LONDON — Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca said Rayan Cherki put in a “complete” performance as his double helped them to a commanding 4-1 win at Crystal Palace on Friday evening.
The victory means City have started life under Maresca with back-to-back wins after they defeated Bournemouth 2-1 last weekend, and then backed that up with a comfortable victory at Palace.
Erling Haaland scored City’s first with a pinpoint header in the first half, and Cherki made it two with a wonderful solo effort in the 54th minute. Palace then got one back after Yeremy Pino’s long-range free kick struck the bar and rebounded in off Gianluigi Donnarumma, but then Cherki made it three with a long-range effort in the 59th minute and Haaland rounded things off with a comprehensive finish with six minutes left.
Cherki was on the bench last weekend but came on to help City to their 2-1 win over Bournemouth with a pair of assists and he ended up as Player of the Match against Palace.
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“For sure he’s happy his performance was very good, not because of the two goals but how he worked off the ball,” Maresca said. “He was in charge of pressing when Palace had the ball. It was a complete game, on and off the ball.
“He loves football so it’s much more easy to work with him. He’s Rayan — he’s like this. We know how good he is, the quality he has. In this moment he’s helping the team, and will do in the future.”
Cherki said of his own performance on Sky Sports: “My performance is so-so. In the first half, we didn’t find the space, I played bad. I need to show them I want to play, I want to score. Next time I want to give the ball around more.”
He added: “I’m very happy for the win, see you next week. Pep [Guardiola] was a big story, we will start another story. We want to prove it and are here for that.”
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Maresca said overall the performance was “good” and was pleased with how the team shifted tactics after a tricky first 10 minutes.
“We scored four, we could’ve scored more,” he said.
He was also delighted with Marc Guehi’s performance, while he was pleased to see Haaland grab his double.
“We know that most of the time if we can create chances, he can score goals,” Maresca said of Haaland. “He scored twice, he could’ve scored one or two more. We are happy he scored and that we won the game.”
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Haaland said on Sky Sports: “It has been a short pre-season. Rayan [Cherki], five weeks ago was at the World Cup. Game by game, we’ll be back, just need a few games. We played well, it’s a new manager but we’ve been playing together, with the addition of a few new players. We know what to do and have to trust the system.”
With four days left of the transfer window, Jack Grealish was one notable omission from City’s squad amid links with Everton, Sunderland and Aston Villa.
“I had a chat with Jack yesterday — we’ll see what happens in the next 72 hours,” Maresca said.
