The win is considered quite tricky against the “emerging giants” that have seen a star rise in the home team’s midfield.

Man City defeated Newcastle 1-0 in the highlight match of Premier League round 2, with the only goal scored by Julian Alvarez in the 31st minute after an assist from Phil Foden. Despite the narrow lead and a thin bench that led Man City to play the entire match without substitutions, they still managed to win relatively comfortably as Newcastle played defensively and couldn’t create many chances.

However, Newcastle is still a strong team with a quality midfield trio of Tonali – Guimaraes – Joelinton, so this victory is important for Man City and also made Pep Guardiola satisfied with the midfield performance. While Foden contributed to the decisive goal, the performance of newcomer Mateo Kovacic received positive feedback from the public.

Despite being closely marked by Newcastle’s forwards and midfielders, Kovacic is excellent at evading tackles and is almost always involved in Man City’s attacking moves. The Croatian midfielder even almost provided an assist with a through ball to Erling Haaland in the second half. In a match where players like Rodri and Jack Grealish played subdued, Kovacic stood out alongside Foden, alleviating concerns for Man City even in the absence of Kevin De Bruyne due to injury and the departure of Illkay Gundogan.

But not only Man City’s fans, Chelsea’s fans also highly value Kovacic, although they are no longer surprised by this. The former Real Madrid player performed well at Chelsea and was considered the best player in terms of escaping pressing during his time at Stamford Bridge. After the recent match, “The Blues” fans not only praised him but also expressed regret.

On social media and various forums, Chelsea fans express regret that the club only received 30 million euros for Kovacic, believing that the club should have negotiated for an additional 10 million from Man City. However, Man City fans argue that for a 29-year-old player, that price is reasonable for Kovacic, especially considering he only has one year left on his contract with Chelsea. If not this year, he would have moved to Man City for free next year.

According to the Manchester Evening News, Foden’s performance was rated the highest with 9 points, while both Alvarez and Kovacic received 8 points. The newspaper suggests that the Foden – Kovacic partnership has the potential to become the new midfield backbone, similar to the De Bruyne – Gundogan duo in the past, and Alvarez will be a good option for Pep Guardiola in the attack, especially when Haaland is tightly marked.