Man City star describes what Newcastle 'did' as Guardiola's stars leave St James' Park irked


Newcastle United's intensity made a welcome return in the 1-1 draw against Manchester City at St James' Park on Saturday.

United defender Dan Burn's mantra has always been "intensity is our identity" and despite no longer wearing the captain's armband, he proved to be a real leader against the Citizens. Burn was seen crunching into Erling Haaland while Sandro Tonali got physical with Jack Grealish as Newcastle tried to respond to their 3-1 loss at Fulham.

After City went into the game with a makeshift central midfield to try to compensate for the loss of injured Spain star Rodri, Mateo Kovačić and Rico Lewis were asked to plug the gaps. But after the game, the ex-Chelsea star admitted it had been a tough battle.

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Haaland left St James' Park with a wound after a Burn tackle and Grealish was visibly angry as he set off down the tunnel making a shush gesture to Geordie fans.

Kovačić said after the game: "It's a tough place to come. There is a lot of intensity and tactical duels so it is tough. So it is a good point. But we came here to win and we had our chances. Maybe we made a little mistake for the goal and the penalty but these things happen. This time we have to be happy with a draw."

Kovačić offered a fair assessment of the draw and Man City took the way Newcastle went about the game firmly on the chin. The Croatia international said: "They pressed well. Like I say it's a tough place to come because the intensity is high.

"It was not easy but I think we coped well. We had a few chances and could have scored, maybe in the second half we needed that second goal. We didn't get it and in the end it is a draw."

Kovačić and full-back Rico Lewis were asked to do the impossible job and replace injury stricken star Rodri, who has been ruled out for the season. Speaking about his task at St James' Park he said: "I played there when Rodri was injured before. It is a position I love to play.

After the game Eddie Howe admitted that the loss of Rodri left Newcastle with a puzzle to solve themselves. The head coach said: "Rodri glues everything together and is pivotal to what they do but I think we all make too much of a team missing one player.

"It is very difficult to replace players because they are unique, but you have to - and one of our challenges was to try to predict their starting line-up and system because we knew they would reshuffle and do something different..”