Manchester City crushed Exeter City in the third round of the FA Cup with a club record equalling victory at the Etihad Stadium.
The Blues were 4-0 up at the break thanks to Max Alleyne’s first City goal, Rodri’s first goal since coming back from injury and own goals from Exeter defenders Jake Doyle-Hayes and Jack Fitzwater.
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City, led by Pep Lijnders with Pep Guardiola serving a one match touchline ban, turned it up another notch in the second half, as goals from Rico Lewis, debutant Antoine Semenyo, Tijjani Reijnders, Nico O’Reilly and Ryan McAidoo gave City a commanding lead over the sorry Exeter side.
19-year-old George Birch’s first senior goal towards the end was a moment he and the travelling fans will remember, but was quickly cancelled out by Lewis’s second goal to give City the second double figure scoreline in their history, equalling the 10-1 win against Huddersfield Town in 1987.
Here are three things we learned from the FA Cup thrashing:
Semenyo will be a good signing
As good as I think Lewis was throughout the game and that he deserved the man of the match award, you can’t be aggrieved that it was instead given to Semenyo.
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The 26-year-old proved to the pretentious supporters believing he wasn’t good enough simply because of his career path up to this point that he’ll improve the squad after a thoroughly convincing debut.
Off the ball, he’s the best attacker at the club. He works hard, and is capable of breaking up the play, and going forward he makes excellent off ball runs that creative players such as Rodri, Rayan Cherki and Phil Foden will thrive on.
Semenyo’s goal came from a lovely Cherki through ball, and a clinical finish off the back of a strong run in behind that none of City’s other wide forwards tend to offer (except perhaps Omar Marmoush, if he counts as a wide option.)
City’s number 42 should be very impressed with his debut, and will hopefully boost City in their title fight this season.
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Alleyne is worthy of minutes against Newcastle
Another player who impressed against Exeter was young centre back Max Alleyne.
The City academy graduate has been a complete revelation since he was recalled from loan less than a week ago, to the extent that he was substituted off early seemingly with the Carabao Cup semi final first leg in mind next week.
Alleyne, who spent the first half of this season at Watford, is extremely comfortable with the ball and has been impressive defensively too, forming a good understanding with Abdukodir Khusanov at centre back.
With Marc Guehi seemingly not all that keen on moving to City with offers from Arsenal and Liverpool on the table this summer, Alleyne is set to play an important role in the rest of the season, and that should continue with a start against the Magpies on Tuesday night.
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The confidence of a big win is invaluable
Many expected City to put Exeter to the sword, but surely no-one predicted that City would score double figures.
Unlike in their last three games, City were utterly ruthless, finishing off the vast majority of their chances and continuing to push late when the visitors’ heads dropped.
Lewis, Semenyo and Alleyne were excellent, as mentioned previously, but they weren’t the only ones.
Cherki, Rodri and Reijnders dominated the midfield, whilst McAidoo looked very promising on the right hand side. James Trafford made a good save at 0-0, and Khusanov is continuing to step up in the absence of Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol and John Stones.
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These players will have their confidence boosted after three poor results in a row prior to the game, and will look to continue this into the two huge upcoming away games against Newcastle and Manchester United.