-Credit:Reach Publishing Services Limited
Back to normal for Manchester City?
Not really, but it is three wins in a row for the first time since October and a safe passage through to the FA Cup fourth round with a spanking 8-0 win for a much-changed XI. And with Kyle Walker mysteriously out of the entire squad for ‘tactical’ reasons amid links to a January move away, the club’s rebuild could be gathering more momentum.
Abdukodir Khusanov will be a City player and the Blues are advancing on a deal for Frankfurt forward Omar Marmoush as well as in talks with Palmeiras for young defender Vitor Reis, but there are plenty of players already in the squad who had their own points to prove against Salford. Apart from Walker, everyone who needed to go a chance.
READ MORE: Who is Divin Mubama? Man City summer transfer making debut vs Salford
READ MORE: I saw what Omar Marmoush did after latest Frankfurt goal amid growing Man City transfer interest
Walker’s absence was all the more surprising given Pep Guardiola named just two defenders in his team – Nathan Ake and youngster Jahmai Simpson-Pusey. Filling in the backline were Matheus Nunes, playing for the first time since disaster struck him in the Manchester derby, and Nico O’Reilly – a No.10 asked to play at left-back.
The selection drew memories of Guardiola’s first season in Manchester, when he picked Jesus Navas and Gael Clichy as his wingers for a Premier League game at Middlesbrough to make the point to Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane that attacking prowess alone was not enough to get them into the team if their defensive application wasn’t good enough. In this campaign, with probably the most issues since that first year, it may not be a terrible time to make the point again.
Still, it looked like a recipe for chaos and there was one first-half minute where Salford were in not once but twice, cutting through the defensive lines and then doing so again from the resulting throw. Different personnel, yet here was the City that have been too easy to play through for months.
By then though it was already 2-0 and seconds later O’Reilly scored his first goal to make it three. A fast start had seen Jeremy Doku score early before Divin Mubama netted on his first appearance since a summer move from West Ham, with Nunes influential for both.
Immediately after the break, City had a fourth from an unfamiliar source. Jack Grealish was brought down in the box and stepped up to convert the penalty for his first goal for the club since December 2023.
Relief was the word that Guardiola used to describe the win at Leicester recently after their awful run, and that was the picture on Grealish’s face as he blew a kiss to the crowd. The celebration from his teammates on the pitch and the bench showed how much will there is for him to do well, and he earned a reception from the fans in the North Stand that is usually only reserved for Kevin De Bruyne when he went to take a corner later in the game.
James McAtee turned home smartly after more good work from Doku and Nunes and the arrival of Phil Foden off the bench sent the intensity up a level. There, the contest ended and the rout began with a lovely sweeping move orchestrated by Nunes and Foden ending in a Doku shot being handled in the box and the Belgian rolling in his second from the spot.
“Gary, what’s the score,” the South Stand sang to the absent pundit, among some less family-friendly chanting, and for the first time in ages the Etihad was a place of joy. What hasn’t felt like a happy place for months was filled with more than just relief as a Poznan whipped round the entire ground.
Two more from McAtee to complete a hat-trick put the icing on the cake for one of City’s most enjoyable days in ages. The standard of the opposition must be taken into account obviously, but it did not feel an accident that the homegrown and youthful players helped to lift everyone.
Brentford is an enormous test in a few days, but some of these players may have worked their way into Guardiola’s plans for the game. City may not be back, yet that is progress.