Manchester City 3-1 Plymouth Argyle Review

FA Cup 5th Round

Plymouth Argyle had a tremendous run in the FA Cup by beating Brentford and Liverpool, even scoring first at the Etihad, but in the end, the quality came through from Manchester City, and the chances were taken to progress. Since Pep Guardiola took over in 2016, Manchester City has reached the Semi-Finals in seven of the last eight seasons. They're on track to add to that record.

MOTM: NICO O’REILLY

Other standout performances include Vitor Reis & Kevin De Bruyne

Notable Stats:

• No player has more goals and assists in the FA Cup from the first round proper onwards across the last 10 years than Kevin De Bruyne.

• Manchester City has now reached the FA Cup quarter-finals in each of the last six seasons. They make it 19 FA Cup wins in a row against teams from lower divisions with an aggregate score of 72-10.

Game Stats:

Manchester City 3-1 Plymouth Argyle

• xG: 4.45 - 0.09

• Possession: 73.0% - 27.0%

• Penalty Box Shots: 23 - 1

• Shots on Target: 9 - 1

• Big Chances: 11 - 0

• Final Third Entries: 76 - 30

• Corner Kicks: 20 - 1

If you want to stay up-to-date on individual player minutes, back four combinations, underlying numbers, and more, check out the live Google sheet below. 👇

Here is how both teams lined up for the match. Manchester City is making several changes as Vitor Reis got his first full home start alongside what was mostly the B team now. Players that are in physical decline, starting their career, or out of form.

O’Reilly stayed as part of a back three in-possession, but once Plymouth was pinned back, he was as high up the pitch as a holding midfielder would be. Rico Lewis was free to move inside and go forward. De Bruyne, moving across the pitch, operated mostly on the left side to combine with Grealish. Foden/McAtee was dropping deep to support in the buildup and be the presence in the box for cutbacks.

These are only a few of the chances Manchester City created, but there are so many more that should have been scored. It was the most number of big chances (11) they’ve created in a single match this season. Only against Salford City (5.85) and Slovan Bratislava (4.72) register a higher xG than they did against Plymouth Argyle (4.45). Phil Foden created 3 big chances, and Ilkay Gundogan created 2. Erling Haaland missed 3 big chances.

M. Talovierov 38’ 0-1

Plymouth Argyle opened the scoring from a set-piece after Manchester City had created several chances prior. It was the away team that found the net first. James McAtee is the blocker in the path of Talovierov, who doesn’t do a good enough job to stop him, and Nathan Ake doesn’t attack the ball, leaving it free for the Plymouth player to score. Excellent delivery.

N. O'Reilly 45'+1 1-1

Although he's coming towards the end of his career, Kevin De Bruyne can still deliver big chances like these on a plate for his teammates. It was a simple run getting in front of the defender and a header from Nico O'Reilly, directing it across the keeper to the far post.

Ruben Dias (46’) came on for Nathan Ake at half-time; he looked to have injured himself earlier in the match going for a header during a corner and then landing funny. It’s good to see Dias getting a consistent run of minutes now. Nathan Ake finds himself in the situation as John Stones; the quality when fit is so clear to see, but if you’re injured frequently, it’s hard to justify your place in the team when we get to the summer.

Erling Haaland (59’) came on for James McAtee, who I didn’t think had his best game for Manchester City, as it was others around him creating or trying to get on the end of the big chances the team had. Despite the chances Haaland did miss, he changed the game, stretching it and providing the assist for De Bruyne’s goal.

Nico Gonzalez (83’) came on for Phil Foden to sure it up in midfield. On another day, Foden had three assists and a goal. He’s created 3 big chances and provided 6 key passes, the most in the match, all whilst not misplacing a single pass. It has not been his best season, for obvious reasons on and off the pitch, but his better performances are often downplayed too much.

N. O'Reilly 76' 2-1

We've seen these whipped crosses from Foden in open play on the edge of the box and corners towards the back post. Against Plymouth, we saw a City player take advantage, and Nico O'Reilly scored another set-piece goal, this time at the back-post, getting over the player marking him to head it in.

De Bruyne 90' 3-1

Haaland gets a chance through on goal, the shot's saved, and he collects the ball before passing to De Bruyne, making the run into the 6-yard box. Despite him not having the legs he had a few years ago, all the right instincts are there for which runs to make at the right time. Grealish doesn't think to make that run.

Vitor Reis finished the match with the most successful passes (87), duels won (11), aerial duels won (9), clearances (9), and touches (109). All the other January signings have had their moment to impress and show their promise moving forward, this match was that moment for Vitor Reis. Composed under pressure, was vocal with the team from the first minute, and was a smooth passer of the ball. Like Stones, he’s not a big, imposing defender, but he times his jump and has a good leap to win long balls. Close to scoring in a corner as well. You can already see how promising his partnership with Khusanov could be with the different qualities they have.

Nico O'Reilly picked up MOTM with his two goals to help Manchester City win the match, but even without those, he performed very well from left-back. Composed on the ball, always picking his head up to assess the options, and confident in his physicality to deal with pressure.

He’s a player that has always been an attacking midfielder in the academy, but playing as a holding midfielder, outside of the block, is where Guardiola sees him making it through at Manchester City. The size (6ft 2in) differentiated him from most other graduates, but his technical ability was still there. Can ping lovely long passes. Looks far more assured of himself, confident in using his size than when he played in the community shield match earlier this season.

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Moving Forward

The draw for the FA Cup will take place on Sunday evening, and as it stands, Aston Villa, Crystal Palace, Preston, and Bournemouth are all through to the Quarter Finals. It’s more than likely going to be a tough Premier League team to play in the next round.

I’ve highlighted below the top ten minutes leaders since the January transfer window closed, which gives you a pretty clear indication of where the team is heading. Khusanov, Marmoush, and Nico are part of that top ten. Savinho has the most minutes.

If you haven’t already, check out this thread on the pressing setup we saw City use against Spurs in the last Premier League match. Different from the usual 4-4-2 and the 4-1-4-1 we saw used last year to start the season. I’m going to put together a longer piece on these ideas and tweaks that Guardiola has tried out, as the narrative around him not trying anything new simply isn’t true. Part of his success as a manager has been built on how open Guardiola is to new ideas and how widely encompassing his principles are.

Next up for Manchester City is Nottingham Forest (A), which will take place on Saturday, the 8th of March at 12:30 (UK). The winner will be in 3rd place by the end of the weekend. A fixture that the team struggled in last season despite winning.