Our reporter Michael Plant gives his assessment after Manchester City progressed to the fourth round of the FA Cup courtesy of a 5-0 win over Huddersfield Town, with Kevin De Bruyne returning from injury.
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00:00 Manchester City progressed to the fourth round of the FA Cup this afternoon with
00:04 a very comfortable 5-0 victory against Huddersfield Town. It was a really quite
00:08 a routine game as I say for City who did struggle in the early stages but Phil
00:12 Foden got them on track with a lovely finish from an acute angle just after
00:16 the half hour mark Julian Alvarez made it 2-0 just before halftime. Any hope
00:20 that Huddersfield had of staging a bit of an upset was gone then really. They
00:25 offered a little bit on the counter-attack but there was no real pass
00:28 and moving passing moves and exchanges to try and give them any hope that they
00:33 could really inflict any serious damage on City who grew into the game more and
00:37 more and particularly in the second half I thought actually played really really
00:39 well and looked really good and pretty dynamic moved the ball well and made it
00:43 just impossible for Huddersfield to really get on the ball and create
00:46 anything. It was 3-0 by Oscar Bob across that deflected in I'm not sure whether
00:51 it's his goal or an own goal he'll certainly claim it anyway and but that
00:54 made it 3-0 in the early stages of the second half. It was 4-0 Phil Foden
00:59 fantastic finish from the edge of the box and really really well worked move
01:02 Foden playing centre midfield again playing in that attacking midfield role
01:05 absolutely excellent again given man of the match here today it's becoming a
01:08 regular theme of Manchester City's performances at the moment just how well
01:12 he's playing in that attacking midfield role how quickly he's moving the ball
01:15 how dynamic he is how quick his decisions are as well and he's providing goals
01:19 he's providing assists he's providing kind of penetration as well through
01:23 midfield another excellent display from him and as I'll touch on in a second with
01:27 Kevin De Bruyne coming back it is actually difficult at the moment to
01:30 imagine him actually coming out of midfield at the moment Phil Foden but
01:33 yeah I did mention Kevin De Bruyne he came on actually when it was 2-0 along with
01:36 Jeremy Doku both of the Belgians coming back a big boost for Pep Guardiola
01:40 neither of those players been involved for a couple of weeks so really fantastic for
01:43 him to be able to call upon the two players they actually provided or
01:48 connected for the fifth goal De Bruyne overlapping Oscar Bob on the right-hand
01:52 side putting in a lovely cross for Bob to finish and sorry for Doku to finish
01:57 on the half volley fantastic finish from him Daley Had was absolutely delighted
02:00 to see De Bruyne it was the biggest cheer of the afternoon biggest cheer
02:04 actually when the goal went in and when the goal actually did go in all the
02:07 players didn't go to Doku to celebrate what was a fantastic finish they all
02:09 went to Kevin De Bruyne I think that was very telling as well just the importance
02:12 and the significance of him coming back into the team but overall as I say very
02:16 comfortable display from Manchester City it's very straightforward I mean a real
02:19 mismatch of teams today and I mean you know it's a sort of game
02:26 that there's not a huge amount of take from it other than I think City played
02:29 well and will be delighted to progress to the next round of the Cup but as I say
02:34 an absolute mismatch of teams you know not really an argument for those who
02:39 think that the FA Cup is the best weekend of the Premier League or the best
02:43 weekend of the season that was certainly an argument to say that actually it's
02:46 the worst weekend of the season just because you have these completely
02:49 one-sided games but it's not a conservative City as I say into the next
02:52 round of the Cup they'll find out in Monday who they get and they'll be
02:54 absolutely delighted that Kevin De Bruyne is back in the side