Manchester City came from behind to earn a 3-1 victory and avoid a shock FA Cup upset at home to Plymouth Argyle on Saturday evening.
Two set-piece headers from Nico O’Reilly and a late Kevin De Bruyne tap-in ultimately helped City creak into the competition’s quarter-finals, but there were plenty of nerves as Argyle took a shock first-half lead.
After dumping Brentford and Liverpool out of the cup’s previous two rounds, the Championship strugglers eventually came up short against City, though they held the reigning Premier League champions level at 1-1 until the final 15 minutes of normal time.
How the game unfolded
“We’re going to try to enjoy this,” Plymouth’s inspirational manager Miron Muslic declared. The near-8,000 travelling members of the Green Army certainly lived up to their boss’ demands long before Maksym Talovierov headed the Championship visitors into a shock lead with 38 minutes on the clock.
Every pass which Plymouth completed was greeted with a boisterous “ole!” from the Devon contingent spilling across two tiers of the Etihad Stadium. There weren’t many opportunities for those ironic bursts as City established a predictable monopoly of possession which – unlike Plymouth’s victory over Liverpool in the previous round – led to a glut of chances for the Premier League giants.
Yet, while the likes of Phil Foden, James McAtee and Ilkay Gundogan in particular, spurned numerous chances, Talovierov offered Argyle a precious clinical edge. The towering Ukrainian was practically unchallenged as he climbed above a sky-blue crowd to head Plymouth in front. It was the visitors’ first corner and shot of the match.
City continued to pour forward, the growing angst inside the stadium drowned out by a delirious travelling support. O’Reilly belatedly dampened Plymouth’s jubilant mood with a header of his own from an expertly arced De Bruyne free-kick in first-half stoppage time.
Last season’s beaten FA Cup finalists didn’t enjoy a miraculous increase in efficiency during the half-time interval. After watching Rico Lewis blast two promising chances over the bar from inside the box within 15 minutes of the restart, Guardiola turned to his not-so-secret weapon: Erling Haaland. Fortunately for Plymouth, Haaland had also misplaced his shooting boots, spooning a half-volley from six yards with his first touch.
Conor Hazard somehow conspired to rebuff Haaland from point-blank range before hauling his 6’5 frame in the way of Bernardo Silva’s effort on the rebound.
In the absence of any senior striking quality, O’Reilly raised his youthful head once again. The 19-year-old academy graduate eased Jordan Houghton out of the way as he back-pedalled towards an in-swinging corner at the far post, sending the defender onto his back and the ball into the net.
Plymouth’s resolve melted away during the closing stages, although City had to wait until the 90th minute and their 28th shot on goal before finding the net for a third time. Haaland had seen City’s 27th effort batted clear by Hazard but squared the rebound for De Bruyne.
Check out player ratings from Man City 3-1 Plymouth here.
While Plymouth’s opener was a surprise in the context of Saturday’s game – the visitors had scarcely ventured out of their own third before Talovierov’s header – it was a painfully familiar feeling for those at the Etihad.
City have conceded the first goal of a Premier League game 12 times this season, already the joint-most in a single campaign under Guardiola. The waning champions also fell behind in three different Champions League matches and the FA Cup fourth round against Leyton Orient.
However, much like that trip to the third-tier club, City rallied to equalise before the break and eventually overcame lower league opposition on Saturday. They haven’t been quite so successful against top-flight teams this term.
On a day when a 19-year-old helped City avoid an ignominious setback, the spotlight was mercifully shifting away from the club’s creaking core. Kevin De Bruyne fared well with a goal and an assist – but it was telling that, at home to the side second-bottom in the Championship table, this was one of the few games this season in which the 33-year-old has not looked decidedly off the pace.
Ilkay Gundogan – who is expected to extend his deeply underwhelming second spell at City into next season – was not so impressive. The increasingly immobile German didn’t so much crash the opposition box as tentatively meander into it, ambling forward into position to miss three glaring chances while the match was still goalless.
Guardiola has warned that physicality and fitness will be key qualities ahead of what could well be another summer of transfer churn. The lineup which City deployed in midweek against Tottenham – boasting a front four aged 26 or under – may be more instructive of the squad’s future starting XIs.
Vitor Reis has been forced to bide his time on the City sidelines. More than a month has elapsed since the teenage Brazilian snubbed Arsenal to complete his £29.4m from Palmeiras, but he was finally handed his first minutes against the second-tier strugglers.
Guardiola was full of praise for Reis ahead of what many correctly predicted to be his debut. “Defenders there [Brazil] have great physicality and conditioning, but are also so clever and intelligent, and this is one of the ones.”
Reis didn’t have many opportunities to demonstrate those qualities as City boasted a suffocating control over Saturday’s contest. The 19-year-old, however, did have a front-row seat for Plymouth’s opener, rooted to the turf as he watched the diminutive McAtee lose his aerial duel with Talovierov.
“The FA Cup is far away,” Guardiola impatiently huffed before City took on Plymouth, “ask at the end of the season when we are one game away.” That the Catalan coach used “when” rather than “if” may be a consequence of speaking in his second language – but few could blame the City boss for rating his side’s chances of reaching Wembley.
With Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea all out of the competition, City have to be considered huge favourites to collect the club’s eighth FA Cup. Reigning champions Manchester United may have something to say about that – although their pessimistic head coach Ruben Amorim may very well disagree – and third-placed Nottingham Forest remain in the hat.
Yet, without the distraction of the Champions League, City can divert many of their considerable resources towards lifting a trophy at the end of this dire campaign.
