Guardiola considering Ederson as Man City’s penalty taker
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has said he will consider allowing Ederson to take his side’s next penalty after Ilkay Gundogan’s missed spot kick during the 4-1 victory over Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday.
Despite City winning for the first time at Anfield since 2003 with Gundogan scoring twice and Raheem Sterling and Phil Foden also finding the back of the net, they missed another penalty, having failed to score from the spot in the reverse fixture earlier in the campaign.
Guardiola’s side have missed three of the six penalties they have been awarded and the City boss said he would not rule out Ederson, who claimed he was the best penalty taker in the team, to strike the next one.
“It’s a problem that we have,” Guardiola said of his side’s penalty record. “In important moments we cannot miss it, and it doesn’t matter the taker.
“Again, I’m going to think about Ederson, he might be the taker next time.”
The game’s main headlines were positive as City took a huge step towards the title with an impressive victory against the reigning champions and Guardiola was full of praise for his players.
“We played in the way you have to suffer here,” the ex-Barcelona boss said. “Hopefully next time we can win here with people.
“Anfield is always impressive but with people it is much more. Huge victory for us. Three more points at the end but I take into consideration the fact we won after we missed a penalty and conceded a goal but the way we reacted… that made the difference.
“We started really well. We cannot play like they play, we have to play in a slow rhythm. Second half we adjusted our set up and the quality of the players did the rest.
“Phil Foden is a guy who keeps the ball really well, he arrives so aggressive but he is also still so young. When he plays wide it is more easy for him, he will learn.
“The action for the second goal and the fourth goal, we know what a huge talent he is but he is still young and hopefully he can understand he can still improve.
“It is an important win but it is February. Of course the gap to fifth is big right now and that means for the Champions League for next season is important but 10 wins in a row in this period is something exceptional.
“Today is the time to talk about this but tomorrow we look to the next game.”
©ESPN
