Josko Gvardiol issues early verdict on Manchester City’s Abdukodir Khusanov after Chelsea debut | OneFootball

Manchester City left-back Josko Gvardiol has offered his early views on the club’s new signing Abdukodir Khusanov after his debut against Chelsea on Saturday evening.

The Uzbekistan international central defender was thrust into the action by manager Pep Guardiola just days after arriving into English football for the very first time, enduring a hugely challenging opening five minutes.

A poorly executed back-pass to Ederson from the 20-year-old presented Chelsea with a golden opportunity to open the scoring inside two minutes which was dispatched comfortably, before a yellow card would be issued for a late challenge on Cole Palmer shortly after.

Manchester City’s defensive unit rallied around Abdukodir Khusanov for the rest of his 53 minutes of action on the pitch at the weekend, and his performance after the opening exchanges was strong with plenty to be excited about for the future.

Speaking during a pre-match press conference ahead of Manchester City’s mammoth UEFA Champions League meeting with Club Brugge on Wednesday night, Josko Gvardiol was asked for his views on the club’s new arrival and how he handled the weekend’s events.

“First of all, he’s a nice guy. I haven’t spoke to him but he seems a nice guy,” Gvardiol told reporters from the City Football Academy on Tuesday afternoon.

He continued, “He’s done a great job last game, it wasn’t easy, especially to make a debut against Chelsea in the Premier League.

“The good thing is that he’s still young, I think he’s going to be here for a long, long time and all I can say is that we are here to help him and everything that he needs, he can ask me or the experienced ones.”

Manchester City will be hoping that the addition of Khusanov to their playing squad this month will firm up a defence that has shown a tendency to concede goals in quick flurries during recent matches.

In the UEFA Champions League in particular, a three-goal home lead to Feyenoord was thrown away in the final 15 minutes to draw 3-3, while a similar situation occurred in Paris as a 0-2 advantage ended up resulting in a 4-2 victory for Luis Enrique’s PSG.

On the subject of conceding quick goals, Gvardiol explained, “I don’t know what to say. This is football, and if you ask me I would not like to, I would like not to concede goals. But this is what happens.

“Especially in the last game against PSG away, we were 0-2 up and then I think you want to finish the game by scoring one more, instead of maybe taking control of the ball and moving the ball left, right.

“We wanted to keep going to score one more, then they can hurt you and that’s what happened. We conceded one, then two, three quick goals, somehow. Then obviously we were a bit down mentally, and I think it’s difficult to come back, especially when you play away.”