A City Fan’s Perspective: Gabriel Jesus (and the midfield) takes down Big Sam

With a fourth round matchup waiting, Manchester City drew an unlucky side once again in the FA Cup. They had to play two Premier League sides in the knockout stage, West Ham United and Crystal Palace, but neither proved too tough for City.

Crystal Palace are still winless under new manager Sam Allardyce, as City dominated Palace and won 3-0. Gabriel Jesus headed City’s attack, and he proved his talent in the attack once again.

Meanwhile, Vincent Kompany finally started for City, and Fabian Delph appeared in the lineup for a rare start. Here’s a look at the game from a City fan’s perspective.

Defense

Vincent Kompany finally made his return to the squad as captain, and he lasted 90 minutes without an injury! That’s a win for City, no matter the result.

Willy Caballero made three saves on the day, and came to the rescue on the few occasions where City’s defense crumbled. He is a better shot stopper than Claudio Bravo, and I would love to see how he fares in a Premier League appearance.

Palace missed a few chances, however. Most notably, Loic Remy came on for Christian Benteke and almost levelled the match, but his attempt to finish from close range sailed above the crossbar.

The solid defense gave City a boost to win the match. Any time City keeps a clean sheet, something was working on the back line.

Midfield

City's world class midfield scored all of the goals this match, as Raheem Sterling, Leroy Sané and Yaya Touré all managed to get the ball past Wayne Hennessey. However, it was David Silva’s performance that led the midfield this time.

The Spaniard was all over the pitch, picking out exquisite passes and leading City down in Palace’s half. The midfield constantly pressured high up the pitch and held back the Palace attack when need be.

Once again, Touré proved me wrong with another solid performance as a holding midfielder, and his performance was influential to City’s strong showing. He capped off his great day with an amazing free kick goal, curling the ball into the top left corner past Hennessey’s outstretched arm.

Attack

Gabriel Jesus is the future of Manchester City.

Okay, my prediction may be a bit too ambitious, but his first two performances for the Sky Blues can only be a sign of what’s to come.

He delivered a crazy good pass to Sterling for City’s first goal, and he constantly managed to find holes in Palace’s defense. Late in the match, he dribbled around Hennessey to find an open net, but he literally slipped on ice before he could score his first goal for his new club.

While Jesus' full debut at the club is extremely impressive, it will likely push Kelechi Iheanacho out of the squad. With all of the competition surrounding the City attack, Iheanacho didn’t even manage a spot on the bench for this game, and his valuable services in the attack will not be needed for a while, it seems.

However, the Nigerian striker will make an impact at some point. With all of the talent in the City attack, they are title contenders in every competition they play in if they play like they did against Palace.