On what was his City debut following his arrival from Crystal Palace earlier this week, Guéhi produced a superb, accomplished performance at the Etihad despite having just two training sessions with his new teammates.
Semenyo meanwhile on what was his first Premier League home start marked the occasion by claiming City’s second goal after Omar Marmoush had fired us ahead and then hit the crossbar in the second half.
The duo’s performances not only helped deliver an important victory but, according to the Blues boss, showed how important they will be looking forward to the rest of the campaign with City vying for success on four fronts.
“Absolutely. They are set up players,” Pep pointed out.
“Last season it was young players [who we brought in] except Omar.
“Semenyo made an incredible impact at Bournemouth.
“Antoine came with incredible energy and strikers are about numbers.
“Since he arrived he has been unbelievable. [It was an] Incredible goal
“It looks easy but the control is perfect to pass the ball to the net. He made another chance with a pass from Marc and he hit the crossbar.
“Marc, I don’t need to tell you who he is.
“He knows everything. I remember it is similar to when Ruben arrived and he had incredible focus for every action.
“With the ball he has incredible composure. We didn’t train anything yet but I have the feeling in the middle we did a little better.
“He’s not come for six months; he’s come for many years. It was an opportunity for the price.
“He’s the perfect age and he’s the perfect signing for many, many years.
“He’s a guy you can rely on. I see it in two sessions. How he sees, how he moves, how he talks, how he reads the situations.”
The result also served as the perfect response after defeats at Manchester United and Bodo/Glimt and left the boss feeling more than satisfied with what he had seen.
“We had to break the last results and against a team that struggled from the beginning of the season with results and have made a bit of a change with Rob [Edwards],” Pep added
“We controlled early and it was so tight. Energy was really good in the first half then after the action from Khusanov to make a foul we struggled a little bit and they came forward.
“Last 20 or 25 minutes was a little flat but considering the amount of games and everything, it was a good result.
“Hopefully we can take some energy for our game on Wednesday [against Galatasaray].”
