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Michallik praises ‘versatile’ Marmoush after hat trick vs. Newcastle (1:52)
Janusz Michallik reacts to Omar Marmoush’s first half hat trick during Manchester City’s 4-0 win against Newcastle. (1:52)
MANCHESTER, England — Omar Marmoush might just be the missing ingredient for Manchester City and manager Pep Guardiola — but the forward’s 14-minute hat trick in a 4-0 win against Newcastle on Saturday only highlighted how long the club had been in need of reinforcements and how slowly a solution arrived.
Marmoush, a £59-million January signing from Eintracht Frankfurt, took each of his three goals with class and cool finishing, with his presence filling the void left by Julián Álvarez‘s £82 million departure from City to Atletico Madrid last summer. But while Marmoush has been signed for the long-term, as well as replacing Alvarez, his arrival last month all feels like too little, too late for City.
Had a forward of Marmoush’s quality arrived at the same time as Alvarez’s exit, it’s likely that Guardiola’s team wouldn’t be heading into the last chance saloon this coming week. But that’s where City find themselves.
Now that City have Marmoush in their ranks — defensive midfielder Nico González is also a long-overdue replacement for the injured Ballon d’Or winner Rodri — they still have a fighting chance of salvaging something from what has been, until now, a disastrous season for the reigning Premier League champions. But they haven’t left themselves much margin for error.
Having suffered a 3-2 loss in the Champions League play-Off first-leg at home to Real Madrid four days ago, this easy victory against Newcastle was a crucial morale boost for City ahead of a crunch week ahead. City will face Real Madrid in the second-leg in Spain before hosting Premier League leaders Liverpool at home on Feb 23.
The dismantling of Newcastle showed that Guardiola’s team can still turn it on against high-quality opponents — after all, Newcastle started the day in sixth position with a Carabao Cup final against Liverpool to look forward to next month. It will maybe even give City hope of overturning their Champions League deficit against Real before slowing Liverpool’s title charge four days later.
Marmoush, 26, was the star of the show against Newcastle and his presence on the pitch gives City a different option up-front, as well as hope for the remainder of the season.
“He is a player we have missed with his movement in behind,” Guardiola said after Saturday’s match. “He attacks the space and gives us more time so we are all happy, including the manager.
“I have good contacts in Germany and asked about him and people have high opinion of him. In Germany and Eintracht, he had good numbers, but he had three good chance against Orient and didn’t take them, but we knew what he could do. We hope he can handle what it coming now because it isn’t going to stop. When you play good, everyone is adapted. When you don’t play good, it is a difficult time.”
With Alvarez gone, striker Erling Haaland has had to shoulder the goalscoring burden pretty much by himself all season. He has hit 19 goals in all competitions — 12 more than his closest challenger in the City scoring ranks, Phil Foden.
Omar Marmoush joined Manchester City last month, and he scored a hat trick to beat a good Newcastle United team on Saturday. Martin Rickett/PA Images via Getty Images
The grim reality of City’s attacking output this season is summed up by Marmoush’s first-half hat trick taking him to fifth in the club’s scoring charts. Aside from Haaland, only Foden (7), Josko Gvardiol (5) and Mateo Kovacic (4) have scored more goals for City this season than Marmoush — and this was only his fifth appearance for the team.
He is a similar player to Alvarez in that he drops off Haaland and finds space in between the midfield and attacking lines, but is also happy to move out wide. The 26-year-old is quick too, with an eye for goal, and his opener on 19 minutes was a pure forward’s goal because he had the audacity to take his chance and score.
With goalkeeper Éderson launching a long ball forward, Marmoush gambled on Newcastle defender Kieran Trippier missing his header and he did just that to allow the ball to drop to Marmoush, who sent a lob over goalkeeper Martin Dúbravka from outside the penalty area to score his first City goal.
Within three minutes, Marmoush had scored again. This time, his movement on the edge of the Newcastle eighteen-yard box gave him space and he turned Trippier before guiding a low shot into the near corner. It was a crisp, clinical finish — the kind only a natural goalscorer converts — and it showed that City invested well by signing him from Eintracht.
Marmoush’s third goal, on 33 minutes, highlighted his terrific movement once again. With winger Savinho breaking into the penalty area, Marmoush slowed his run and created yards of space, enabling Gundogan to find him unmarked, 12 yards out. From there, Marmoush once again beat Dubravka with a nerveless finish.
With a 3-0 lead after just 33 minutes, the game was won and Newcastle well beaten, with City’s fourth goal coming on 84 minutes through substitute James McAtee. By that stage, Marmoush had been taken off to a standing ovation on 76 minutes, with Guardiola conserving his fitness for Wednesday’s trip to the Santiago Bernabeu.
City have a mountain to climb against the reigning Champions League champions in Madrid, but they can at least go there with Marmoush offering another attacking outlet beyond the obvious threat of Haaland.
Marmoush’s heroics against Newcastle may prove meaningless in the Premier League as the title appears well out of City’s hands — but if he can perform like this against Real Madrid, Guardiola’s men still have a fighting chance of a shock win in Spain that can salvage something from an otherwise poor season.
