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Manchester City return to Wembley for their fourth consecutive Carabao Cup final and the way they beat Manchester United on Wednesday felt like a true statement on their current state of mind and momentum.
City’s impressive win at Chelsea at the weekend was their first win of the season against one of the top six regular clubs and was a sign of their recent improvement.
But that was against a Chelsea team that had just hit a slump, this time they faced a resurgent United team that was on a roll and has been flying in the Premier League.
However, it is not the first time that City manager Pep Guardiola has gotten back into shape and his team had a brilliant performance against rivals despite losing several key players to illness or injury.
Collectively City were great, things worked out well because everyone did their job, but there were also great solo shows, of Ruben Dias and John Stones in the back and Fernandinho right in front of them.
As the Stones rightly put it later, it was a display that city legend Colin Bell, who sadly passed away on Tuesday, would have been proud of.
Fluid City stays solid at the rear
The City line-up was extremely fluid throughout the 90 minutes, but Guardiola started with Raheem Sterling and Phil Foden tall and wide and within them Kevin de Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan and Riyad Mahrez were trying to advance.
He has gone with two midfielders in other big games this season – the stalemate the last time they reached Old Trafford, in December, for example.
This time Fernandinho was alone, but the other three midfielders were always backing away to help him and they were all covering a lot of ground. There were times when De Bruyne collected the ball from his defenders, but also attacked on the right side.
It seemed like the Belgian was everywhere, but he was in 10th position in what was his prime, when he showed incredible technique to get the ball out from under him and crash his shot into the post in the first half.
But despite City’s possession and the way they moved United before the break, they weren’t testing Dean Henderson enough, which is why Guardiola looked so frustrated.
That changed in the second half, and it was great to see the Stones break the deadlock. His resurgence shows how dramatically the fortunes of soccer can change, and he’s brimming with confidence right now.
Once City took the lead, Mahrez took on that central attacking role and Foden and Sterling came in to make five in midfield and try to give City a block through the field. It worked.
After a couple of initial scares in which Marcus Rashford escaped down the right, City’s defensive line had been solid anyway, but United held their distance even as they came out looking for a draw.
Rodri was called in to close the door completely, and then Fernandinho capped his night off with the second goal to absolutely ensure victory, and book that trip to Wembley to play against Tottenham on April 25.
You could see how much it meant to the coach and his players by the way they celebrated the final whistle.
A great month ahead in the title race
City will pick up their Premier League challenge again next week, and it appears they are in good shape to close the gap with the leaders.
This feels like a different City team than the one that was struggling to beat the sides earlier in the season, and they are about to start a series of games where I would expect them to score a lot of points if they continue to play. as well as this.
They won’t face another top six team until they go to Anfield to play Liverpool on February 6, but they will be playing a lot of matches in the weeks to come and I still think they need to be aware of how that busy schedule could handle. Its toll.
Next matches of the Manchester City Premier League Opposition Date Wednesday 13 JanuaryBrighton (h)Sunday January 17Crystal Palace (h)Wednesday 20 JanuaryAston Villa (h)Tuesday January 26West Brom (a)Saturday January 30Sheff Utd (at home)Tuesday February 2Burnley (a)
We’ve already seen how unpredictable this season has been, and I’m sure there are more round and round ahead.
Avoiding illness and injury will play an important role in the title race, so City is right to be cautious that players like Sergio Agüero and Gabriel Jesús are back in top form, because they need them to stay healthy for the next few months.
Something has to give in a condensed campaign like this, and while he always sets out to win as many trophies as possible, Guardiola’s team selection in the FA Cup may reflect that.
He has to protect his squad because of the number of games ahead and we could see him do that in Sunday’s third-round tie against Birmingham – he could give out more youngsters than he normally would.
Michael Brown was talking to Chris Bevan of BBC Sport.
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Source: bbc.com
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