Manchester City burned their club legend’s side on Saturday in the FA Cup quarter final as they panned Burnley 6-0 at the Etihad; no hard feelings Vinny.
Starting XI: Ortega, Walker, Dias, Laporte, Lewis, Rodri, De Bruyne (C), Foden, Alvarez, Mahrez and Haaland.
As the blues pick up form and turn the Etihad into a goal fest, having scored 13 and conceding 0 in their last two home games this week, we head into international break after securing places in the semi finals of the FA Cup and the quarter finals of the Champions League.
To the frustration of fans, the international break comes at a time where City’s performances have begun to become ones we recognise from the boys, building momentum for the business end of the season, halted by a meaningless international break.
The opposition must come to accept that the only way to stop Erling Haaland is by Pep taking him off. Scoring 5 midweek vs. Leipzig and another hat-trick on Saturday vs. Burnley. He’s on fire.
Quite clearly the star of the show currently, he has no intention of soaking up the limelight alone. The Norwegian has no problem hyping up his teammates to the fans to ensure they are recognised for the parts they play in his goals – if he can ask his agent to put a sock in it, and commit long-term, he’s captain material.
Another exciting performance from El Arana, our Sergio regen, Julian Alvarez. After being rewarded with a new contract, extending his salary and length of stay at the Etihad.
Scoring 2 at the weekend, and assisting Haaland he was involved in it all. Stunning individual brilliance for his second goal after beating the Burney defender with his burst of pace, and sitting him down with skill and creating space to take his shot.
That is not to underestimate the insanely beautiful and intelligent pass by no other than Kevin De Bruyne, who slips it in behind the defender and into the path of Alvarez.
With De Bruyne looking back to his best, creating chances from midfield and popping the assists, we can only hope he continues with this form after the international break – there’s no one better. Regardless of what nepo baby Rednapp says.
Foden unlucky to come away without the man of the match award, after being involved in every goal scoring attack. He looked dangerous and on his way back to his best. Unlucky to not get his goal, but took up a role in creating the chances.
With 3 from Haaland, 2 from Alvarez, the other came from Cole Palmer who came on as a substitute in the second half.
Other second half cameos included Gomez, Akanji, Phillips and Grealish. Whilst the introduction of Phillips was not necessarily significant, he looked sharper than he has done in other short spells, and will need game time to settle in completely; as did Rodri.
Please let us not underestimate the importance of another clean sheet. After no consistent defensive line for the majority of the season, we are finally starting to see more settled performances from out back line.
So this means we had to Eithad South, that place called Wembley that we are becoming used to seeing, and we’ll follow them everywhere. Remaining fixtures for the FA Cup quarter final are due to be played and draw to be made on Sunday evening.
I will follow you everywhere pic.twitter.com/uCMXqfpTah
— Raff (@BeersnBlues) March 18, 2023
Potential opponents include Manchester United/Fulham, Brighton/Grimsby, or Sheffield United/Blackburn.
Who do you want to see in the next round, blues?