Pep Guardiola: “Cole [Palmer] has a special quality. Inside the box he has this talent which is difficult to find. But I know how it works with young players. We are calm and patient, like we have done with Phil [Foden] as well."
Wednesday 20 October 2021 11:44, UK
Pep Guardiola has no intention of rushing teenager Cole Palmer following his outstanding cameo in Manchester City’s Champions League thumping of Club Brugge.
The highly-rated 19-year-old came off the bench and scored a brilliant goal as the Premier League champions eased to a 5-1 win over Club Brugge in their Group A clash at the Jan Breydel Stadium.
It capped an impressive few days for the youngster, who briefly appeared against Burnley in the Premier League on Saturday before scoring a hat-trick for the club's U21 side later that same day.
There will undoubtedly now be calls to see more of the Wythenshawe-born youngster but, as with Phil Foden before him, Guardiola will not be rushed, easing him into the action gradually.
"Cole has a special quality in front of the box, a talent that is difficult to find," said Guardiola in his post-match press conference. "When he has the ball there, most of the time, it ends up in the net.
"It's difficult to find that. I know how it works with young players. We have to be calm and patient.
"His position is the second team, but at the same time, he trains with us and works with our principles.
"I am happy with the goal. He could have done a few actions a little bit better, but that is normal. It is experience.
"The people in this world want things immediately, quick, but everything needs time," he added.
"You cannot cook a good dish if you don't spend time in the kitchen. So, take time."
Cole [Palmer] has a special quality. But I know how it works with young players. We are calm and patient, like we have done with Phil [Foden] as well.
City were completely dominant as they got their campaign back on track after defeat by Paris Saint-Germain, which saw them fall behind Club Brugge in the group, three weeks ago.
Joao Cancelo broke the deadlock and Riyad Mahrez added a penalty before the break. Kyle Walker claimed the third before Palmer struck and Mahrez wrapped up the scoring after a Hans Vanaken consolation.
Guardiola added: “It was a really good performance – one of our best performances in Europe, definitely.
“I know how good they did against PSG and in Germany [against Leipzig] but we controlled the game. We made a good game, our pressing was good. We recovered the ball so quickly and after that we used the ball with a lot of sense.
"We found a lot of passes with Phil. We had runners in behind. We could have scored more goals. We used the ball with a lot of sense and had many chances. We are all delighted.”
Meanwhile, Brugge coach Philippe Clement admitted his team were outplayed.
He said: “In the first half we didn’t create enough and just lost the ball. That was not good enough.
“There were some moments when the space was there but we didn’t show our quality.
“We know the difference in quality of the two sides and you need a lot of luck and extraordinary performance of player to get the result. They are one of the two best sides in the world.
“This is not a nice experience as a player or coach, never, but if you take the good lessons and analyse them in a good way we can become stronger for the Champions League and our home league.”
