Sharp City clip the Magpies' wings

Last week wasn’t the greatest for Manchester City. Despite beating Leyton Orient and advancing to the next round of the cup, the Blues suffered a painful loss in the dying seconds against Real Madrid.

With a decisive second leg looking against the Spanish giants this week, an equally important game against Newcastle was played on the weekend.

I think we’ve all admitted that we’re not going to win the league this season, but the game on the weekend was massive in our top four hopes, with the Geordie side closing in and if they beat us, they would also be ahead in the table.

However, the players wrote a different script to what everyone expected of them based on their form this season. Omar Marmoush become the star of the City show, scoring a 14 minute hat trick, the fourth fastest of any City player, beating out even Erling Haaland! He was absolutely electric and the man of the match in an emphatic 4-0 victory.

The Blues bossed the game from start to finish, and being completely honest, I think the scoreline flattered Newcastle a little, it definitely could’ve been a lot worse. Marmoush was certainly the stand out player, but there were good performances all over the pitch that can’t be over looked. 

The absence of Rodri has been abundantly clear since he injury against Arsenal earlier in the season, and I’ve said a few times in this column that we are lacking a defined defensive midfielder, and in his 20 year managerial career, he’s never consistently had to field a team without one. In fact, the one big game where he failed to field a defensive midfielder in recent history, we lost the Champions League final to Chelsea.

Well it seems like, for now at least, we have some sort of a solution. Nico Gonzalez signed from Porto in the January window, and he already looks to be an incredible addition. Pep even said he was a ‘mini Rodri’ which is very high praise. He aced the midfield, filling a gap that has been so obvious for weeks.

This gave me so much confidence going into the week ahead, where the Blues will face Real Madrid in the second leg of their play off tie and current league leaders, Liverpool on Sunday. I’m actually quite excited to write next weeks edition, let’s hope City don't clip my wings this week!