Mateta: City came back too strongly
Jean-Philippe Mateta admitted that City’s response to Crystal Palace’s strong first-half performance was too great a challenge to deal with.
The in-form goalscorer took just three minutes to give his side the lead at a fervent Selhurst Park, racing onto Adam Wharton’s through-ball and slotting beyond the ‘keeper.
But City clawed their way back into the game through Kevin De Bruyne’s impressive equaliser, and ultimately seized control of the contest with a flurry of goals early in the second-half.
Mateta said of his breakaway goal: “We watched them, City, how they pressed high.
“It was the plan. We tried and we scored once and after that we had many chances, but we didn’t score. And they scored all the chances they had.
“I scored early against a big team in the world, but in the second-half, they came back strongly and, you know, City is a good team.
“We were playing against a big team who were playing for the title. They didn't give up and they came back strongly for the second-half.
“It’s tough, but we're going to keep working. We have another tough game [next week at Liverpool] as well. We just focus on the next game now.
Mateta has flourished under new manager Oliver Glasner and noted: “It's good. He gives us some new details.
“He has new formations and a lot of things are not the same. We try to put those things in. We are in a good way. We’ll focus on each game, and then we will see."