Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini expressed his delight after overcoming Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium, courtesy of goals from Fernandinho, Yaya Toure and Aleksander Kolarov, in a 3-2 win for the visitors.
Pellegrini applauded City’s performance, in a game where the hosts made it very difficult for his players.
“I think that we had a really good first-half. We had control of the ball against a team where it’s difficult to have a lot of possession."
Whilst praising his own team, the 60-year old also gave recognition to Swansea, insisting that Michael Laudrup has a “good team”.
“I think it’s a very good result, Swansea are a good team at home, they’re very strong. The way we won today is very important to us.
However, Chilean manager Pellegrini also admitted that his side lost out on too many points at the start of the season, and was quick to praise his side’s “character” after a win in an “important” game.
“It’s very important, that character, because at the beginning of the season we dropped too many points away.
“It’s not good for this team to win just 11 points out of 27 that we played in the first half of the season. Winning here is very important.
“The key was to continue playing the same way; we didn’t lose against Cardiff and Aston Villa because we didn’t play well. We made a lot of mistakes and conceded easy goals.”
“When we lost the away games earlier in the season we played in the same way. We conceded easy goals and we didn’t get the results. It’s not easy to play away – everyone always wants to play at home.
Speaking of the title-race as a whole, Pellegrini talked up his team and their chances of winning the Premier League, but also conceded that it will be tight, with only 8 points separating the top 6.
“It’s very important to be at the top of the table but there are more games to play and, as I’ve always said, at the end of the league I think there will be four or five teams fighting for the title.”
Pellegrini also discussed Swansea’s - and Wilfried Bony’s - first goal, which drew the game level just before the break, adding:
“Their goal at the end of the first-half was offside and they grew with that goal, but my team kept trying to score the second goal and the third goal which is really good.
“It was a pity that they scored at the end. They scored right at the end which made the scoreline a little bit closer that it should have been but I repeat, Swansea are a very good team.”
Like his City counter-part, Swansea coach Michael Laudrup honoured his team’s performance, stating that “(In the) first half we were excellent, of course conceding three goals against a top team like City makes it tough to win.
The ex-Mallorca manager also pointed to bad luck as a factor in his side’s defeat.
“I think we had more chances than them, the second goal got a big deflection off Ashley Williams but the third goal really hurt us when we trying to get back in the game.
“For me, it was a really soft goal to concede so I was very disappointed with that.
“Being the third game in six days it was tough – we got the second goal but it was too late.
“You know that when you are in control it can turn in minutes. That is what happened with Toure’s goal. And the third really hurt.’
Yaya Toure, who scored City’s second and was awarded the Man of the Match award, believes that the victory was “the perfect start to the year”.
“We played against a good side who created a lot of problems but we did a fantastic job.
“The second goal was quite key, we played really well. We prepared really well and we got our reward.
“Swansea are a good side but I think we deserved the win.”
Yaya Toure, who has already scored more goals than compared to the entire of last season, has impressed so far this term, and fans have seen him reap the rewards of the Citizens’ new playing style and approach.
“I’m working hard and trying to help my teammates – I think today I was a little bit lucky but I am happy to be scoring goals."
The Ivorian powerhouse also commended his team’s work ethic and tenacity.
“We continue to fight until the end – for the team and the club, we want to win this trophy and if we can play really well like we did today we’ll be really happy at the end of the season.”
