Manchester City sent a strong message to its Premier League title rivals by thrashing 10-man Newcastle 4-0 on Monday, mixing power with panache to mark Manuel Pellegrini’s first competitive game in charge in style.
Yaya Toure scored the pick of City’s goals in a sparkling display at Etihad Stadium with a sublime 50th-minute free kick, adding to first-half goals by David Silva and Sergio Aguero and a late strike by substitute Samir Nasri.
It was a complete performance - and a powerful response to impressive wins by Manchester United and Chelsea on the opening weekend of the season. It could be some battle for the title this season between England’s leading three clubs.
“The most pleasing thing is the way the team played for 90 minutes,” said Pellegrini, who often stood motionless in his technical area, hands in his pockets or arms folded as his team dismantled Newcastle.
“Not depending if we were winning by one, two or three goals, I think we had from the beginning an attitude to play as an aggressive team, an offensive team. And we continued doing that for 90 minutes. The most important thing is to win.
But after, it’s the way we did it.”