Silva came on as a late substitute against Southampton, but played most of the game against Hull.
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“It was also important for Wilfried Bony to play for 65 minutes after he only recovered from a muscle injury a few days before Saturday, and it was good for Kelelchi Iheanacho – a young player who scored”. He gives us possession of the ball, which is a style of play that we like to play and he connects well with De Bruyne, and our other technical players.
City were in cruise control by now and De Bruyne added a sixth goal in ten games when he powered in a free kick on his right foot with three minutes left.
Southampton’s next match comes against Liverpool in the Capital One Cup quarter-finals, and they will require an improvement if they are to progress in the competition.
Andrew Robertson went some way to atoning for his error for City’s fourth with a well-taken late consolation.
Silva fired a 25-yard effort just past the post on 70 minutes before De Bruyne had an effort punched clear six minutes later.
Raheem Sterling said he has reluctantly had to accept Manuel Pellegrini’s squad-rotation policy after moving to Manchester City.
Bruce could point out he made 10 changes in the previous round against Leicester, in keeping with his usual policy for this competition. Long reduced the arrears with a header from a Sadio Mane’s cross early in the second half, but Kolarov restored City’s two-goal cushion by lashing in from De Bruyne’s dinked cross in the 70th minute. Hull were trying to create a piece of club history and having come this far, it was a meek way to go out.
Klopp saw his team beat Swansea City 1-0 on Sunday courtesy of a James Milner penalty and was also boosted by the returns from injury of captain Jordan Henderson and striker Daniel Sturridge.
“Maybe we will make some changes but not so many as Zabaleta, Kompany, Mangala and Nasri are all out”, said Pellegrini.
Tigers boss Steve Bruce insists he has no regrets about making seven changes for the club’s first League Cup quarter-final.
“One day I will start playing regularly for the team”.
As it was, the most disappointing part for Bruce was the way his team disintegrated after the second goal.
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“It’s good news. They are very important players and they did well”, said Klopp, who revealed that Brazilian playmaker Philippe Coutinho could face Southampton despite sitting out Sunday’s game with a hamstring complaint. “All of a sudden it’s 4-0”.
