Match Report and Player Ratings: Manchester City 3-1 Plymouth Argyle (FA Cup Fifth Round) | OneFootball

Manchester City advanced into the Emirates FA Cup quarter-final stage on Saturday evening, defeating Plymouth Argyle 3-1 at the Etihad Stadium.

City secured their position in the hat for the quarter-final draw, with two goals from Nico O’Reilly and a late Kevin De Bruyne strike sealing a somewhat routine victory in the end despite an early scare.

The visitors brought numbers to Manchester and the away side gave the fans plenty to cheer, but it just wasn’t to be for Argyle as City’s overriding quality proved too much for the Championship side.

The early dominance of the hosts was to be expected, with City pegging Plymouth back to their goal in the opening 10 minutes, with a Phil Foden strike from the edge of the box deflected narrowly wide, and a penalty claim shot down to show for their early efforts.

Ilkay Gundogan came close a few minutes later, as a guided cross found the head of an unmarked Gundogan in the penalty area, but the German couldn’t divert his header into a corner, giving Conor Hazard in the Plymouth goal an easy save to make.

Gundogan then had another huge chance to score 10 minutes later, when a ricocheted pass from Grealish landed perfectly for Gundogan to hit, rifling the ball with his left foot off of the right post.

However, despite the dominance in possession for the blues, the visitors took the lead and erupted the Etihad Stadium. A needlessly given away corner was lofted in to the back post, where Maksym Talovierov leapt the highest to plant his header into the corner. 0-1.

Plymouth couldn’t hold the lead until the break with City finding a crack in defence, as an inch perfect free-kick was accurately placed onto the head of Nico O’Reilly, who used the pace of the ball to force his header past the goalkeeper and equalise on the stroke of half-time.

Into the second half, City looked to take the lead for the first time in the match, with Gundogan involved once again, bursting into the Plymouth penalty area before pulling a cross back to Bernardo Silva, who drew another good save from Conor Hazard between the sticks.

City began to grow desperate and peppered the goalkeeper with shots in which he had the answer to every time, until Nico O’Reilly doubled his goal tally and City’s to give the blues a deserved lead after 76 minutes.

The victory was sealed at the death, when substitute Erling Haaland swapped roles with Kevin De Bruyne, when the Norwegian playmaker teed up the Belgian poacher, who had a simple task by tapping the ball into an empty net to make it 3-1 to the blues.

Manchester City emerged as deserving winners of the tie, despite the scare from the visitors in the first half. With that being said, here is how we rated the players’ performances in the 3-1 victory over Plymouth Argyle!

Player Ratings

Starting XI

Stefan Ortega Moreno – 6

A lack of communication with Vitor Reis resulted in the corner which cost Manchester City the opening goal. An otherwise quiet night between the sticks.

Rico Lewis – 6.5

Not his finest afternoon, Rico Lewis looked rather uncomfortable at times playing at right-back, with the permanent position of the youngster still a question which goes unanswered.

Vitor Reis – 7.5

Making his home debut for the club, Vitor Reis looked extremely comfortable at the black, displaying some tidy passing and doing his defensive duties when called upon.

Nathan Ake – 6

The Dutchman was replaced at half-time after suffering an injury late into the first half.

Nico O’Reilly – 8.5 (MOTM)

Two goals for the boyhood blue in a perfect afternoon for Nico O’Reilly, who excelled in every department once again in this competition. O’Reilly was a joy to watch for City tonight.

Ilkay Gundogan – 7

The former Germany international was heavily involved in the attacks for Manchester City, particularly in the first half. A couple of guilt-edged chances went amiss, ones in which you would have expected the German to bury two years ago.

Kevin De Bruyne – 7.5

The club captain looked like a nightmare to deal with for the Argyle players, with the Belgian constantly finding space and feeding crosses into the box. Kevin De Bruyne eventually scored City’s third goal to top off a solid outing.

Bernardo Silva – 6.5

Similarly to Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva had a quiet evening and was largely ineffective in the front line.

James Mcatee – 6

A quiet night for James Mcatee, who was replaced by Erling Haaland just before the hour mark.

Phil Foden – 6

An ineffective evening for Phil Foden, who couldn’t find his feet in the game and was often caught in possession unusually for him. Foden was replaced by Nico Gonzalez after 83 minutes.

Jack Grealish – 7

Troubled the Plymouth backline several times and always looked a handful for the defenders. Standard Jack Grealish performance.

Substitutes

Ruben Dias – 6.5

Replaced the injured Nathan Ake at half-time and did his job neatly.

Erling Haaland – 7

Became a presence in the box which was missing in the first half, before turning into a playmaker and setting Kevin De Bruyne up to confirm the victory for the third goal.

Nico Gonzalez – N/A