Manchester City — Fulham 4:1 in a FA Cup game. City beat Fulham at home without too much trouble. The opponents are completely outclassed on all counts. City deservedly advance to the next round of the FA Cup.
Steffen. Very bad (right to Carvalho) hit Kebano’s shot, but still a save.
Joao Cancelo. It was 200% confidence Joao would easily block Wilson‘s attempted shot, but that’s how it turned out. There’s a feeling he was waiting for a cross backwards. But he was very clever in his return.
Ake. Ran out to the middle of the field and didn’t have enough manpower in the middle of the defense.
John Stones. It was almost comical. Stones showed Walker to shut down the long-range man and was about to scoop up Carvalho, who was immediately thrown on goal. Personally fixed it: +3 selection.
Walker. Involuntarily, but actively participated in the above pantomime and caught Carvalho for a yellow, but pleased with athletic runs with natural feints.
Fernandinho. Getting old. Admired with some wise assists, but a couple of times he obviously didn’t have enough time to make it. 2 selections.
Kevin de Bruyne. The usual goal (from the flag). Unparalleled luxurious rolling to Grealish (to no particular use) and Mahrez (on the second goal).
Gundogan. Saved everyone at once.
Mahrez. Very opportunely he came back.
Foden. The usual charge of positive energy.
Grealish. Probably it was his turn to play a false nine. In the 33rd minute Pep called him and told him what to do => a penalty, 5 tackles, 2 selections and an interception.
If anyone shook the imagination in the game with Fulham, it was — mentioning only in a good way — Liam Delap Junior. The guy wasn’t having his best year, injury after injury at the very moment blues had a vacancy at center forward. And here he was, scoring (albeit from offside), tearing up the horizon with his feints…
Guardiola didn’t hold back and called the youngster (and this big guy is only 18 years old) a “killer”. “He’s a forward of a type we don’t have — a killer, a typical British striker.
True, it’s hard to say if that’s such a compliment. But Pep also shared a secret observation: “At every training session he fights against Aymeric, against Ruben, against John, against Nathan, and he almost always wins those duels.”
So maybe Man City doesn’t need an another forward…? Manchester City — Fulham 4:1 …
