THE VERDICT: CITY 0 WOLVES 0
CLAUDIO Bravo came up with his Willy Caballero moment as City squeezed into the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup.
The Blues reserve keeper had become a figure of fun in the Premier League after his difficult first season with the Blues, in much the same way as his pal Caballero did.
But, like Caballero, he has found redemption in this competition, making two fines saves in the penalty shoot-out after his team laboured against Wolves.
Then Sergio Aguero, who failed to find the goal he needed to break the club record he shares with Eric Brook, came up with the decisive chip in the shootout to win it.
Caballero produced his heroics in the 2016 final against Liverpool, to carve his own niche in the club’ history, but Bravo was already man of the match as the Blues found a couple of strongpoints, and had their weaknesses exposed by the Championship table toppers.
The League Cup has been a useful exercise for Pep Guardiola to assess the readiness of his second string players for first team action.
And while the response was a mixed one, with a few negatives wrapped up with a couple of positives, he will come away from the game hoping that he does not get too many injury problems for the rest of the season.
The main revelation was that, like Fabian Delph, he has another international midfielder who can do a good job at left-back if required.
Aleks Zinchenko arrived at the club in 2016 as an aspiring young Ukrainian, one of his country’s brightest players at the European Championships.
But he lost an entire season by going on loan to PSV Eindhoven, where the coach did not fancy him at all, and he returned to City like a player whose career was getting lost in the wilderness.
Guardiola liked the look of him, however, and recognised his potential as a left-back when Benjamin Mendy’s season was ended so cruelly.
That faith was rewarded with a performance which suggests he is a decent back-up to another recent convert, Delph, at least until City can dip into the January transfer market.
Tosin Adarabioyo is another young player whose career has meandered since he was promoted to the first team squad last season – but he looked much calmer than his senior partner Eliaquim Mangala.
But elsewhere, Guardiola has concerns. He gave David Silva the night off and placed Kevin de Bruyne on his bench as insurance. That meant Ilkay None None 64% 36% 25 10 7 4 Toure Bennett, Price Kevin Friend Gundogan and Bernardo Silva were entrusted with the creativity in the team, and they did not come close to hitting the heights that De Bruyne and David Silva have been reaching.
It was noticeable how much City improved once De Bruyne arrived as a sub – the delivery of passing became more precise and meaningful, an there was suddenly a structure to what the Blues were doing.
Then there was the defence, with City’s lack of depth in the back four alarming – again, not until John Stoned arrived did they look secure against Wolves’ counter-attacking probes.