Onuoha – Typical peformance of a centre-half doing a job at right-back. Solid defensively, little to offer going forward – with the honourable exception of a very coolly taken goal at an important time. 7

Boyata – Very strong in the air and looking increasingly confident in his game. 7

Kompany – Another accomplished performance. Dominant in the air, while offering great composure on the ball. 7

Sylvinho – Scunthorpe targetted him at left-back, but he stuck to the task. Moved into midfield for the second half where his passing was excellent. The 30 yard goal was arguably our finest strike of the season. 8

Ireland – Took a while to get into the game. When he did, the chipped pass for Onuoha’s goal was perfect. May have been brought off early with Wednesday in mind. 6

De Jong – Wore the captain’s armband in the first half, and performed accordingly. Let’s hope his half-time withdrawal wasn’t down to an injury that may keep out on Wednesday. 7

Ibrahim – An impressive debut. Physically imposing and put in some crunching tackles. On the ball he showed good technique. 7

Robinho – His shooting betrayed a lack of confidence, but there were a lot of good touches and neat link-up play. The goal was a fitting reward. 7

Benjani – Ran around to no great effect. 5

Petrov – Ferocious opening goal to signal he was back in the starting eleven. Often plays well when he feels he’s been unjustly dropped and this was no exception. Played right across the attacking positions and did well in each, with penetrative passes and strong running. 8

Subs:

Cunningham – Immediately picked up a harsh booking and looked a little nervous thereafter. 5

Zabaleta – Came on to shore up the midfield and did an effective job. 6

Bellamy – Barely had a touch in his five minute run-out.

Man of the match: Most people went for Petrov, but for his great professionalism at 35 and that goal, I’m going for Sylvinho.

Roberto Mancini rang the changes but kept the balance right to see City avoid a potential upset thanks to four sumptuous goals. Sylvinho outshone his compratiot with a stunning strike, though Robinho managed to put all the speculation aside and displayed his skills in a good performance. Just don’t expect the press pack to acknowledge it.

With the upcoming trip to Old Trafford, it wasn’t a surprise to see a much changed line-up from Mancini. Stuart Taylor got a start in goal and had a much better game than last time out in Abu Dhabi.

Nedum Onuoha got his first start under Mancini at right-back. It was interesting to see the manager stick with Boyata and Kompany in central defence, possibly to help improve their understanding. Sylvinho came in at left-back and appeared to be targetted by Scunthorpe during the first half.

The 35-year-old coped well enough, though really came into his own during the second period when moved into midfield. Freed from concerns about his lack of pace, it was possible to admire his passing and professionalism.

Elsewhere in midfield there was a solid debut for Somali-born Norwegian youngster Abdi Ibrahim. At 6′ 2″ the 18-year-old wasn’t likely to be intimidated and looked very comfortable in the first team. There were some good touches to go alongside a couple of crunching challenges.

Nigel de Jong gave defensive cover in the first half, while Petrov, Robinho and Ireland provided creative support to Benjani. The fluidity in attack brought immediate dividends with a Petrov goal.

Neat passing resulted in Robinho demonstrating his step-overs infield. He slid the ball through to Petrov who went past the full-back and lashed a near-post shot into the top corner. It’s not a place that Murphy in the Scunthorpe goal would expect to be beaten, but he had no chance.

Petrov gave us his ‘name on shirt’ celebration as a pointer to the manager. It’s reasonable to assume the Bulgarian hadn’t been happy with a place on the bench during the United game.

As is the way with Mancini’s City, we were happy with the opposition to knock the ball round and looked to hit them on the counter. A quick Scunthorpe corner resulted in them missing a glorious chance with a free header, followed seconds later by a dangerous ball into our box.

As a result, the equaliser wasn’t entirely a surprise, though the defence could be exonarated as Hayes was clearly offside. Ireland started to come into the game as we sought to re-assert our authority.

A nicely chipped pass from the Irishman played in Onouha. Showing a much calmer head than the onrushing goalkeeper, Nedum gently slid the ball into the net. 2-1 at half-time was a relief following the equaliser, and the best was yet to come.

Cunningham came on at left-back, requiring Sylvinho to move into the midfield in place of de Jong. Taking off the Dutchman appeared a bit of a gamble as we were hardly cruising. Cunningham picked up an unfortunate booking and looked nervous on his debut with passes going astray.

Fortunately, Sylvinho was doing better in the middle of the park and scored with a 30-yard screamer that it’s reasonable to assume de Jong wouldn’t have managed. The ball moved slightly in the air before dipping into the net, leaving the goalkeeper clutching air.

Mancini on Sylvinho:

“Sylvinho is a great player to have in your squad, he sets an example to everyone and deserved his goal. It’s good to have someone like him that can change position if we need, and he had to in the second half. It was a fantastic strike by him.”

Now we did appear to be cruising. Petrov, Robinho and Ireland took turns to show their skills on the break, and we nearly added another with three attempts from one corner. All the while Scunthorpe kept pressing and eventually got a second when a shot deflected off Boyata.

The crowd sensed an equaliser, but City kept their composure. This resiliance has been a feature under Mancini, and we continued to look dangerous on the break. As the home side tired, we were enjoying greater space in attack and another neat passing move saw Petrov play in Robinho. The Brazilian hammered home his first goal of the season and celebrated with the crowd before making way for Craig Bellamy.

If we had to wave goodbye to anyone after this match, then I’d much rather it was Benjani than Robinho. The Zimbabwean wasn’t strong enough in holding the ball up, and never offered a goal threat.

It was interesting to hear Kevin Keegan’s comments on Robinho. The former City manager is often sympathetic to quality players and pointed out that they need a run of games to get back up to speed following injury – which Robinho hasn’t had.

With confidence clearly lacking, the Brazilian’s shooting was desperate at times, bringing back memories of Tevez’s early season attempts on goal. Looking at the Argentine now he’s fully up to speed, it’s tempting to wonder if the same could happen with Robinho. Unfortunately it may be another team that gets to find out.

Roberto Mancini:

“Our young players did very well, they have shown me what they can do in training and I had no problem in picking them today. They have the right mentality and this was a big test for them.”

As with the game at Middlesbrough in the previous round, Mancini found the right balance of resting players and giving youngsters a chance. In this regard it was impressive stuff, even if we didn’t fully dominate the game. The quality of our goals was the abiding memory, and they wouldn’t look out of place flying past Van der Sar on Wednesday.

External reports:

• BBC
• The Guardian
• The Independent
• Manchester Evening News
• Official site
• The Telegraph
• The Times

Blog reports:

• The Lonesome Death of Roy Carroll
• Norfstander
• We’ve got Robinho

Video:

• Match highlights

Mancini said he would play a strong team at Middlesbrough, before making numerous changes and giving Dedryck Boyata his debut. Boro were in a poor run of form, whereas Nigel Adkins will be sending Scunthorpe out to battle hard and use the small pitch to close City down.

It’s difficult to predict the City line-up with several players looking in need of a rest. At left-back, Sylvinho could start ahead of Garrido. Elsewhere in the defence, Kompany, Richards and Zabaleta are three of our physically stronger players who may be able to manage playing on Sunday and Wednesday.

Nedum Onuoha is recently returned from injury and would benefit from some match practice. Boyata could also play to give him additional experience.

In midfield, Ireland is set for a welcome return. If he does well, then a place as a third central midfielder on Wednesday could be his.

It remains to be seen who else plays in the middle. Barry and de Jong could both do with a rest, but Vieira isn’t yet fit and other signings have yet to materialise.

On the left, it would be a surprise to see Bellamy given the reluctance to play him twice in a week. Petrov is a more likely starter, while it will be interesting to see if there’s a role for Robinho given the speculation linking him with a return to Santos.

Shaun Wright-Phillips is likely to get some match practice on the right, especially now Weiss has gone on loan to Bolton.

Benjani is sure to lead the attack in the absense of Santa Cruz, Adebayor and the rested Tevez. It will be important for the likes of Petrov, Wright-Phillips, Ireland and Robinho to get forward and support him. They are all better goalscorers, while Benjani is ineffective if left isolated.

Roberto Mancini:

“We must remember what happened between Liverpool and Reading, and United and Leeds as well.

“It’s a small ground, they will be strong because they are at home but we will have to be at our best and do what we can.”

This could be a much trickier fixture than that at Middlesbrough, and Mancini will find the Scunthorpe crowd a lot more fired up than their counterparts on Tyneside. With our minds on Manchester United, and a much changed team likely, the potential for an upset is clear. The Italian may need his tactical nous to ensure we come through unscathed.

Blue Days line-up: Given, Sylvinho, Zabaleta, Onuoha, Boyata, de Jong, Ireland, Petrov, Wright-Phillips, Robinho, Benjani.

Prediction: 3-0 to City.

Zabaleta – Unusually he looked better going forward than defending in the first half. Nearly cost us a second goal with an uncharacteristic failure to win a 50-50, but made up for it with a peach of a cross for our crucial second goal. 6

Lescott – Running away from the man with the ball in the build up to the Scunthorpe goal didn’t look to clever. Scoring seemed to lift his game in a way that implies he could be a confidence player. 6

Kompany – Imperious for the most part, except when completely AWOL for the Scunthorpe goal! At times he oozed class for a centre-half and was a more than able deputy for Kolo Toure (the goal excepted). 7

Sylvinho – Very tidy and effective, as you’d expect from someone with Arsenal, Barcelona and Brazil on their CV. Scunthorpe didn’t ask to many questions of him defensively, but he slotted in so well that it wouldn’t be a worry to see him deputise for Bridge. 7

De Jong – A surprising choice for captain, but he seemed to relish the roll, helping us to establish an early dominance. Hughes saw fit to leave him on for the full 90 minutes and Scunthorpe didn’t get a look-in during the second half. 7

Barry – A steady performance that left the headlines to others. Nearly sneaked onto the scoresheet with a couple of late runs into the penalty area. 7

Wright-Phillips – Always involved and made some excellent runs into dangerous positions. Once again the final ball wasn’t always there and it was a shame he didn’t make it onto the scoresheet. 6

Ireland – A brilliant start which had the crowd cheering his return. A few to many of those defence splitting passes were intercepted, but his failure to convert a final chance can forgiven. He was all set to come off with a knock he’d picked up earlier. 7

Tevez – Once again the Argentine was sharp, busy and looking fully fit. Good to see him score as his finishing hasn’t always convinced. 8

Santa Cruz – Scored his first goal and completed his first 90 minutes for the club. Roque also showed good technique and tidy lay-offs in a performance that demonstrated his return to full fitness. 8

Subs:

Weiss – Lit up the final half-hour with skill, pace and directness. He appeared to be on a mission to score, but in the end had to settle with an assist for the Tevez goal. 8

Johnson – His composure and passing threatened to out-Barry the man he replaced! The goal was pure Michael Johnson though. Of all the good things about this match, his cameo was probably the best. 8

Benjani – Didn’t have the impact of the other returning players, in that he wasn’t able to get into the game. 5

Man of the match: Roque Santa Cruz for his excellent all round play in the first half in particular, and scoring the most important goal.

City finally cut loose for the first time this season and overwhelmed a Scunthorpe side with five goals after the Iron had tested City’s nerves with a first half equaliser to Steven Ireland’s opener. Roque Santa Cruz, Joleon Lescott, Carlos Tevez and Michael Johnson all got on the scoresheet as Mark Hughes rotated his squad for the first time.

Wayne Bridge, Kolo Toure, Martin Petrov and Emmanuel Adebayor were all missing with minor injuries, while Craig Bellamy was rested. Pablo Zabaleta returned for Micah Richards at right-back. Sylvinho finally got to make his debut – his last competitive fixture involved defeating Manchester United to pick up a Champions League winners medal!

Vincent Kompany played alongside Lescott in our most physically imposing central defence since the days of Richard Dunne and Sylvain Distin. Shaun Wright-Phillips returned to the right as expected, while Ireland had to make do with a place on the left flank as Hughes stuck with Barry and de Jong in the middle.

Roque Santa Cruz started for the first time and lasted a full 90 minutes. Another sign he’s getting fitter was that he only one knee taped up this time, instead of the two in the last round against Fulham.

Nigel de Jong was surprisingly named as captain. With Given and Barry both having captained their previous clubs, they might have been in line for the armband. Stevie Ireland was captain in Dunne’s absence during pre-season, while Kompany has also been talked about as captaincy material. With that level of competition, it just goes to show how well things have gone for de Jong in recent weeks that Hughes should entrust him to lead the side.

Aside from a shaky few minutes initiated by Scunthorpe’s equaliser, which featured another example of horrendous defending as Kompany went AWOL and Lescott actively ran away from the man with the ball, almost everything turned out great. Here’s some of the positives we managed to glean:

• Roque Santa Cruz showed us why Hughes values him so highly. The Paraguayan is a genuine target man, and has a good technique which he uses intelligently to bring others into play. With the score 1-1, he got the crucial second goal from which there was no coming back for Scunthorpe. The goal itself was a difficult to execute header that he made look deceptively easy. It came from a high cross that he was having to move backwards to reach. To then get over the ball sufficiently to head it down, into the corner, and at sufficient pace to beat the goalkeeper was no mean feat.
• It’s especially good for any striker to get his first goal for a new club. Any pressure to score will now be off and hopefully Santa can build on this.
• Losing Adebayor to the African Cup of Nations in January no longer looks so worrying, so long as Roque’s fitness holds up.
• Seeing Sylvinho slot in so comfortably on his debut removed any worries in having him deputise for Bridge. His distribution was as controlled and tidy as you would expect for someone who has just arrived from Barcelona.
• Vincent Kompany was imperious, timing challenges excellently and showing great ability on the ball for someone playing centre-half. Having the option of playing two towering six footers at centre-back could be a useful option against the more aerial teams in the Premier League.
• Carlos Tevez is looking fitter with every game. We’re now starting to see the dribbling and passing to go along with the work-rate. Another goal will do him good as his critics often point to his lack of strikes. Sometimes he snatches at chances, so hopefully the more goals he gets, the more confident and composed he’ll become.
• Another goal for Lescott. Having come in for a bit of stick recently, getting on the scoresheet is a great way to reply to the detractors, and also keeps the fans on his side. It was noticeable how his performance improved after scoring, implying he is a confidence player. More games like this and his confidence will be sky-high.
• The run-out for Vladimir Weiss gave everyone a lift with the full range of wing wizzard tricks. His whippet-like running both down the flank and across the pitch left defenders trailing. Some of his team-mates may have questioned the lack of passing in the penalty area, but his ongoing attempts to score kept the crowd entertained.
• Arguably the biggest plus was the run-out for Michael Johnson. The Iron may have been tiring, but his composure and ability on the ball was hugely impressive. The 21-year-old was playing like Gareth Barry, until he took the ball past a couple of defenders and hammered home a goal that brought back memories of his strikes in the early part of Sven’s reign.
• Finally, an excellent turnout of over 36,000. The combination of ‘quid for a kid’ and half-term school holidays meant plenty of young City fans got the chance to see their heroes score five goals. Twenty pence per goal – can’t say fairer than that, even in a credit crunch!

Mark Hughes:

“Roque got a start and a goal as well. I thought his general play was outstanding.  He allowed players to flourish around him. I was pleased for him because I think he showed everybody what he is capable of.”

Michael Johnson:

“There have been loads of changes while I have been out. Watching things evolve has been inspiring.  I want to be part of a team that is competing for the title and with that comes the challenge of just winning a place in the side.”

External reports:

• BBC
• Daily Mail
• The Independent
• Manchester Evening News
• Official site
• The Telegraph

The Times

Blog reports:

• The Lonesome Death Of Roy Carroll
• We’ve Got Robinho

Video:

• Match highlights

Wayne Bridge is also an injury doubt for City with “a little bit of irritation behind the knee”. It remains to be seen whether Hughes chooses to leave out anyone else from Saturday’s starting line-up. The manager has stated previously that he’s reluctant to play Craig Bellamy three times in a week, and Emmanuel Adabayor may miss out as he seeks to fully recover from an ankle knock.

Despite these concerns, Hughes maintains he will seek to send out as strong a line-up as possible in a competition he would be delighted to win – a view wholly shared over here.

Mark Hughes:

“I will still field a strong side – there will not be a raft of changes. We want to progress in the competition and it is important we do so.

“We have given the competition the respect it deserves in previous rounds and will do so again. It is a game we want to win, so that will determine our attitude, I would suggest.”

The absence of Toure may mean a welcome return to the starting line-up for Vincent Kompany, while Sylvinho could finally make his debut if Bridge misses out. Without Petrov, the role of natural winger is likely be reclaimed by Shaun Wright-Phillips.

Steven Ireland will be keen to get back into the starting line-up, though the most likely vacancy could be the left flank, which is his least effective midfield position. Alternatively, de Jong could miss out if City go for a more attacking midfield.

It will be interesting to see if Hughes plums for Zabaleta or Richards at right-back. Roque Santa Cruz is set to return to the squad, though a fit Adebayor would most likely see the Parguayan starting on the bench. Vladimir Weiss and Michael Johnson could also get a look-in as substitutes.

Scunthorpe have sold over 3,000 tickets from a 6,000 allocation for what is a glamour tie for them. Following promotion via the play-offs last season, the Iron have settled well into life in the Championship. They may have lost 3-0 to Peterborough last Saturday, but prior to that they beat Newcastle 2-1 and Sheffield United 3-1.

When the draw was made, I went through our previous meetings with Scunthorpe. Check it out here. City have only played Scunthorpe 4 times competitively but have won them all scoring 21 times.

Their fans should bring a good atmosphere and the team will be confident enough to fancy an upset. For our supporters, there’s a ‘kids for a quid’ offer and it’s to be hoped this encourages a decent turnout.

A run of three successive draws has taken some of the shine off our new look side, and a convincing victory with a few goals could help lift everyone. Being in a quarter-final draw so early in the season, would certainly be a nice feeling.

Possible line-up: Given, Zabaleta, Sylvinho, Kompany, Lescott, de Jong, Barry, Ireland, Wright-Phillips, Tevez, Adebayor.

Video:

• Mark Hughes
• Robbie Fowler hat-trick in our previous meeting (FA Cup 3rd round. 7-01-2006)
• See how Scunthorpe triumphed over the already legendary ‘custard and cream’ away kit of Newcastle
• See how they failed against Peterborough last Saturday