Manchester City Progress To Carabao Cup Final

There were a number of changes to the Manchester City side but nevertheless the result remained the same and City progressed to Wembley.

This was a strange match where the City side was probably the most unfamiliar since Manuel Pelligrini threw the kids into a FA Cup game away at Chelsea in protest at a piece of fixture congestion. That day was just a sacrifice but this was different against Burton Albion. The strong 9:0 lead from the first leg made the result a formality.

The City side was a combination of first team players in need of game time, promising young players and first team players who have spent some time on the naughty step i.e. Riyad Mahrez. In the run up to this game Mahrez has underwhelmed in some recent performances and been “rested”. That seems to have prompted a story being released to the press about him being unhappy.

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He certainly had the chance to impress against lower league opposition but like many of the team he seemed to keep his tinder dry and hardly put in maximum effort. It would probably be wrong to single out Mahrez for a lack of effort, as it was his pass which lead to the solitary goal for Sergio Aguero. But he did snap at a number of shots when he would have been better placed to pass.

Kevin De Bruyne played in a less familiar deeper role which Guardiola explained after the game was to try and maximise his time spent on the ball to aid his recovery. It was his pass which created the goal but the remainder of the game was somewhat laboured. Let us hope he can step up his performances for when we need him most when the Champions League returns.

The stand out performances though in this game belonged to some of the younger players who continued to cement their reputations. Phillipe Sandler and Eric Garcia played well in central defence on a difficult and slippy pitch. Garcia looks like a very interesting prospect but may need to grow a couple of inches to play in that role in the Premier League. Sandler also looked very classy and seems to have the physical attributes necessary to succeed.

On the wing Ian Poveda worked relentlessly and it would have been a useful test for him against much more physical opponents than he was used to. It is a testament to quite how young the side was that in writing this piece I have not had time to mention Aro Muric or Phil Foden, both of whom are already feeling like first team fixtures.

This was a game where City never needed to get out of second gear but whenever that happens I always fear for the next game. Stepping back up the intensity will be important to beat a difficult Burnley side who will only really have an FA Cup run to focus on this season. Finally it is worth saying how well Burton Albion played over these two legs. Despite being outclassed they worked hard and never resorted to fouling.

Next. Three Things We Learnt From Beating Huddersfield. dark

City now have another trip to Wembley Stadium sorted for the Carabao Cup Final on 24 February, which will be a chance to earn an early piece of silverware and potentially set City up for an exhilarating end to the season.

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