Pep Guardiola made 11 changes from the Premier League win over Tottenham as Plymouth Argyle came to the Etihad. After a 3-1 comeback win that booked Manchester City's place in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, it would be a surprise if he did not make another 11 for the top flight trip to Nottingham Forest next week.
A win is a win, and City ultimately proved too good for Plymouth. It was another battle though that exposed some of the flaws that certain individuals have been having all season.
It would be churlish not to give credit to City for a victory that moves them to within one game of another Wembley trip. They may have had to do it the hard way, wasting 87% of possession in the opening minutes with a lack of attacking threat before marking poorly from a corner to allow Maksym Talovyerov to allow the Championship strugglers to dream again.
Conquerors of Brentford and Liverpool in previous rounds, this was no given for City and going behind was a costly reminder. An equaliser did not look likely in the remaining eight minutes of the first half, until Kevin De Bruyne's free-kick was neatly headed in by Nico O'Reilly.
If that gave Guardiola an easier team talk, it still required patience, time, and the best striker in the world to come off the bench to down Plymouth. Moments after Erling Haaland had seen the keeper pull-off a remarkable close-range stop to deny him in the 75th minute, one of the corners that followed saw O'Reilly nod in his second of the game at the back post.
O'Reilly and centre-back Vitor Reis, making his home debut and only his second City appearance following one half at Leyton Orient last month, were the brightest points for the Blues on another afternoon that was tougher than it needed to be.
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