7 hours ago
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Manchester City beat Huddersfield 2-0 to book their spot in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup.
Manchester City cruised into the Carabao Cup fourth round after a much-changed side beat League One opponents Huddersfield Town 2-0 at the Accu Stadium.
Phil Foden continued his return to form with a well-taken goal and an assist for Savinho's clinching strike as the Blues extended their unbeaten run since the September internationals to four games.
Divine Musaka set up Foden for his opener, and the 18-year-old enjoyed a positive debut, with Jaden Heskey and Reigan Heskey also making their debuts off the bench, and Kalvin Phillips returned to action as well.
Gonzalez chat
Pep Guardiola called his team over for an animated team talk just four minutes before the end of the first half. Then, during the break, he spent a further 15 minutes in the away dressing room giving out more instructions.
It clearly still wasn't long enough, because as the teams came back out for the second half, Guardiola was chatting to Nico Gonzalez, waving his arms around and offering some more detailed instructions to his £50million midfielder.
Gonzalez had a pretty good night out of possession at the Accu Stadium. He won the ball back well at times and was often in the right place at the right time, but it seemed Guardiola wasn't always happy with his use of the ball.
He waved his arms around during the first half when Gonzalez took the safe option by passing back to Nathan Ake, taking momentum out of an attack. Their half-time chat showed Guardiola wanted a little more urgency and directness from his holding midfielder, who was seeing a lot of the ball.
The message seemed to get through. Gonzalez played a much more direct pass early in the second half, sliding a pass through to Nico O'Reilly, who was denied by goalkeeper Lee Nicholls. He repeated the trick to then get Savinho into a dangerous position, only for the Brazilian to fail to pick out a teammate with his cross.
If Gonzalez thought that was that, he was in for a shock at full-time. With the rest of the squad back in the dressing room, he was subjected to a tactical dissection of parts of his performance on the pitch that lasted several minutes, with Guardiola again using his arms to point out what the Spanish midfielder should be doing.
Foden's smile
Foden was one of only two players retained from the side that drew with Arsenal on Sunday, with Nico O'Reilly the other. When he was withdrawn after setting up Savinho, he deserved his rest.
Guardiola has spoken enthusiastically of Foden's return to form this season and this was further evidence of that. The smile on the manager's face when he greeted Foden on the touchline showed how happy he was.
The academy graduate is playing with a smile on his face again and enjoying his football and Guardiola knows how important that is.
Trafford's turn
James Trafford would have known he needed an error-free night in goal for City. With the arrival of Gianluigi Donnarumma, the competition has gone up several notches in that department.
But it says a lot for the 22-year-old's confidence that his first involvement inside two minutes was to bait Dion Charles and then let the ball roll back into his area, plunging on to it the moment it crossed the whitewash.
It was a nervy moment, that's for sure. Charles appealed for handball, but Trafford was back in his box. Had he let it roll any further, then Charles might have taken it off him.
The first pass back to him from John Stones wasn't the easiest to deal with either, but Trafford quickly got the ball out of his feet, took another touch under pressure and then fired a smart pass to the feet of Matheus Nunes.
Lewis in midfield
When Rico Lewis signed his new contract earlier this month, he was in the team as a right-back but reiterated his desire to play in midfield. It looks like an unlikely occurrence on a regular basis right now, but he did get at least the chance to play there in the Carabao Cup.
The emergence of Abdukodir Khusanov as a realistic option as a right-back when fit does potentially free up Lewis to move into a central area, but he faces more competition in that area of the pitch. This was a chance to impress.
He saw plenty of the ball as well in a No. 8 role alongside Phil Foden and picked some neat passes, without quite dominating the game in a way that would make Guardiola think of playing him there against Burnley this weekend.
Phillips returns
As a son of Leeds, Kalvin Phillips probably expected the reaction he would get in Huddersfield. As soon as he stepped over the team coach an hour and 20 minutes before kick-off, he was jeered by the hundred or so fans who had gathered to see the teams arrive.
But as the light-hearted boos rained down, Phillips wore a beaming smile. He wouldn't have expected this day to arrive a couple of months ago, when his City nightmare was expected to end. He got a similar welcome from the home fans when he came on with less than 10 minutes remaining. But the sound of 'one Kalvin Phillips' ringing out from the away end would have brought a further smile to his face.
Injury put paid to a move this summer and having been stripped of the No. 4 shirt, he was handed the No. 44. It says a lot about his standing, but the 29-year-old will be desperate to grab any chance he can. He has still only started six games for the Blues and almost none of them have been of any consequence.
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