Thursday 25 September 2014 11:05, UK
Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini hailed the impact of Frank Lampard after the midfielder bagged a brace in the 7-0 Capital One Cup win over Sheffield Wednesday, and admitted his loan deal could be extended.
Wednesday were doing well to frustrate the holders in the first half, but their resistance was eventually broken two minutes after the restart as Frank Lampard poked home the first of his two goals.
Quick-fire efforts from Edin Dzeko, Jesus Navas and a Yaya Toure penalty gave City a comfortable lead on the hour mark, with the visitors down to 10 men following Kamil Zayatte’s dismissal.
Dzeko added a second with a towering header after 77 minutes before teenage striker Jose Angel Pozo stepped off the bench to make it six and Lampard grabbed his second in stoppage time to make it three goals in two games.
"Frank is a very important player for every team. He’s very happy here," Pellegrini told Sky Sports.
"He’s doing his job, he’s scoring. I think that he’s an important player for us."
However, Pellegrini was reluctant to draw upon the possibility of extending Lampard’s loan deal from New York City FC beyond January.
"We’ll see what happens in the future but the important thing now is to think about what we must do against Hull on Saturday," he said.
It was a convincing start to City’s defence of the League Cup trophy and Pellegrini was pleased to see his side back among the goals.
"I’m fairly satisfied. Not only because we won 7-0 - maybe that was not the real difference between the two teams. Especially in the first half they played very well.
"But I’m happy because we’ve returned to being a scoring team. Maybe in the last two games here at home we didn’t do it. For the team, it’s very important."
Asked why the first half was so frustrating, Pellegrini replied: "I think that we were not pressing high because Sheffield Wednesday are usually a team that plays with long balls, but today they started with short passes.
"They had too much of the ball. I think in the second half we played higher and that’s why we changed the game.
"We have another two rounds, a semi-final and the final. We are just starting!
"It’s important to start defending the title in the way we did today."
Meanwhile, Wednesday boss Stuart Gray says his side learned some harsh lessons against the Premier League champions.
"First half, we were always in the game. I think we frustrated them and we looked compact.
"One thing you do know is you’d probably get away with the odd mistake in the Championship .
"There was a couple of mistakes tonight, and decision making – suddenly you’re punished and you’re 2-0 down.
"Suddenly it’s 3-0 nine minutes into the second half and its damage limitation, with ten men as well."
Asked about the penalty for the fourth goal and Zayatte's sending off, Gray replied: "I couldn’t really see it with the distance I had.
"I was surprised the red card came out but I’ll have to see it again."
