League Cup Review - Manchester City 5-1 Crystal Palace

Match Facts

Date – 28/10/2015
Venue – Etihad Stadium
Attendance – 40,585
Referee – Paul Tierney
Goals – Bony (22), De Bruyne (44), Iheanacho (59), Toure (pen, 76), Delaney (89), M. Garcia (90+3)
Bookings – Kolarov, Zaha
Star Eagle – Wilfried Zaha

Match Review

Crystal Palace were swept aside as a rampant Manchester City cruised into the quarter-finals of the League Cup after a 5-1 victory.

Alan Pardew’s men came into the game looking for a response after back-to-back league defeats to West Ham and Leicester City, but ultimately the strength of City was too much as Kelechi Iheanacho inspired the hosts to a comfortable victory.

The rout began as Wilfried Bony converted from a corner after some poor marking from the Palace players, a combination of Wayne Hennessey and Jordan Mutch couldn’t keep the ball out.

After the opening goal, Palace looked to get into some sort of a rhythm and with Wilfried Zaha looking lively down the flank, the Eagles carved out a few opportunities to level.

The Welshman Joe Ledley had a great chance to level the game but his shot was blocked by a City defender and Yannick Bolasie couldn’t convert the rebound.

Going in at half-time 1-0 down wouldn’t have been the worst result, but the sucker-punch came just before half-time, as Kevin De Bruyne tappped in to make it 2-0 after some good play from the hosts.

It could have and probably should have been 2-1 going into half-time as another Palace chance went begging, and again it fell to Ledley but he blazed his shot high and wide.

Pardew kept faith with the same team after the break, which meant Patrick Bamford was kept up-top and before City added a third through Iheanacho, the loanee from Chelsea missed another crucial chance – it wasn’t the best night for Bamford, for most periods he was largely an anonymous figure.

After Iheanacho added a third goal, it was game-over. But City carried on and push on and a clumsy challenge from Damien Delaney gifted City and Yaya Toure a penalty.

Delaney pulled a consolation back late on with a header, but it was damage limitations by then. And to add salt into the wounds, City youngster Manu Garcia completed the rout late on.

It was not the ending Palace had dreamed of before the game, it was a chance to knock out another big-name from the competition, but now the United clash at the weekend is huge, a big win from the boys is needed.

Player Ratings

Wayne Hennessey (5.0) – The Welshman couldn’t do anything for any City goal, they were all good but it was unfortunate he was on the wrong side of a thrashing.
Martin Kelly (4.5) – Kelly struggled at times with the pace of Jesus Navas, and was caught out of position which helped City score on occasions
Scott Dann (5.0) – Dann tried to hold the backline together, but there is only so much he can do.
Damien Delaney (4.0) – The Irishman gave away a silly penalty which was inexcusable, but he did add a consolation late on.
Adrian Mariappa (5.0) – Out of all our defenders was probably the best, he attacked well at times and when defending he worked hard and try to prevent the City onslaught. Joel Ward (4.0) came on with five minutes remaining to step up his recovery from injury.
Mile Jedinak (5.5) – Our captain struggled to impose himself on the game, but h kept the threat of Yaya Toure subdued.
Joe Ledley (5.0) – Ledley was guilty of missing two good chances at important times in the game, it could have had a huge bearing on the outcome, otherwise he battled hard and kept the ball nicely.
Wilfried Zaha (6.5) – Certainly our best player on the night, he looked lively and tried to take on the full-back at every opportunity, it was a shame he was on the losing side.
Jordan Mutch (4.5) – After coming back from injury Mutch didn’t do enough to impress, he needs to show the Palace faithful something soon Chung-yong Lee (4.0) – another player returning from injury, didn’t have much time to make an impact.
Yannick Bolasie (6.0) – Like Zaha, Bolasie tried to make things happen but not a lot came off for our skilful winger.
Patrick Bamford (4.0) – Really struggled to make an impact, was a lone figure for the majority of the game, but did have a chance in the second-half which he should have done better with. Dwight Gayle (5.0) – came on with nothing to play for, again not enough time to impress.