Pep Guardiola: "We made a really, really good game"
“Big compliment for Plymouth because they made our jobs so difficult,” says the Man City boss, in an interview with ITV. “They were very well organised but I think we made a really, really good game. We were fortunate to score at the end of the first half. We concede the goal and they maybe create one more half-chance but we were so solid. I’m really pleased for the game we played.”
He refuses to be drawn on whether this season’s FA Cup could be the last trophy Kevin De Bruyne, whose contract is up in June, wins as a City player should City get to Wembley and prevail. “Nobody knows,” he says. “Nobody knows.”
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Miron Muslic: "We gave City a game – a proper one"
“We can only be disappointed with the result but very proud of our performance,” says the Plymouth manager in an interview with the BBC. “We gave Man City a game – a proper one. We created some problems for them and had a good defensive structure. It’s City, with the best players and definitely the best coach in the world, who will come up with some solutions.
“In those moments you need a bit of luck not to concede and we gave the Green Army an unbelievable moment with the goal of Maksym. It’s a pity to concede the equaliser with the last action [of the first half]. In the second half we tried, as always, but we can be proud of our performance. I said when I arrived I wanted to make us tough to play against.”
On Plymouth’s FA Cup run: “It will help because it gives us confidence. We were hard to play against – this will always help us for the upcoming challenges [in the Championship].”
Manchester City 3-1 Plymouth Argyle
Match report: Manchester City required the new and the old to avoid an FA Cup shock at the hands of Plymouth Argyle, with academy graduate Nico O’Reilly scoring two headers before the club’s most-decorated player Kevin De Bruyne ended the resistance. Will Unwin reports from the Etihad Stadium …
Maxi Talovierov: “I’m so happy to play here against one of the best teams in the world with really fantastic players,” says the scorer of Plymouth’s goal. “Of course wev are a bit upset because of the result but I hope our fans feel proud of us because we really tried to do our best. We gave 120% and we really appreciated our fans, around 10,000 of them here in the Etihad and we really appreciated that. We just tried to do our best.”
He goes on to thank his dad, a former footballer who lives in Ukraine, for sending him helpful clips about how best to deal with marking assorted City players but adds that he didn’t advise him how to score at set-pieces. That was all his own work!!!
On the fact that he hasn’t seen his folks for over three years because of the Russian invasion. “Of course right now we have a really hard situation, it’s really tough,” he says. “For a few hours every day we have to focus on the games or on the training and the football really helps us to forget [the war], our worries. I know that when the national team plays, peopole at home just try to watch and forget about everything. I am really proud of them and right now it’s a really hard situation. We will try to help our people as much as possible and hopefully we will win this war as fast as possible.”
That was a terrific, very emotional interview on ITV particularly in light of events over the past couple of days and if you click on the link below there’s another great one with Maxi conducted by our Ben Fisher …
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Nico O’Reilly: “Two goals from left-back,” says the 19-year-old in an interview with ITV. “I weren’t really expecting that but yeah, I’m glad. Going into half-time 1-0 down would have been tough but [me scoring] lifted the spirits so wev were ready to go in the second half.”
On Kevin De Bruyne: “He’s an amazing player, he trains well every day, his work is 100% and it’s a pleasure to play with him.”
On the FA Cup: “Of course it’s important. It’s a big competition, all the teams in England play in it and of course we want to win it. We want to do our best to win and we’re into the quarter-finals now.”
Man City 3-1 Plymouth Argyle
Full time: Forced to come from behind by a spirited Plymouth side who gave them a scare courtesy of Maxi Talovierov’s headed opener, Manchester City advance to the quarter-finals courtesy of a brace from Nico O’Reilly and Kevin De Bruyne’s late hammer blow. Plymouth’s unlikely FA Cup odyssey is over but they can exit the competition with their heads held extremely high.
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90+3 min: Plymouth are about to exit the FA Cup but their fans could scarcely be more proud of their team’s excel;lent effort ahead of the long journey home. It is they who are making most of the noise at the Etihad. City have another corner and Bernardo’ Silva’s delivery is headed over by Reis. It’s all over …
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GOAL! Man City 3-1 Plymouth Argyle (De Bruyne 90)
City extend their lead! Plymouth lose the ball high up the pitch and Haaland cuts in from the right in a one-on-one with Hazard. He fails to beat the Argyle keeper but the ball breaks back to him. The Norwegian squares for Kevin De Bruyne, who sweeps home from close range. That’s yer lot, Plymouth fans but congratulations on a terrific cup run and the best of luck in your battle to beat the drop.
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89 min: Plymouth trail in the knockings but are being slowly suffocated by City, who won’t let them have the ball. They finally win it and advance but Rami El Hajj is unable to get a shot away.
87 min: Kevin De Bruyne blasts a cross into the penalty area from the left but it’s repelled by Conor Hazard in the Argyle goal.
86 min: Bernardo Silva gets on the ball near the right touchline but plays it backwards instead of trying to send a cross into the box.
84 min: Man City substitution: Nico “Rodri Lite” Gonzalez comes on for Phil Foden as the hosts try to shut up shop.
82 min: Grealish slides a low ball into the path of Rico Lewis as the full-back makes a good dart into the Plymouth box, only for his touch to let him down. With better control, he could have ended the game as a contest.
80 min: Plymouth substitution: Hungary’s Kornel Szucs on for Matthew Sorinola.
GOAL! Man City 2-1 Plymoutyh Argyle (O'Reilly 76)
Man City lead! Nico O’Reilly scores his second, peeling away from Talvyerov to nod home a corner sent towards the far post. Plymouth think the corner shouldn’t have been given in the first place but it was. They think there was a push on Jordan Houghton as the ball came in and you know what? There was but it wasn’t deemed sufficiently aggressive for the goal to be disallowed.
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75 min: Grealish sends a splendid cross into the Plymouth box, Erling Haaland connects and Conor Hazard somehow keeps the ball out with a strong left arm. That is an astonishing save.
74 min: Kevin De Bruyne takes another corner for City, plays a one-two with Grealish and arcs a wonderful cross into the Plymouth box. The ball hits the arm of the recently arrived Puchacz, who was grappling with his marker and City appeal for a penalty. They don’t get one.
72 min: Plymouth substitution: Poland international Timoteusz Puchacz comes on for Nathaniel Ogbetta.
70 min: Maxi Talovierov blocks a speculative shot from distance after the ball broke Kevin De Bruyne’s way when Plymouth had cleared City’s latest corner.
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68 min: City corner, their 13th of the game. Kevin De Bruyne plays it shortish to Grealish, receives the return pass and almost catches out Hazard with a cross-shot. The Plymouth goalkeeper tips the ball over the bar for City corner No14. Erling Haaland goes close from that one, the ball breaking his way only for him to send a volley over the bar when you’d expect him to score.
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66 min: A Rico Lewis cross from the right takes a deflection but doesn’t quite drop for Haaland, who was lurking near the far post.
63 min: Plymouth triple-substitution: Michael Baidoo, Rami Al Hajj and Jordan Houghton on for Mumba, Gyabi and Bundu.
62 min: Plymouth striker Mustapha Bundu runs on to an excellent ball over the top from Maxi Talovyerov but is clearly offside. The flag goes up again.
61 min: Phil Foden tries to curl a shot into the top corner from the edge of the area after being teed up by Gundogan but sends his effort wide of the far post. It was a decent effort.
60 min: Erling Haaland comes on for City, replacing James McAtee.
58 min: Lewis tries his luck again, firing high over the bar from a good position after good work down the left by Grealish and De Bruyne. The flag goes up for offside, with City’s Belgian captain the guilty party.
57 min: Rico Lewis rises to connect with a dropping ball but sends his flamboyant volley wide of ther upright. That would have looked good on his showreel had it gone in.
56 min: Bernardo Silva tries to pick out Grealish with a clipped cross to the far post but Mumba rises to nod the ball away from danger. It’s worth noting that City have a big Norwegian fella on the bench who might well have won that header.
54 min: Hazard gets a free-kick launched towards the edge of the City penalty area, where it’s headed clear.
51 min: Conor Hazard saves well from Bernardo Silva after the City man had scuffed a low Ilkay Gundogan pullback from the byline towards the Plymouth goal.
49 min: Callum Wright advances into the City half for Plymouth and plays the ball wide to Bali Mumba near the left touchline. The 23-year-old from South Shields, who plies his trade a very long way from home, runs into traffic and City have possession again.
47 min: City begin the second half dominating possession, as you would expect. The ball’s played wide to Grealish, who drills it across the face of the six-yard box but there’s nobody in light blue in place to stab it home. It’s a let-off for Plymouth.
Second half: Man City 1-1 Plymouth Argyle
46 min: Play resumes with Ruben Dias on for City in place of Nathan Ake. The Plymouth line-up is unchanged for now.
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Half-time: Man City 1-1 Plymouth Argyle
Peep! Referee Craig Pawson signals the end of an extremely entertaining half of football in which Plymouth took the lead against the tidal wave of play courtesy of a fine Maxi Talovierov header at their first corner, only for Nico O’Reilly to equalise in similar style after losing his man to power an excellent header past Conor Hazard at a free-kick. More, please …
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GOAL! Man City 1-1 Plymouth Argyle (O'Reilly 45+1)
CITY EQUALISE: Kevin De Bruyne curls a free-kick towards the near post and having given his marker the slip, Nico O’Reilly sends a bullet header goalwards. Conor Hazard gets a hand to the ball but is powerless to keep it out. It’s half-time …
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44 min: Plymouth keeper Conor Hazard gets down quickly to get a crucial finger tip touch on a low Kevin De Bruyne diagonal shot across the face of his goal that was arrowing towards the bottom corner. It’s a fine save from the Northern Ireland international.
43 min: City win another corner. Phil Foden’s delivery is aimed towards Nathan Ake, who can’t steer his header on target.
42 min: Plymouth striker Mustapha Bundu is penalised for straying offside as Plymouth try to launch a counter-attack.
41 min: Phil Foden takes this one and his delivery is headed over the Plymouth bar by Vitor Reis.
40 min: This is tremendous and here’s hoping Maxi’s kith and kin are tuning in from the Ukraine. City win another corner, their ninth of the half so far.
GOAL! Man City 0-1 Plymouth Argyle (Talovierov 38)
PLYMOUTH LEAD!!! Completely unmarked at Plymouth’s first corner, Maxi Talovierov rises to head the excellent ball towards the far post past Stefan Ortega. The away end erupts!!!
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38 min: Vitor Reis slides in to put the ball behind for a Plymouth corner, cutting out a low cross from Nathaniel Ogbeta. And they’ve scored!!!!
35 min: There seem to be three or four Pleguezuelas on the pitch and one of them is on hand to tidy up at the back after Katic had prevented James McAtee from getting a shot away in the Plymouth penalty area after Jack Grealish had picked him out with a cross. Excellent defending from both Plymouth defenders.
33 min: Matthew Sorinola gets on the ball down the right flank for Plymouth and tries to send in a cross. It’s blocked by Nico O’Reilly. Nothing comes from the latest corner flag-adjacent Pleguezuela throw-in.
31 min: Pleguezuela sends another long throw to the edge of the CIty penalty area but it’s cleared and within seconds the ball is back at the feet of Plymouth goalkeeper Conor Hazard.
28 min: The “olés” ring out from the away end as Plymouth string five uninterrupted passes together. Nice. Moments previously, City went close as Ilkay Gundogan smashed a shot from inside the penalty area off the upright after good work by Jack Grealish on the left.
25 min: City win what seems like their 281st corner of the game as the ball goes out off Pleguezuelo, who was man-marking Ake at the far post as the defender got on the end of another set-piece inswinger from De Bruyne. Much like the previous 280, nothing comes of this one either. Plymouth are doing exceptionally well here and are fat approaching the point of the game where it’s “too early” to score and incur the wrath of their hosts.
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24 min: Pleguezuelo performs heroics to sprint back and prevent Phil Foden from getting the ball under control as he tried to latch on to a long ball from deep.
22 min: Plymouth enjoy a rare sortie into the City half and win a throw-in near the corner flag. Julio Pleguezuelo trots to the sideline and Delaps the ball into the penalty area, where Phil Foden gets his head to it before anyone in a green shirt.
21 min: Another City corner. Kevin De Bruyne’s inswinger is sent long towards Nathan Ake at the far post. Leaning backwards, he heads straight into the waiting arms of Hazard.
19 min: Plymouth goalkeeper Conor Hazard is called into action for the first time, making short work of a shot from Ilkay Gundogan that came straight at him.
16 min: “We’ll sing on our own!” is the chant from the small corner of the Etihad occuppied by Plymouth’s Green Army. Meanwhile on the south coast, Bournemouth have beaten Wolves on penalties to join Crystal Palace, Preston and Villa in the hat for the quarter-final draw.
15 min: James McAtee has a shot blocked by Nikola Katic, who has clearly been to the dentist since the last round as he appears to be sporting a full complement of pearly whites.
14 min: Another City corner and this time when the delivery comes in, Ilkay Gundogan sends a near post header over the bar of the Argyle goal.
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12 min: Phil Foden has a low shot deflected wide for a corner, from which City appeal for a penalty after Bernardo Silva heads the ball against Julio Pleguezuelo’s arm. Nothing doing.
10 min: City’s passing is hypnotic but Plymouth’s goal remains completely unthreatened as they successfully negotiate the “Nothing silly in the first 10 minutes,” stage of the game.
8 min: City’s players continue to ping the ball around the edge of the final third but Plymouth hold their shape with 11 men behind it.
6 min: Grealish tries to send in a cross from the left but his delivery is blocked by Matthew Sorinola, one of two Plymouth players doubling up on the City winger. The Pilgrims are already under siege but look far from overwhelmed in these early stages.
4 min: Plymouth win a throw-in inside their own half, the ball going out off Bernardo Silva after another early duel with Ogbetta, the visitors’ left wing-back.
3 min: Jack Grealish combines with Kevin De Bruyne down the left and City set up base camp a few yards outside the Plymouth penalty area as they set about pressing and probing for an opening. Grealish has the first shot in anger of the game blocked.
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2 min: Nathan Ake pings the ball wide to Bernardo Silva, who is immediately and aggressively dispossessed by Nathaniel Ogbetta.
Manchester City v Plymouth Argyle is go ...
1 min: Under a pinky, grey and orange Manchester sky, City get the ball rolling as Plymouth try to take their third consecutive Premier League scalp in this season’s FA Cup. Game on!
Not long now: Perhaps hopeful of getting a late call-up, both sets of mascots go through rigorous stretching routines in the tunnel (no, really) before being joined by the players they’ll be accompanying on the short walk out on to the pitch. Kevin De Bruyne and Nikola Katic lead out their respective sides and kick-off is just couple of minutes away …
Pep Guardiola: “We are expecting a difficult game”
“No, they are not unknown,” said Manchester City’s manager upon being asked if he knew much about Plymouth Argyle in his pre-match presser. “When you can beat the best team in the country this season Liverpool - and also Brentford - they are not unknown.
“And not just Liverpool. I saw [some of their] other games. They defend aggressively with their wingbacks. The transition they do with attacking midfielders inside, who link really well. With the strikers in Championship, the set pieces are the main thing, and the Premier League teams learn from this.
“The amount of free-kicks and corners they produce are not like the Premier League. They are solid. Since the manager took over, the results are there. We are expecting a difficult game. We play at home, and that is an advantage, the Orient game was so tough.
“We played many times in the Carabao Cup and the FA Cup against lower league teams and always they are tricky. What these teams do, they do really well. And if you are not ready you are in trouble. We have a chance to arrive in the last eight of the FA Cup again and we want to do it.”
Miron Muslic: “It’s a big stage to represent Argyle”
“It’s Manchester City, it’s away, the team which has dominated the Premier League for the last seven or eight years so it truly feels like something very, very big,” said Plymouth’s manager in his pre-match press conference.
“We are going to try to enjoy this. We said it also before Liverpool, it’s a big stage to represent Argyle best possible, to represent us and we see this as a massive opportunity to do exactly the same.
“It’s a big game for us as staff, it’s a big game for the players, but it’s a big game also for us as an organisation, and a wonderful one I think especially for the Green Army. This is just the crème de la crème of English football. The highest mountain to climb but it’s just a beautiful adventure and we are very much looking forward to challenge them.”
Manchester City: With only success in the FA Cup to chase we see the product of the club’s failed summer recruitment, ill fortune with injury and the ravage of time to a core of Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering squad. Jamie Jackson reports …
Conor Hazard: "We don't want to let anyone down"
With 7,800 Plymouth fans expected to make the journey to the Etihad for a tie that must be decided tonight following the scrapping of FA Cup replays, their team’s Northern Irish goalkeeper Conor Hazard has stressed the importance of his side doing their best in the face of extremely daunting opposition and will be well prepared for a penalty shootout should the outcome be determined by spot-kicks.
“You’ve got to kind of have an idea what you’re going to be coming up against, what’s their preferred side and what to do,” he said. “We’ll try to keep the game going as long as possible and there’s every chance a game like this could go to penalties. We’ll definitely do some preparation on that.
“We’ve got 8,000 people going up there to support us so we don’t want to let anyone down. We did such a good job against Liverpool and hopefully we can do the same at the Etihad. We’re all really up for it. We know the task ahead and what we need to do to try and get a result there. That’s our aim.”
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Technology: As the Guardian revealed in a February exclusive, semi-automated offside technology (SAOT) is beiong trialled in the FA Cup fifth round with a view to it being introduced in the Premier League before the end of the season. Matt Hughes reveals all …
Those teams: Pep Guardiola changes the entire side that beat Tottenham Hotspur during the week, with Stefan Ortega starting in goal and fringe players such as January signing Vitor Reis, teenage left-back Nico O’Reilly, James McAtee and Jack Grealish all being handed starts.
Miron Muslic makes six changes to the Plymouth side that drew with Cardiff City in the Championship last weekend. Nikola Katic, who famously lost a tooth in the white-hot furnace of combat during Plymouth’s victory over Liverpool in the last round, captains the side.
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Manchester City v Plymouth Argyle line-ups
Manchester City: Ortega, Lewis, Vitor Reis, Ake, O’Reilly, Gundogan, Silva, McAtee, De Bruyne, Grealish, Foden.
Subs: Ederson, Dias, Marmoush, Haaland, Doku, Gonzalez, Gvardiol, Savio, Matheus Luiz.
Plymouth Argyle: Hazard, Taloverov, Pleguezuelo, Katic, Mumba, Gyabi, Boateng, Ogbeta, Sorinola, Wright, Bundu.
Subs: Grimshaw, Houghton, Szucs, Edwards, Puchacz, Al Hajj, Baidoo, Roberts, Palsson.
Maxi Talovierov: "It comes from my soul"
Interview: Already a cult hero at Home Park despite having been at the club for just one month, the Ukrainian defender Maksym “Maxi” Talovierov, has not seen his parents for three-and-a-half years due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but is making the most of life in Plymouth despite the traumas being endured by his friends and family back home. Words: Ben Fisher.
Today’s match officials
Referee: Craig Pawson
Assistant referees: Scott Ledger and Craig Taylor
Fourth official: Darren Bond
VAR: Neil Davies
Early team news
John Stones and Manuel Akanji remain sidelined for the hosts, while Oscar Bobb is also unavailable having been out with a fractured leg since the Community Shield but is fast approaching a return to full fitness. Jack Grealish is also a doubt for today’s game.
Plymouth are without Ryan Hardie, who scored the all-important goal in their win over Liverpool. The 27-year-old centre-forward is out with a back injury and will join his fellow striker Muhamed Tijani (hamstring) in a watching brief, which means on-loan striker Michael Obafemi could get a rare start for the visitors. Plymouth defenders Brendan Galloway and Joe Edwards are also out.
FA Cup fifth round: Man City v Plymouth Argyle
There’s a place in the quarter-finals up for grabs at the Etihad, where Manchester City host the lowest ranked team left in this season’s competition. Rock bottom of the Championship with Miron Muslic about to take over from Wayne Rooney as their manager when they beat Brentford in the third round, Plymouth have since hauled themselves to within three points of safety.
They also made headlines by knocking Liverpool out of the tournament after taking full advantage of Arne Slot’s gamble to give most of his first team players the weekend off and field a largely experimental young side at Home Park in the fourth round.
Their hosts today are unlikely to be as charitable, with outright victory in the FA Cup now Manchester City’s only chance of winning a trophy in what has, for them, been a hugely underwhelming season of underachievement. Having battered Salford City in the third round, Pep Guardiola’s side had to come from behind to see off Leyton Orient from League One next time out. Kick-off at the Etihad Stadium is at 5.45pm (GMT) but we’ll have plenty of team news and build-up in the meantime.
