Perhaps Gary Neville intuited what was coming when the biggest day in his decade as a co-owner of Salford City finally dawned.
The driving force and spokesman of the club’s Class of ’92 ownership group, was not present to see his team schooled by a Manchester City side which included only two recognised defenders.
Neville was on a skiing holiday, as Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt took up their positions in the directors’ box. He missed a masterclass in which City’s Jeremy Doku, to coin a term once reserved for Ryan Giggs, tore Salford apart.
Giggs more than made his own presence known, loitering on the pitch before kick-off, stepping into the technical area and engaging in the kind of greeting with Pep Guardiola that is usually reserved for a manager.
Unconventional conduct from a director of football – his job title at Salford – and surely not settling for Robinson, whatever the manager might say to the contrary.
It made no difference. Salford were operating under the misapprehension that you can leave a player with the same space to operate in that is safe in League Two, where they have made a decent promotion run in recent months.
Manchester City ‘s resurrection to silverware contenders took a celebrated leap in the FA Cup as Pep Guardiola ‘s dominated a 8-0 thrashing of local lower league rivals, Salford
James Mcatee (left) scored a hat-trick while Jack Grealish (middle) also scored in the cup win
Ryan Giggs (left) more than made his own presence known, loitering on the pitch before kick-off, stepping into the technical area and engaging in the kind of greeting with Pep Guardiola that is usually reserved for a manage
The chant of ‘Giggs is falling apart again’ was ringing through the place after Jeremy Doku swept them into an early lead, ripping a right foot shot past Salford keeper Matty Young without so much as a controlling touch, after Matheus Nunes and Jack Grealish had processed the ball across to him.
The huddle Pep Guardiola embarked on with his players, during a first half break in play, told its own story. The team were two goals to the good by then – already cruising – but City’s manager conducted the session as if it were the Cup final. The breeze that the match turned into should not disguise the performance of the new generation, hanging on his every word.
There was a first senior goal for Divin Mubama, when Nunes embarked on a wide, sweeping run to receive a ball he set up for the 20-year-old to tap in. And then a first senior goal for 19-year-old Nico O’Reilly, who swept home an angular shot after Doku had toyed with the defence.
Grealish was hacked down to bring a penalty he converted for the fourth before Nunes and Doku, a ruthless combination, linked again for the fifth – the Belgian sent racing away and leveling for 22-year-old James McAtee, a Salford boy, to step in ahead of Shepherd to convert.
Doku was in 20 yards of space when he cut in and provoked the handball which saw him convert a second City penalty. McAtee’s received and shot with his left to score a second, with Phil Foden supplying. Grealish supplied Foden in space for the eighth.
It was a deep humiliation for Salford whose rearguard looked shellshocked and bereft of confidence, with City scoring at will. The champions needed just ten shots on target to score their eight.
Guardiola locked in conversation with Jack Grealish who scored on his return to City’s starting Xi
Jeremy Doku scored twice as City secured safe passage to the fourth round of the FA Cup
McAtee was the star of the show as he bagged a stunning second-half hat-trick against Salford
It was a long night for Salford goalkeeper Matt Young who conceded eight times at the Etihad
The prospects of Salford threatening City, meanwhile, were virtually non-existent. A run across the area from Kylian Kouassi in the first half was the single moment of promise but a weak shot ensued.
It was a much-needed boost for City’s whose fans could allow themselves a Posnan and urged their team to score ten even though a ninth had not gone in. Giggs did not re-materialise in the technical area as the worst of the beating was inflicted. He has not known a Cup experience like this.
This tie was drawn from the pot in December, just after City’s bad defeat at Liverpool had led the Anfield faithful question Guardiola’s future employment prospects, and Neville’s jovial response to it on X/Twitter had been ‘sacked in the morning?’ Not so wise, as things turned out.
The City fans were taking great delight in dishing out ritual abuse for him by the end. Perhaps staying away was for the best.
