City Sweep Past the Swans into the Carabao Cup Quarterfinals

 Amar Zukancic

    Now that was a bit of a fun game wasn't it? It’s nice to end this three match away run with a win before returning back to Manchester for our last three matches before the international break. It was a breath of fresh air in comparison to what we've gotten against some of these jammy lower level teams the past few seasons and felt like the City of old. 
Wednesday night City flew past Swansea with a convincing 3-1 win with goals coming from the in-form Jeremy Doku, the returning Omar Marmoush and Rayan Cherki. City went down 1-0 early from a wonder strike from Swansea midfielder Goncalo Franco. But before the half ended Jeremy Doku picked up a pass from the returning Rayan Ait-Nouri and went on a bit of a solo run to bring the match level. Then with only 13 minutes plus added time left on the clock, the creative maestro Rayan Cherki slipped a pass through to Omar Marmoush where the striker smashed the ball into the roof of the net from the tightest of angles with a classic Kun Aguero finish. Then in added time substitute Josko Gvardiol played a pass across the box to Rayan Cherki who got the goal he deserved from the match and marked his full return to the team with a Man of the Match performance. 

    There are many highlights to look at from this game. We obviously had control the whole time and genuinely played pretty well. It wasn't our best game ever, but with so many returning players it was nice to get them back into the rhythm. It was good to see the two goal scorers come back, but the return of Abdukodir Khushanov and Rayan Ait-Nouri will be greatly appreciated with Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool coming to town soon. Everyone looked good, but there were two standouts; Omar Marmoush and Rayan Cherki. 

    There have been real worries about our team this season as Haaland has been the only player scoring goals, and no player has had a large amount of assists or creativity so far. It was an issue last year where other than Haaland we didn't have a secondary goal scorer like we did in years past with the likes of Foden, Alvarez, Sterling, Jesus, etc, and we didn't have a source of creative output. I don't like to say one or two players will solve an entire issue, but I believe we saw it here that when they came back from injury Marmoush would be that secondary goalscoring threat and Cherki would be that creative maestro we need. The best way to describe Marmoush to me is that he is a bagsman, a sharpshooter, a gunman; he is guaranteed goals. He's like how Dzeko or Alvarez were for us, he is a natural goal scorer and as long as you get him the ball he will score. The finish today was clear as day evidence of that as it had a goalscorer's touch and finesse. We saw it last season also with his goals against Brighton and Bournemouth. He is always looking to shoot and score, and that direct aggressive football is something that we've been missing from our forwards and wide players since the days of Sterling, Sane, and Mahrez.

    The next standout was Rayan Cherki, and there aren't enough superlatives for me to describe him. He is genuinely box office, and I believe he is the future of this club. There is a reason he gets all this media attention and the number 10 shirt, because the club sees him in this light also. Every time he steps on the pitch he plays like he knows he's better than everyone, and it shows. When he gets the ball you sit up in your seat because you know he will do something with it and make a progressive action. Every time I've watched him play for City he is at the center of everything, and the best and most creative player on the pitch. He oozes football, class, and elegance, and I believe that he is the next player in the lineage of David Silva, De Bruyne, and now him.

    The one worry for me that came from this game is Oscar Bobb. I am by no means selling my stocks of him, but he needs to step it up. He is a completely different player than what he was before the leg break, and I can't understand why. He plays at a much slower pace now, won't take on defenders, and is just a bit predictable. He needs to be more aggressive or else even though I believe the club has big plans for him, his time at the club may end sooner rather than later. That being said, he was and still is one of the players I'm most excited for this season. There is a reason as to why when I went to Manchester for the first time, I got his name on the back of my shirt. I believe he along with Foden and Cherki are the future of the club.

Overall this was another good performance, and a great bounce back from Villa over the weekend. It was good to get the team and some of these players back in the groove after a long time out. It showed a lot of promise, and the additions of Marmoush, Cherki, and Khushanov could be season altering with the Champions coming to town in a few weeks. Now time to go back to The Etihad and take on the Cherries.