Man City has pushed itself to the finals of Carabao cup and once again, Pep has managed to get his team to another finals. Although, City has reached the finals, cityzens understand that the team is not performing how they should be.
Pep, started with the formation of 4-1-4-1, with Marmoush as the sole striker, giving Haaland a deserved rest. Though, this match finished 3-1 in favour of the blues, this could have ended 6-5 in anybody’s favor. In the end, pep’s men registered an aggregate of 5-1 over the defending champs and advanced to the finals.
Thus, City has booked a Wembley date with their very own(ex-assistant manager) Arteta’s Arsenal, in what promises to be a mouth watering contest. Although, the way Arsenal have been playing lately, it would be more engaging to watch some paint dry.
The Magpies’ problem compounded when Gordon limped off the pitch and it wasn’t even second half. Some might say that Newcastle played with a certain bravado that led to this scoreline. Marmoush was quite lucky with the first goal, as he showed a bit too much of the ball and Burn pushed the ball away, only to be ricocheted by the Egyptian’s shin back in the net.
Then there were a couple of big chances for the Magpies but they weren’t able to capitalise. Marmoush again had some good luck as the ball popped straight into the air, from a Trippier’s misguided clearance, serving it on the tray for an easy Marmoush header.
Semenyo had his name written on City’s third goal, when Burns against touched the ball away only to find Reijnders having a clear shot at the goal and scoring their third. More often than not, Reijnders has created this knack of storming the final third and scoring the goal; that’s always followed with his trademark celebration “C’est la vie”.
Elanga, just after the clock touched the one hour mark, scored for the Magpies(too little too late) with a beautiful curved flick. The Swede could have easily scored a brace a few moments later when he shot quite far of the goal.
Haaland was subbed in place of Semenyo and he looked quite good. He had a couple of big chances and his shots were quite good too; the only thing was that the shots were of comfortable height for Ramsdale to stop. Missed chances was the name of the game in this second leg and the scoreline could easily have been 6-5 in anybody’s favor.
Haaland I guess, was rested with the Liverpool game in sights. However, Marmoush is looking in some fine touch and has some momentum behind him. Semenyo looked dangerous whenever he was on the ball and Reijnders created a lot of chances too. Rodri, from the time he has come back, looks like he has lost some pace and thus, keeps on pulling the attackers as they try to glide past him. He got another booking in the game due to the same reason. However, I am not too worried about the Spaniard and he is soon going to be the Rodri of the old.
March 22, is the Wembley date between the top two clubs of the PL, for the Carabao final. It would be interesting to see that tactics of both the managers, especially if the gunners have had sealed their fate in the PL by then.
