Tevez 11, 31, 50 Kolarov 27 Silva 65
Carlos Tevez was definitely sat in the driving seat in Manchester City's comprehensive 5-0 victory over Barnsley in the FA Cup quarter-final.
The Argentine looked relatively unfazed by his recent automobile related fiasco and provided City with 3 goals and 2 assists in a man-of-the-match performance.
Unlike Everton earlier in the day, Mancini's men refused to underestimate their opposition and produced a professional, composed and effective display. It took only 11 minutes for rejuvinated forward Carlos Tevez to hit the back of the net as he followed in from a parried Silva effort.
Some blistering play down the right hand side saw Tevez supply Aleksander Kolarov with an inch perfect cross which the Serbian cooly slotted into the bottom corner on 27 minutes. The brilliance didn't stop there, however, and Tevez put his second away on 31 minutes after weaving into position inside the box.
City continued to bully their Championship guests, Samir Nasri showing some of his undoubted quality down the wing with a number of crosses into the box. It was the Frenchman who assisted Tevez' third just five minutes into the second half.
The home sides dominance persuaded Barnsley manager David Flitcroft to make three changes on 55 minutes. Ex Chelsea starlet Jacob Mellis injected some flair into Barnsley's performance and the Tykes finally recorded a few efforts on Costel Pantillimon's goal. However, as Barnsley began to come into the game, City showed their class once again as Carlos Tevez crossed in for David Silva to tap in.
Relaxed, composed and more of practice match than a quarter-final for Mancini's men. Wembley awaits.
Player Ratings
Costel Pantillimon 6As expected, the Romanian giant was relatively untested and only had a few stops to make.
Pablo Zabaleta 6Not the sort of game City's captain could influence. City had so much of the ball that the Argentine had no crunching tackles to make but what he had to do, he did well.
Kolo Toure 7Another assured display from the Ivorian. Protected City's 100% defensive record in the FA Cup brilliantly.
Joleon Lescott 6A few bad touches evidenced his lack of match fitness but despite that, he was solid.
Aleksander Kolarov 7The Serbian provided City with a great outlet down the left and he capped his lively performance off with a well placed finish.
Samir Nasri 6The Frenchman has received a lot of criticism recently and was drafted into the side today to prove his critics wrong. Flickers of his talent were on show but went missing for large parts of the game. Substituted on 55 minutes.
Yaya Toure 6Frustrated and angered in the first half for reasons unknown but pulled off a great flick in the build up to City's first goal.
Gareth Barry 7 Calm and composed sat infront of City's defence and sweeped up quietly and effectively.
David Silva 8Brilliant performance from 'Merlin'. Bullied Barnsley with his skill and was instrumental in most of City's free flowing play. Scorer of City's 5th.
Edin Dzeko 6Looked desperate to get in on the goalscoring action but fired most of his efforts high and wide. Consistently offside and outperformed by his strike partner.
Carlos Tevez 9Another tremendous performance from the Argentine. 3 goals and 2 assists; an easy choice for man of the match.
Substitutes
Scott Sinclair 6
Didn't see much of the ball but his pace caused a few problems for Barnsley down the right.
Abdul Razak 6
Wasn't involved too much and just helped City close out the game.
James Milner 6
Came on when the game was well and truly over but had a thunderous left footed strike denied by the post.
No comments:
Post a Comment