Pep Guardiola had some useful words of advice for Jeremy Doku after an encouraging display in Manchester City's FA Cup win over Newcastle. Bernardo Silva's two deflected goals secured City's passage into a record-breaking sixth FA Cup semi-final, which will take place after the second leg of the
Champions League quarter-final with
Real Madrid. Doku was impressive in a more central position, with Guardiola explaining his thinking behind a new role for the winger, and he also joked that Bernardo's fortune in his two goals were a reflection of his enduring quality at the Etihad. Here's the highlights from the post match press conferences. ALSO READ:
Pep Guardiola warns Man City players to get international priorities right amid Haaland substitution ALSO READ: Kyle Walker backs up Pep Guardiola as Man City normalise brilliance Guardiola explains Doku role Guardiola said: "We wanted to dribble there, wanted to have players in pocket like Phil [Foden] and the other one can dribble his opponent and Erling [Haaland] can run. He was brilliant. He can play in wider positions but in central position he has the ability to dribble and run. He has quality to see the last pass like Kevin [De Bruyne] can do or Gundo could do or Riyad [Mahrez] or another player like Phil. "His next step, he's so young. The moments he couldn't make the pass to Erling in the last moments but he played really good. He helped us to keep the ball and make dribbles and draw them and he was really good." Doku 'getting better and better' In his own words, Doku explained his role against Newcastle and that he feels he is always improving under Guardiola. He said: "It felt good, I'm happy with the performance of my team, the performance of myself. I feel like I'm getting better and better. We scored important goals, we defended well, attacked well, very happy." Guardiola's Bernardo joke Bernardo Silva signed a contract extension last summer to end the annual 'will he, won't he' transfer saga. He would like to leave for somewhere closer to home, but also acknowledges City is the best footballing project for him. "Everybody loves him and we want him. Even the goals are deflections!" joked Guardiola. "It's really important he stays with us. Really important. Kevin (De Bruyne) will be back soon, when you see the schedule after international break - we have
Arsenal, Aston Villa, Crystal Palace, Madrid, three days, three days. Will be really tough, we need everyone. I said many times how important personally and in terms of
Football Bernardo is." City tactics surprise Howe Eddie Howe was full of praise for City's play and praised his side for unsettling them - despite the scoreline. He said the nature of Bernardo's brace was the 'football gods working against us', and didn't seem too downbeat over the result. He also noted that City surprised him and his coaches by going more direct to Haaland, and noted that ultimately City's quality showed. It was a slightly black-and-white-tinted view of the game but he was hardly going to be ultra critical. "The lads gave everything, it's very difficult to play City at any time but when they pick those technical players," said Howe. "I thought we did okay, stuck at it, we did unsettle them at times, they went direct to Haaland but when we went into the final third our quality wasn’t there."