Talk about a game of two halves. Man City were poor in the first half, Fabian Delph tried his best to replicate his antics of last season by giving away a clear penalty. However, I must give credit to Swansea and Bersant Celina for a fantastic second Swansea goal, with the build up from the goalkeeper and a wonderful curled shot around Ederson.
Man City did create many chances but the story looked to be that City were not going to score and the FA Cup dream would disappear.
The second half arrived and Man City looked angry and as if Pep Guardiola had really fired them up at half time. Leroy Sane and Fabian Delph were rightly hooked before the hour, as they were awful.
Sergio Aguero was brought on to give Man City more numbers in the box and what a difference he made. He was on 5 minutes until he set up Bernardo Silva with a delicious curled finish to make it 2-1. However, more VAR controversy was to impact the rest of the game. Raheem Sterling was deemed to have been fouled by Cameron Carter-Vickers, it was very soft, but Aguero’s penalty hit the unlucky Kristoffer Nordfeldt on the back and went in to make the game 2-2.
The final goal of the game was a wonderful ball in by Bernardo Silva and resulted in a very good header by Sergio Aguero at the near post. However, if VAR was being used tonight it would have been disallowed as he was clearly offside.
Here’s how I rated the players:
Ederson - 6
The two goals he conceded were a penalty and a wonderful finish from Bersant Celina. However, he needed to keep his head and came off his line well to prevent any more Swansea goals.
Kyle Walker - 4
Kyle Walker was another player that was poor against Wigan last season and he carried his nervousness into this potential cup tie this season.
Nicolas Otamendi - 6
This was not his finest performance but he was arguably the best City defensive player. He had a very tough task against the unbelievably quick Daniel James, who was outstanding, but I felt Otamendi did well.
Aymeric Laporte - 5
This was not his finest performance but he was playing against a full back having an absolute nightmare. He appeared to lose his cool when the ball hit the back of his head and got booked. However, he turned it around in the second half and remained composed to help the team win.
Fabian Delph - 2
I really like Fabian Delph and think he was outstanding last season at left back, but it showed he has had a long period out of the team. I back him to return to form, but I don’t think Pep Guardiola will trust him unless he is the only option.
Ilkay Gundogan - 6
The performance was not so silky from Ilkay but he has always been a player that has performed much better when the team are full flowing, which City were not. However, he remained composed and stepped it up when it really mattered.
Bernardo Silva - 8
Bernardo Silva proves once more that he is a special player, he can perform when the team are flying and he can perform when they need some magic. His first goal was that bit of magic, a delicious curl around the goalkeeper. After that his energy levels kicked on and he worked even harder, eventually delivering a beautiful ball for Sergio Aguero to finish.
David Silva - 7
David Silva tried his hardest and worked many clever balls through the Swansea defence for Leroy Sané to get on the end of. However, there was no end product for David Silva’s hard work.
Riyad Mahrez - 6
It was not his best game, he created a few chances but again nothing came of his hard work. However, in the second half it looked as if he was running out of ideas and Sergio Aguero was brought on to make a difference.
Leroy Sané - 5
He was poor in front of goal and should have scored with many chances to give Man City the advantage and even bring them back level. The one chance stands out where he fired it straight at Kristoffer Nordfeldt, when he should have scored.
Gabriel Jesus - 7
I thought Gabriel Jesus worked very very hard both on and off the ball, and on another day he would have perhaps scored. He worked very well with Sergio Aguero when he came on, and arguably had the Argentine left the ball to Jesus late on in the game, the Brazilian would have made it 3-2.
SUB: Raheem Sterling - 7 (57')
Raheem Sterling looked dangerous and added an extra bit of pace that looked as if he had the beating of any Man City defender. He eventually did that and whether VAR would have overruled the penalty decision, he still had the better of Cameron Carter-Vickers.
SUB: Oleksandr Zinchenko - 6 (57')
Oleksandr Zinchenko was brought on to take off the shambolic Fabian Delph, any performance that the Ukrainian put in would have been better. He offered much more going forward and put many dangerous balls through to Raheem Sterling and Bernardo Silva when they rotated on the left.
SUB: Sergio Aguero - 9 (MOTM) (64')
What a player Sergio Aguero is and what an impact that he had! The penalty was soft and Sergio Aguero was lucky as the ball hit the goalkeeper on the way back off the post. However, he looked dangerous on the attack and played the correct passes to keep the game flowing. His 3rd goal was a fantastic header, it was offside, but if the officials get it wrong all he can do is score.