City second string fail to take their chance

After the supreme levels of performance in recent weeks, this was a bump back down to earth for Manchester City as they crashed out of their favourite cup.

It looked a strong enough team picked by Pep Guardiola, and credit must go to West Ham and David Moyes for making life so difficult, but ultimately too many Blues on Wednesday night didn't do enough to convince the manager they should be starting in the Premier League or Champions League fixtures that they want to be.

You could almost hear the creaks from a rusty Kevin De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling's confidence in front of goal has evaporated and without the stellar service to open up the goal for him Riyad Mahrez could not find the net.

Ruben Dias, Aymeric Laporte, Rodri, Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden are among the players who will surely come back in for the next game and nobody that started against West Ham will be able to have any complaints. Guardiola always hates having to leave players out but there will be no issues after that performance.

Foden on the bench

It says a lot about Phil Foden's development that he was one of the first team regulars rested for this game as Raheem Sterling, Riyad Mahrez and others came into the XI.

The Carabao Cup used to be the Stockport playmaker's domain, his chance to get minutes and push for inclusion in some of the bigger games. Even this season, Wycombe was used as the platform to get him up to fitness.

But having established himself as one of the best players during this opening part of the season Guardiola clearly wanted to rest him for other challenges ahead. When there was no sign of a goal, he was summoned to try and make the difference.

West Ham ease off

West Ham have had an excellent season, up to fourth in the league table and top of their European group.

But the demands of challenging in three competitions has clearly pushed the Carabao Cup down their list of priorities, with nine changes from the weekend win over Tottenham and £100m-rated Declan Rice and in-form striker Michail Antonio not even in the squad.

It was still a decent side put out by Moyes, but not full strength. That made the City team look stronger on paper, but they weren't able to show it on paper - even when they brought some of their better players off the bench.

It was an incredible run in the competition, but the Carabao domination is over.

Style shines through

As soon as Zack Steffen beat away Mark Noble's effort, Manchester City's players came alive.

The ball was moved to Ilkay Gundogan just in front of the box, who carried the ball until a path opened up to play it in front of Raheem Sterling, haring beyond the left of the centre-circle. Sterling sprinted on and fed Kevin De Bruyne in the box, who tried to square it but his touch was blocked for a corner.

While the outcome may have been the same, the move looked very similar to the counter at Brighton that earned the second goal - only completely different players were involved in it.

That, others may want to take note, is what a football identity and quality coaching can do for you.

Palmer impresses despite few opportunities

It was a game where City created little, enjoying plenty of possession and control until they reached the final third where they looked short of ideas.

To the credit of the youngest member of the team, Cole Palmer did more than anyone else to try and create a goal.

He was happy to take on a shot, forcing a good save from Alphonse Areola midway through the first half in what was City's first shot on target. And the 19-year-old also showed some neat touches to set up chances for his teammates, with Gundogan and Mahrez among the players that were unable to make the most of their opportunities.

Playing up front was a tough shift, but Palmer came out of the game with credit.