Foden shines and De Bruyne returns as Manchester City thrash Huddersfield

FA Cup: Manchester City 5 Huddersfield 0

“Oh Kevin De Bruyne,” was the jubilant greeting from the Manchester City support on their beloved hero entering in the 57th minute here. The Belgian, injured 149 days ago at Burnley, received, too, a pat on the backside from Pep Guardiola and the captain’s armband from Rúben Dias and seconds later proved a lucky charm.

When Mateo Kovacic flighted the ball upfield to Matheus Nunes, De Bruyne joined the break. The Portuguese chested down then passed right to Oscar Bobb who unloaded and beat Lee Nicholls via a ricochet off Ben Jackson, De Bruyne following up keenly though not required.

That was 3-0 and tie over, De Bruyne having been joined by Jérémy Doku, whose last action before a muscle problem was in the 3-3 draw with Spurs on December 3rd and each ending unscathed – Doku completed the scoring – is great news for City but unwanted tidings for their rivals, with Saturday’s trip to Newcastle up next.

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Huddersfield had arrived a place and three points above the Championship trapdoor and hoping, somehow, to prosper against a City side who were unbeaten in their last seven outings. Guardiola’s men, as is nearly always the case, took hold of the ball, established a base camp in the opponent’s territory, and plotted the route to goal from there. A Julián Álvarez shot hit into the midriff of Nicholls was one direct way and so, too, were the corners they forced.

From one, taken short by Phil Foden on the left, the ball arrived on the opposite side, Bobb was pilfered, and Town’s quick break was thwarted. The young Norwegian’s next contribution was a cut infield from his right wing before an attempt. Before this Manuel Akanji had been floored by a scything Alex Matos challenge – the defender was replaced by Nunes.

A midfielder for a defender meant a rejig that featured Rico Lewis moving to right-back and Nunes going into the central area. At this juncture City also needed to add thrust to forays that were too sideways, so Foden did, swerving in and letting fly, Sergio Gómez doing the same when, suddenly, the left-back raided in behind, firing in a cross that the Terriers just about scrambled away.

This presaged a breakthrough which came courtesy of a slick no-look Mateo Kovacic pass to Álvarez. Inside Town’s area he shot, the ball squirmed off a defender to Foden whose 10th of the term in City colours sliced past Nicholls.

The second, moments later, had a smattering of comedy about it. Foden delayed a return to Nunes who, on receiving, turned it to Lewis. When he shifted the ball sideways it caused Álvarez to execute a near-pratfall as he poked out a boot to turn the ball towards goal, this seeming to wrong-foot Nicholls.

As De Bruyne warmed up to a rousing reception the tie became a keep-ball exercise for City: something they are masters of. They are versed, too, in how to obliterate a foe and, after Bobb’s strike, came the fourth, Foden’s second. De Bruyne took a short corner on the right, possession was worked to Foden and he fashioned a vicious arrow past Nicholls. City’s fifth came from a De Bruyne-Doku combo: the former glided along the right and his pullback was slotted in by the latter making this halfway to the home team’s tally of the famous 10-1 second tier victory over Town in 1987.

After last season’s sweep of this competition, the Premier League and Champions League, what else might this City team of the gilded Guardiola era achieve? One answer is to retain the treble and move the Catalan’s side 2-1 ahead of Manchester United in this metric and give it a claim on being the greatest ever. The manager would scoff at this being possible. But he did, in essence, last season when asked whether the treble was on. – Guardian