If Erling Haaland’s extraordinary goalscoring feats render him irreplaceable, every now and again Manchester City are confronted by the question of how to replace him, if only for the occasional game he sits out.
The answer was supposed to be Antoine Semenyo, but as another ever-present this season, he was also rested. It could have been Phil Foden, but he was suspended after his Manchester derby red card. It used to be Omar Marmoush, but he is now at Tottenham, failing to score for them.
Few thought it would be Floyd Samba. A terrific choice by Enzo Maresca was a surprise selection for this Carabao Cup clash, not least because the 17-year-old debutant is a midfielder by trade. Yet if standing in for Haaland could have been a daunting challenge, the newcomer did the most important part of the job description. He scored. Twice.
As Norwich City were beaten by Samba, in one respect he surpassed Haaland. He was more involved in the build-up, showing a willingness to attempt defence-splitting passes and releasing Rico Lewis when an earlier City academy product should have scored.
So this made for an enjoyable evening for City’s understudies. There were two debutants on the scoresheet, with Allan Elias marking his City bow with an assist and then a goal, and two teenagers finding the net, with Ryan McAidoo, a relative veteran at 18, the other.
Maresca’s attempts at rotation went swimmingly and City demonstrated that 2-0 was not a dangerous lead for one Manchester club. The Carabao Cup holders’ reward is a fourth-round date with Brighton, conquerors of Manchester United, showing it could have been another derby.
For City, a glimpse of the new came with an element of the old. In the plush seats, celebrating his son’s brace, was the former Blackburn, QPR and Aston Villa defender Christopher Samba. An England Under-17 international with a German mother, Floyd Samba had scored in the FA Youth Cup final; as, for that matter, had Reigan Heskey, another scion of a famous footballing family.
With City’s senior squad containing a host of talents but a lone specialist striker, Samba transferred his scoring habit to the first team. Haaland had scored City’s previous five goals but, as he was given a night off, they scored five in his absence.
Samba smoothed their path to a sixth straight win. His opener was set up by Allan, whose cross was met by the teenager with an angled header. His second was curled in from an angle.
The game was in effect decided in three minutes around the half-hour mark when City struck twice. Ayyoub Bouaddi was another summer signing to get a first assist in City colours, sending Rayan Cherki scurrying clear to slot in a shot. As Maresca made 10 changes, the Frenchman was the one City player to keep his place, though he had come off at half-time against Manchester United. He was duly substituted at the break again, though for other reasons. He will presumably begin against Sunderland on Sunday.
Well as Samba played, the goal with more immediate significance may have come Allan, who delivered a precise finish after a sharp turn. An unexpected signing from Palmeiras, the £32m buy has in effect replaced his compatriot Savio and played on the right wing.
City’s system offered intrigue as Maresca’s formation was fluid. At times, it looked like City were playing 2-7-1, at others that Bouaddi was dropping into defence. It actually felt as though Lewis and Nico O’Reilly may have been nominal full-backs who inverted into the No 10 position, frequently in the case of the former.
While Maresca named a starting 11 that cost around £280m, it was also a night for City’s youth system. Lewis, O’Reilly and Samba started. They were joined on the pitch by McAidoo, who came on for Cherki, and then left-back Kaden Braithwaite, making their fifth and third first-team appearances respectively. City’s fifth goal was made in their academy, with O’Reilly’s pass and McAidoo’s smooth finish for his second senior goal.
At the other end, Geronimo Rulli, the cheapest of City’s summer buys, kept a clean sheet on his debut; when he was beaten by the in-form Mohamed Toure, the Norwich striker was offside.
After the departures of several senior players in the summer, Mateo Kovacic captained City for the first time. Maresca had some of his bigger guns on the bench, in Enzo Fernandez, Elliot Anderson, Marc Guehi and Semenyo. He could leave them there.
Norwich shuffled their pack too. They are 14th in the Championship and made nine changes. They packed the penalty area and defended with determination as long as they had parity but the outcome was predictable. The home defeats in cup ties in Manchester these days tend to happen at Old Trafford.
