Milan on matchday one saw Pep Guardiola’s side languish in 19th place in the division, while victory this week moves them closer to the automatic qualification places in the group for the round of 16 with six matches remaining.