Lewis makes the most of City debut
Rico Lewis made his first start for Manchester City, giving Joao Cancelo a rest and lining up at right-back. Except he was rarely playing in that position, instead inverting inside as Cancelo would. Likewise, Sergio Gomez also pushed inside to create a midfield trio that allowed Phil Foden and Cole Palmer to roam further up.
To make that happen, Lewis was needed to pull off a relatively complicated tactical plan that took Cancelo a year or two to master. Full-backs throughout City's academy are taught to invert nowadays, but it's one thing doing it at the Academy Stadium in front of a few dozen fans, and another being trusted in a Champions League clash at the Etihad. He deserves credit for slotting in relatively seamlessly, and his well-taken goal was the icing on the cake of a very encouraging full debut.
Gomez fails to take his chance
Since his avoidable red card in Copenhagen that forced his teammates to run further than planned for an hour, Sergio Gomez hadn't played a minute. Picked against Sevilla in order to rest more senior defenders, this was a chance for the Spaniard to show he'd learned from his positional error in Denmark and offer a different full-back solution while Kyle Walker is out.
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But from the start, as he inverted into midfield, he was targeted by Sevilla and looked shaky defensively. Shoulder-barged into the advertising hoardings to concede a corner, Gomez picked himself up and then just watched as Isco's corner was sent back over him into the corner by Rafa Mir. His night barely improved, and Guardiola will surely return to using centre-backs out of position for full-back cover. On a night when Rico Lewis took his opportunity, Gomez didn't take his, and the youngster may be the more preferred option going forward.
Foden stands out in midfield role
On a flat night where there was no jeopardy aside from getting a bit wet from the Manchester downpours, Phil Foden proved that City can take some positives from a dead rubber with Sevilla. Starting on the left of a central midfield two, Foden linked up nicely with Jack Grealish to his left and his midfield partners Ilkay Gundogan and Cole Palmer.
If City created anything, it was through Foden and his quick thinking and smart passing until the reinforcements were brought on and he was shifted back out wide. If Pep Guardiola has previously held back from playing Foden centrally as he doesn't have the tactical discipline to play there, he proved that notion wrong on Wednesday. And with a World Cup coming up, Foden may have impressed Gareth Southgate with an impressive showing in a central role that might get him more minutes in Qatar than out wide.
De Bruyne shows youngsters how it's done
If you need something doing, get Kevin De Bruyne. For the second game running, City needed a moment of magic to go ahead and for the second game Kevin De Bruyne stepped up. On Saturday it was his wonderful free kick, and on Wednesday he came off the bench to bend a lovely through-ball into the path of Julian Alvarez, who rounded the keeper and round the roof of the net.
It was his 12th assist of the season, and a reminder of the quality all his teammates must reach if they are to displace him. Playing Palmer and Foden in midfield was a useful experiment, but De Bruyne came off the bench to remind both that they still have plenty to learn to be a regular midfield starter in this side.
Grealish misses another chance
It's hard for Jack Grealish, who isn't performing badly this season, but still isn't impacting games in terms of creating goals and assists. This time, he had a few direct runs full of flair to excite a flat crowd, but was inevitably crowded out.
And he was replaed at half-time for Rodri, which could suggest Guardiola wasn't happy with his contribution as City trailed, and the reshuffle worked a treat. On the other hand, Grealish had played at Leicester in the week, so may just have been rotated, but he may have eyed this free hit as a chance to add to his solitary Champions League goal from over a year ago. He's only got one goal this season, and for all his tactical improvements, still keeps passing up chances to improve that tally.
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