Bristol City quite incredibly beat Manchester United in the Carabao Cup to reach the semi-finals where they will play Manchester City. Can they go one step further and reach the final?
When Luke Steele pulled off a wonderful snap save from Romelu Lukaku to keep the score at 1-1 late on the quarter-final at Ashton Gate, Manchester United may have felt this just wasn’t going to be their night.
After all, Zlatan Ibrahimovic had already hit the bar and Marcus Rashford had rattled the post. Bristol City, meanwhile, had scored a masterpiece of a goal where Joe Bryan started the move with an audacious flick inside his own half before surging forward to rattle an absolute thunderbolt into the far corner of the net.
The emphatic nature of this goal, the sheer confidence with which it was executed, should have told United what was coming. And so it was when a gorgeous reverse pass from Matt Taylor allowed Korey Smith to poke the ball between Sergio Romero’s legs. An incredible upset – but can they do it again?
Colossal City
So far this season, Manchester City are a far superior side to Manchester United. It’s one thing containing the Red Devils’ high powered but rather prosaic attack, and another entirely to deal with City’s hurricane of movement.
United’s brilliance comes through Paul Pogba, and so simply placing a man near or around him all night can disrupt United’s flow. That’s exactly what Bristol City did and it worked.
But who do you mark with Manchester City? If Guardiola plays anything like their first team, there will be an unholy amount of options for City to dissect Bristol from. Almost every single one of City’s attacking players could be a crucial playmaker.
That’s the thing, though. Pep Guardiola is unlikely to play his first-team. And that could open things up for Bristol.
Creaking City
The day before Bristol knocked United out of the Carabao Cup, City did the same to Leicester (well, they drew 1-1 and won on penalties) and they did so playing a much-weakened side. Sure, they still had La Liga winner Claudio Bravo, supreme wonderkid Gabriel Jesus, elegant genius Bernardo Silva and Champions League final goalscorer Ilkay Gundogan; but that was it really.
The rest of the side was a mix of back-ups, youngsters and the once-mighty Yaya Touré. A player who is either the greatest or second greatest player to ever wear City blue (depending on how you rate his influence vs. David Silva’s).
There were weaknesses there. Yes Brahim Diaz, Tosin Adarabioyo and Phil Foden are genuine wonderkids, but they’re teenagers. A raucous atmosphere at Ashton Gate could unnerve them.
Meanwhile Eliaquim Mangala and Danilo are players who can be exposed, and by pressing Yaya Touré in a co-ordinated fashion Bristol would absolutely be able to disrupt the City passing attack and find themselves running straight at a rickety defence.
If Guardiola plays his first-team then Bristol City may well be reduced to holding on tight and praying for lady luck to shine on them. But if Guardiola rests some players and puts out a team of back-ups and kids? Lee Johnson and his Bristol City side will have a genuine chance of making it a clean sweep of the Manchester sides and reaching the Carabao Cup Final.
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