Sometimes you want to kill him! Guardiola marvels at City cult hero Mendy

Benjamin Mendy took on board a gentle warning from manager Pep Guardiola after an all-action display in Manchester City’s opening 2-0 Premier League win at Arsenal.

Mendy set up Bernardo Silva’s game-clinching second in north London after Raheem Sterling gave the champions an early lead.

A cruciate knee ligament injury meant the France left-back had a minimal impact on the field during his first season in Manchester but his inimitable work on social media established him as a cult hero with City’s fans.

It is a status that has not gone unnoticed by Guardiola, who observed the 24-year-old popping up all over Emirates Stadium on Sunday.

At a post-match news conference, when it was put to Guardiola that Mendy sometimes appeared to be more like a centre forward, he chuckled: “Yeah, and that is not good!

Good victory to start the season  everything not perfect but I need to find the feet & the rythm again (says the guy with 2 assists) thank you guys for the love #CMONCITY  pic.twitter.com/SInRAixngD

— Benjamin Mendy (@benmendy23) August 12, 2018

“Mendy is Mendy. Sometimes you want to kill him and sometimes you say, ‘wow, what a player we have’.

“He gives us this extra energy. With Kyle [Walker] and him, when they attack so consistently it is so important.

“But Mendy has a lot of things to improve. Hopefully we can convince him to be calm, to forget a little bit the social media and focus on what he has to do.”

When City tweeted the quotes from their manager, Mendy was quickly contrite – replying “Oops” and, “I promise I will”.

Oops  https://t.co/dVBYJNbKPM

— Benjamin Mendy (@benmendy23) August 12, 2018