Guardiola salute to County’s super fans
DELIGHTED Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola saluted the noisy Newport fans and said his side’s win helped him understand British football better than ever.
After a second-half surge earned a 4-1 win Guardiola said: “The home crowd was amazing.
“Winning here, I realise English football today better than ever and how tough the cup is in these conditions.
“They use their points where they are better than us. That is why I am so delighted with how we have played here today.
“We are in four competitions and every game is completely different.
“You play League Two then Champions League.
“You have to adapt and change mentality and that means a lot to grow as a team.
“The big mistake is believing you are better than anyone.
“It is a mistake, like United were praised and better than PSG, but you see what happened. You have to be calm and prepare well.”
Guardiola added: “It was a really tough game. We opened the scoring in the game and believed it was done and then they scored.
“The first 20 minutes were difficult from throwing and long balls and they are much better than us in those situations. But in the last 20 minutes we put the game into our hands.”
Manchester City goalscorer Riyad Mahrez said: “They didn’t have a lot of chances. We controlled the game and we are happy to go through.
“The result is the most important thing in these type of games.
“We are professionals and have to adapt to anything. Everyone is very happy to be through.
“We have to forget the FA Cup now and focus on the Champions League. We are taking it game by game. It is not good to project yourself too far forward.”
Newport manager Michael Flynn said: “The way we kept our shape and the way the boys defended was excellent but the boys were flagging at the end.
“I am so proud of them. They deserve all the plaudits.
“It can go one of two ways. We can feel sorry for ourselves or finish the season strongly.
“They deserve to finish on a positive as they are a good group of lads.
“Manchester City were expected to win tonight, they won and they did it in a professional manner.”