No De Bruyne, no problem as super City smash in six

WHO needs Kevin De Bruyne when you can hit teams for six like this?

Most sides in the world would miss the Belgium superstar – but Manchester City are not like most sides.

De Bruyne will be sidelined for three months with damaged knee ligaments – but every cloud has a Silva lining and in Pep Guardiola’s case it came in the shape of his Spanish maestro.

David Silva made his first appearance of the season and was the mastermind of this thumping win with his usual blend of midfield magic.

Silva loaded the gun and Sergio Aguero fired the bullets to kill off a Huddersfield side embarrassingly out of their comfort zone.

Aguero was unstoppable and helped himself to a hat-trick, while a first of the season for Gabriel Jesus, a Silva free-kick and an own goal from Terence Kongolo ensured Jon Gorenc Stankovic’s effort was nothing more than a scoreline statistic.

Stellar names like Raheem Sterling, Riyad Mahrez and Kyle Walker were all dropped to the bench but in truth it didn’t matter who the Spanish boss picked, such was the incredible quality at his disposal.

The home bench boasted more than £250m worth of talent and included Phil Foden, who must be wondering when he will get a start this season.

The visitors also made three changes, with Stankovic replacing the injured Mathias Jorgensen, while Tommy Smith and Abdelhamid Sabiri came in for Jonathon Hogg and Aaron Mooy, whose wife had gone into labour. It was questionable who was in the most pain – Mooy’s wife or his team-mates, considering the battering Guardiola’s men dished out from the start.

The champions could have been 5-0 up inside the opening

30 minutes, such was their total dominance over the

Terriers.

Aguero saw his shot blocked in City’s first attack of the game before Steve Mounie sliced a clearance on to his own crossbar.

Ben Hamer saved bravely from Jesus, who then failed to convert Silva’s back-post cross from almost point-blank range.

Somehow David Wagner’s men had held firm but it was never going to last.

Chipped

The floodgates opened when City took the lead and scored three goals in 10 minutes to end the game as a contest

– if it had ever been one.

The only surprise was the manner in which the home side went in front, considering the breakthrough came thanks to route-one football.

A direct punt upfield from Ederson landed at the feet of Aguero, who found himself with just Christopher Schindler and the advancing Hamer to beat.

Instead of panicking, Aguero took his time and with Hamer in no-man’s land, chipped the ball over him and Schindler into the open goal.

Jesus doubled the lead six minutes later, profiting from Benjamin Mendy’s marauding run to drill a powerful shot through Kongolo’s legs and past the helpless Hamer.

Things went from bad to worse on 35