MAN CITY 5 – 0 Barnsley – MY THOUGHTS

Another visit to Wembley is in store! This was a comfortable progression, complete with signs of fluency in the first half and a relaxed enjoyment in the second. Barnsley were feeble, desperately limited opponents but the FA Cup has been a pleasant distraction from City’s relatively frustrating campaign domestically. The signs recently have been of a side who are starting to click.

Carlos Tévez led the way with a hat-trick, with Aleks Kolarov and David Silva chipping in to make it a rout, but it was an impressive team performance. Quality coursed through the side and although many will describe it as a professional performance, in the first half especially, it was more than just doing the job.

At times the football was scintillating, the fluency and movement which characterises the Blues when the attacking talents spark into life evident as the likes of Tévez, Dzeko, Nasri and Silva flitted around. It was all too much for Barnsley’s backline and the game was over as a contest midway through the opening half. It was just what Roberto Mancini would have wanted.

Tévez rightly grabbed the headlines for his trio of strikes and he seemed back to his pugnacious best, his touch, vision and awareness all top notch. He started the season superbly having, by all accounts, trained like never before in pre-season but then suffered an extended blip in the middle of the campaign. Now, however, he seems revitalised and he’ll be determined to finish the season off strongly. He’s never been a natural finisher despite the number of goals he has scored, but he’s going through a patch where the ball is falling for him, his scrappy strikes are finding their way into the corner, and with Sergio Aguero injury-prone and Edin Dzeko consistently inconsistent, the striking burden lies on his shoulders.

Behind him, and restored to the side after sitting out the past few games with an injury, was Gareth Barry. I’ve written countless times about the importance and underrated excellent of the former Aston Villa man, and so I won’t ramble on again, but suffice to say he remains an essential cog in this team, providing the crucial balance to allow our more creative influences to produce their best.

Otherwise, it is hard to single out individuals. There were no poor performances; Costel Pantilimon was secure when needed, the defence were largely untested and the attackers worked hard as a group and reaped their rewards. It was a powerful first half display and that enabled us to coast after the break. Tougher challenges lie ahead.

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