Manchester City 3 Plymouth Argyle 1: City player ratings as City survive a fright against Plymouth | OneFootball

Manchester City 3 (Nico O’Reilly 45+1′, 76′, Kevin De Bruyne 90′)

Plymouth Argyle 1 (Maksym Talovierov 38′)

Here are the City player ratings as Manchester City booked their place in the quarter-finals of this season’s FA Cup with a 3-1 win over Plymouth Argyle. Ahead of today’s match, Pep Guardiola made eleven changes to his starting lineup from Manchester City’s 1-nil win over Tottenham. Guardiola took the opportunity to rotate his squad today.

First half

Manchester City kicked the game off and the first 10 minutes passed by without a great deal of incident. City maintained possession well, and Plymouth Argyle sat in deep defensively and looked to hit City on the counter. Jack Grealish saw a couple of shots blocked and Foden had a shot deflected wide from the edge of the area after a well-worked short corner routine. They were the best chances for Manchester City in the game’s opening stages.

Manchester City’s best chance came in the 18th minute. A well-constructed move saw Bernardo Silva chip in a cross from the right. His ball was met by the head of Ilkay Gundogan on the edge of the 6-yard box, but his header was too close to Plymouth Argyle keeper Conor Hazard, who saved with ease.

In the 28th minute, Ilkay Gundogan fired a shot into the post from just inside the Plymouth Argyle area. Jack Grealish worked the ball into the box from the left wing, and his cross fell to Gundogan, whose shot crashed into the post with Conor Hazard well-beaten.

Plymouth Argyle takes the lead against the run of play.

In the 38th minute, Plymouth Argyle would take the lead. A mix-up of sorts between Vitor Reis and Stefan Ortega saw the Brazilian centre-back concede a corner when the ball played into City’s area from the left wing appeared destined for Stefan Ortega’s hands. From Matthew Sorinola’s corner, Maksym Talovierov headed home with ease to give Plymouth Argyle the lead.

After Vitor Reis and Nathan Ake headed over from corners, Kevin De Bruyne had Manchester City’s best chance in the 44th minute. After being played in by Jack Grealish De Bruyne’s left-footed shot was well-saved by Conor Hazard.

Nico O’Reilly equalises for Manchester City!!!!

Manchester City would equalise on the stroke for halftime. City were awarded a free kick after James McAtee was fouled on City’s right-hand side. Kevin De Bruyne flighted in a quality ball and Nico O’Reilly headed home to equalise on the stroke of halftime.

O’Reilly’s goal would be the final moment of the first half as the game was delicately poised at 1-all at the interval.

Second half

Manchester City’s first chance of the second half came in the 50th minute. A driving run from Ilkay Gundogan saw him play in a ball from the byline and Bernardo Silva’s shot was well-saved by Conor Hazard. It was a superb run from Gundogan which perhaps deserved a goal at the end of it.

Pep Guardiola’s side were now beginning to press to find another goal. Rico Lewis put two chances over and Phil Foden curled a shot just wide from the edge of the area on the hour mark. But you could see that Manchester City was beginning to assume control of the proceedings. Most of City’s attacking threat was coming down their left-hand side through Jack Grealish since halftime.

Manchester City would continue to push for a goal that would give them the lead. First, Kevin De Bruyne had a long-range effort well-saved once again by Conor Hazard in the 67th minute. From the resulting corner, Erling Haaland fired over a simple chance. City was pressing but you were beginning to sense that it may take something special to unlock the Plymouth Argyle defence.

Conor Hazard would come to the rescue for his team in the 75th minute. He made a superb save to deny Erling Haaland after a superb ball in from Jack Grealish. Bernardo Silva’s rebound was also deflected wide.

Nico O’Reilly heads home to give Manchester City a well-deserved lead.

Following Conor Hazard’s heroics Nico O’Reilly would head home from a Phil Foden corner to give Manchester City the lead. It was a simple header from O’Reilly and the lead was no less than Pep Guardiola’s side deserved.

Kevin De Bruyne puts the game to bed in the 90th minute.

In the 90th minute, Manchester City would put the game to bed. Erling Haaland was played in behind the Plymouth Argyle defence by Ilkay Gundogan. His initial shot was well-saved again by Conor Hazard. But the rebound fell to Haaland who played a ball back into the box for Kevin De Bruyne to tap in from close range. De Bruyne’s goal would put the game to bed and book Manchester City’s place in the quarter-finals of this season’s FA Cup.

The rest of the game passed by without incident as Manchester City went into the draw for the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. All told it was a good performance from Pep Guardiola’s side. They were given a fright but they did thoroughly deserve their victory.

Summary

The City player ratings reflect Manchester City’s performance. Nico O’Reilly, Kevin De Bruyne, Jack Grealish and Vitor Reis were the standout performers in my opinion. The performances of Phil Foden and James McAtee were disappointing and the injury to Nathan Ake was another setback for the Dutch international.

The City player ratings reflect that opinion which can be seen below.

City player ratings

Stefan Ortega-6/10: Had very little to do all game.

Rico Lewis-7/10: Played well as he drifted into midfield from right-back. If he had his shooting boots on he may have gotten a better rating. But he did play well over the 90 minutes.

Vitor Reis-7.5/10: Played well at centre-back, especially in possession. A promising display from the Brazilian defender.

Nathan Ake-6/10: Came off injured once again. He defended well when needed but serious questions need to be asked about his future at Manchester City based on his constant injury issues.

Nico O’Reilly-9/10: A superb performance from O’Reilly. Scored a brace and was good in possession. He needs to play more often.

Ilkay Gundogan-7/10: One of Gundogan’s better performances for some time. He hit the bar and should’ve had an assist as well. But he played well in midfield in a game that suited him.

Bernardo-6.5/10: Played on the right wing and never stopped working for his team. If his finishing was better he’d have gotten a higher rating.

Kevin De Bruyne-8/10: Picked up a goal and an assist in a good display from De Bruyne.

James McAtee-5/10: A disappointing performance from McAtee. He was given the opportunity to impress and couldn’t get into the game before he was substituted.

Phil Foden-6/10: Picked up an assist for Nico O’Reilly’s second goal for the game, but outside of that, he couldn’t affect the game he would’ve liked.

Jack Grealish-7.5/10: He was Manchester City’s most dangerous attacking player in the second half. A good performance from Grealish.

Substitutes

Ruben Dias-6/10: Did what he had to do after he replaced Nathan Ake at halftime.

Erling Haaland-6.5/10: Picked up an assist after coming on as a second-half substitute.

Nico-N/A: Not on long enough to mark.