Manchester City’s new centre-backs showed plenty against Leyton Orient | OneFootball

Manchester City beat Leyton Orient 2-1 yesterday to progress to the fifth round of the FA Cup. Pep Guardiola’s side were pushed all the way by League One side. It was a hard-fought win for Manchester City, but there were positives to take from the game. The performances of Vitor Reis and Abdukodir Khusanov were full of promise from City’s point of view.

Vitor Reis started yesterday’s match against Leyton Orient alongside Ruben Dias at centre-back. The Brazilian defender did have a tough start to yesterday’s match. Yesterday’s hosts were determined to get behind City’s high defensive line. Reis did struggle up against the pace and power of Leyton Orient striker Charlie Kelman in the game’s early stages. But after his tough initiation to English football, Vitor Reis did grow into the game. He was calm in possession and his defensive acumen did stand out. All told it was a promising debut for Vitor Reis for Manchester City.

At halftime, Ruben Dias and Vitor Reis were replaced by John Stones and Abdukodir Khusanov. Pep Guardiola was determined to play his young centre-backs alongside their more senior teammates. That especially served Khusanov well. He oozed confidence and made several strong challenges during the second half of yesterday’s match. Khusanov also grabbed his first goal for Manchester City yesterday. Although he didn’t know much about it. Rico Lewis’ strike hit Khusanov to give him his first City goal. But it doesn’t matter how goals are scored as long as they are. But you would think that Khusanov would gaun confidence from his goal and his composed second half display.

There was plenty to like about the performances of Vitor Reis and Abdukodir Khusanov against Leyton Orient. They showed exactly why Manchester City were so keen to sign them. There will bigger challenges ahead of the pair of young centre-backs. But they showed yesterday at the Gaughan Group Stadium that they can offer plenty to Pep Guardiola’s squad. That was one positive to take from City’s hard fought win.