Wigan 1-0 Man City: The dream of winning four is broken
There was a big surprise in the FA Cup fifth round when Wigan Athletic beat Manchester City 1-0 to book a ticket to the quarter-finals.
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Goal:
Wigan:Grigg (79')
Although only having to travel to the DW Stadium of the lower league team Wigan in the 5th round of the FA Cup, coach Pep Guardiola still showed caution in arranging the starting lineup. Instead of rotating thoroughly to maintain the fitness of the pillars, the Spanish strategist still kept in the squad stars such as Aguero, Sane or David Silva.
With such superiority in force, it is not difficult to imagine the situation of the match throughout the 90 minutes. Right after the opening whistle, Man City immediately took advantage of ball control time and continuously organized waves of attacks that caused trouble for the home team's goal.
However, in a strangely unlucky day, the visitors' shots could not find the net. Statistics show that, during the 90 minutes, Man City launched a total of 24 shots, but only 1/4 of them (5 shots to be exact) were on target.
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| Grigg scored the only goal of the match. |
In addition, the signs of a day of ineffective and negligent work from Man City's defense appeared right from the first half, when Wigan organized sharp counter-attacks many times, causing Claudio Bravo's goal to waver. And a big turning point came in the final minutes of the first half, Fabian Delph tackled the ball more aggressively than necessary and received a direct red card.
With only 10 men left on the pitch, Guardiola was forced to put his best players, Kyle Walker and Kevin De Bruyne, on the field. But ironically, it was Walker who made the mistake that led to Man City's loss in the 79th minute. A silly lift of the defender's foot allowed Grigg to run up and steal the ball before finishing coolly into the far corner to open the scoring.
A goal conceded with only 10 minutes left and playing with one less man, Man City and Pep Guardiola could not make up for their mistake. The away team players were completely helpless against Wigan's layered defense. Statistics show that, during the 90 minutes, Man City held the ball up to... 82%. In the end, Man City lost to Wigan and was eliminated from the FA Cup.
Line-up:
Wigan:Walton 7; Byrne 8, Dunkley 8, Burn 8, Elder 8; Massey 6.5 (Colclough 77), Powell 6.5 (Fulton 27, 7), Perkins 8, Power 8, Roberts 6.5 (Jacobs 55, 7); Grigg 8.5.
Man City:Bravo 6.5; Danilo 6, Stones 5.5, Laporte 6, Delph 4; Fernandinho 7, D Silva 6 (De Bruyne 65, 7), Gundogan 6; B Silva 6, Aguero 6, Sane 6 (Walker 46, 5.5)
