Nico Gonzalez ‘not Rodri replacement’ but keen to thrive in Manchester City team
The Spanish midfielder has been asked to fill the sizeable boots of his injured compatriot.
Nico Gonzalez insists he is not the new Rodri but is convinced he can thrive in the Manchester City team.
The Spanish midfielder has been asked to fill the sizeable boots of his injured compatriot since joining City in a £50million deal from Porto in January.
It has been a tough start for him, arriving in the middle of an underwhelming campaign as City are sorely missing their injured Ballon d’Or winner Rodri.
The result left them fourth in the table, trailing the Merseysiders by 20 points and with Champions League qualification now their relatively modest aim.
With Gonzalez settling well — and described by manager Pep Guardiola as a “mini-Rodri” after his performance in a 4-0 win against Newcastle earlier this month — City will still be expected to achieve that.
Gonzalez said: “I’ve just arrived, I’m not used to playing against players of quality like (Mohamed) Salah.
“It’s tough to play against players like this but we also have really good players and I think we have the best team, so I’m pretty sure in the next matches we will have many wins.
“I don’t see myself as the replacement for Rodri, I see myself as another player.
“Obviously the team plays really well, there are also players close to me and everyone wants the ball every time so it’s easy to find players and find passes.
“The quality of the players is so good so for me it’s easier to play here than the team I used to play.”
City started well against Liverpool and had good spells of possession throughout the game but did not overly trouble the visiting defence.
The Reds, by contrast, were clinical and took control of the game with first-half goals from the prolific Salah and Dominic Szoboszlai.
Gonzalez said: “It’s very disappointing to lose, especially like this because we deserved more.
“We had chances, we pressed really well, we had the ball most of the match, but they scored from a corner in the first minutes and a counter-attack.”
City now travel to Tottenham on Wednesday and Gonzalez is confident the team will quickly pick themselves up from their latest setback.
He said: “I think everyone has the will to improve the situation, to win all the matches and you’ve seen the intensity and the courage all players have played with.
“I think it’s just time. We need time to start winning but we did a really good match one week ago. Here we did a good match but we didn’t get the win we wanted.”
