Manchester City’s goaltender is widely believed to be Pep Guardiola’s favourite only because of his refined ability with the ball at his feet but the Brazilian earned the respect of defeated opponents after producing one of the saves of the season in the champions’ 2-0 triumph at Crystal Palace on Saturday.
Palace manager Roy Hudgson and former Chelsea stalwart Gary Cahill have heaped praises on Man City’s Ederson after the Brazil international denied Eagles striker Christian Benteke with a spectacular save in the second half of their Premier League match.
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With Man City two goals up and missing several chances to put the tie to bed, Hudgson sent in Belgian Benteke who, moments later, thought he had scored with a glancing header only for Ederson to pull of a one-handed save. An effort that Roy Hudgson couldn’t help but admire.
“It would have been a great moment for him (Benteke). It was such a good header and I don’t know how the keeper (Ederson) kept it out,” the Palace boss told Sky Sports afterwards as monitored by Soccernet.ng.
“I was thinking ‘oh great, Christian’s got off the mark with a great goal against the champions’. But hopefully he can still take confidence from that and take that into the next games.
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“We took the chance of opening ourselves up towards the end with bringing Christian on the pitch. During that time we created a bit more but they created a lot more than they did in the first 70 minutes or so but that’s what quality teams do. That’s what teams like Manchester City do.
“I was proud of the way we kept going and didn’t give up. We gave them as good a game as we were capable of.”
How many huge saves has Ederson made this season. There isn’t a better keeper in the world.
— Fraudy (@agentfraudy) October 19, 2019
Crystal Palace defender Gary Cahill also reserved compliment for Ederson after he made that shocking save that preserved the champions’ cleen sheet.
“I thought the second half was slightly better than the first half. I thought both keepers were outstanding. I don’t know how Ederson kept out Benteke’s header – it had power and direction.
“When they have good possession and you try and squeeze up the ball in behind is always available. We knew it would be tough. They killed us with the goals, obviously with the first but the second being so quick as well.
“I think the second half always opens up a bit because people get tired. You could sense Manchester City knew they had to win that and they did.”
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Roy Hudgson however took a few positives from the game with his Palace side still riding high in the top half of the table despite the 2-0 loss.
“I thought we worked unbelievably hard and we came across a Manchester City in top form. They gave us no time on the ball whatsoever and they played with their usual aplomb in the final third,” said Hudgson.
“We were a bit unlucky in the final third ourselves but we can’t have any complaints really. I was proud of the way we fought and kept going when it was going against us and we could have came away with a goal or two ourselves.
“Our players worked really hard to follow our game plan and we tried to seal them off but it’s hard because they have so much quality in their team. We needed an early goal to shake them and that didn’t happen but we kept going and kept trying.”
