Great Debut For Liam Delap

This is a guest post from Steve.

It was a dream debut for Liam Delap on Thursday night as he scored with a delightful finish to help fire City through to the next round of the Carabao Cup.

Even amongst diehard followers, few supporters of the Blues would have known much about the young striker before he started training with the first-team during the return from lockdown – and the physicality of the seventeen-year-old, married with his good touch and clinical finishing, would have been a pleasant surprise for fans tuning in to the victory over Bournemouth.

With the regular striking options of Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus sidelined for the next few weeks with injuries, Pep Guardiola has limited attacking options available and he gambled by picking Delap in the starting line-up. For those who want to test out their own skills, check out this real money online blackjack site and see how you fare.

As Guardiola alluded to after the game, Delap has different physical attributes to the majority of City’s other strikers. Not since the days of Edin Dzeko have City had a striker capable of winning long balls and we probably have to go back to the time of Alvaro Negredo for a striker so keen to put himself about physically and bully defenders. Delap has those similar fighting, battling characteristics, whilst also being a product of City’s youth system, so will be comfortable on the ball and pinging passes around.

Despite his impressive debut performance, it would be a surprise if Delap were to be selected again for the encounter with Leicester on Sunday. More likely is a floating striker, with Guardiola packing his side with attacking midfielders – as he has done on occasions in the past – and asking the likes of Raheem Sterling, Phil Foden and Riyad Mahrez to operate fluidly and drag defenders out of position.

Delap could well be on the bench, however, and if City were to need a goal then it would be good to see him given a chance with his confidence high. Have a look at choiceonlinecasino to see where you could win and match Delap’s debut joy.

Naturally, there is much talk about Delap and where his future could take him – but Guardiola will ease him in and handle the next steps, just as he did with Foden when the clamour was for more regular appearances. The future looks bright for Liam Delap, but patience will be required and he has the best teammates and staff alongside him to learn from.