"Its not easy to replace David."
Manuel Pellegrini, 01 December 2015.
Manuel Pellegrini backed up pre-match comments that he considers the Capital One Cup an important competition in naming a strong line-up, which saw David Silva step up as captain in his first start for eight weeks, following his ankle injury.
In keeping with City's better performances they got out of the blocks early, Fernandhino and Delph providing the lungs of the team, as they chased down Hull throughout the opening minutes.
The approach paid dividends with Hull being forced into some early errors, including a handling of the ball outside the box by Hull keeper Jukupovic on 7' not given by the referee.
The early pressure paid off on 11' as Fernandhino closed down, forcing the loose ball to De Bruyne who's effort crashed against the right hand post before rebounding to Bony who confidently slotted the ball home. A much needed goal for the Ivorian who has struggled with injury and form in recent weeks.
Hull were down but far from out, as despite a lot of possession and neat one and two touch football from City, Hull continued to grow in confidence, and forced their first real chance through Hayden on 19'.
The rest of the half continued in a similar vein with City carrying 65.5% possession with Silva pulling the strings, but unable to create any clear cut opportunities. A further half chance for Bony on 31' being perhaps the best of the half chances they did create.
The second half started with much more promise, with the passes being just that bit more telling, the best of the early chances falling to De Bruyne on 56' as his long range effort found Jukupovic once again, and a curling left foot effort from Navas which flew over the left upright on 60', following a knock down from Bony.
Navas made way for Sterling on 61' having taken a couple of knocks in both halves, and on 70' Bony made way for Iheanacho.
It was still Silva, however, who was dictating the play. Hitting a rasping shot just high and wide right on 71' and dinking a right foot effort just wide of the left post two minutes later.
On 79' the second breakthrough finally came with the two substitutes combining with Sterling's pace taking him into the 18 yard box to latch onto Delph's pass and cross directly into the path of Iheanacho, who made no mistake from three yards out.
Two minutes later it was all over for Hull, as De Bruyne latched onto a knock on from Iheanacho to put the tie beyond doubt.
The 86th minute saw perhaps a reason for De Bruyne to start to take more free-kick responsibilities as his kick from the left hand side on the edge of the 18 yard box sailed up and over the wall with ease beating Jukupovic all ends up.
A consolation goal for Hull on 92' from a sweet effort from the impressive Robertson, showed Hull may be worth a punt for promotion from the Championship. They provided stern opposition up until the final 20 but kept going to the end in the face of an impressive City display.
So a satisfying night out for a City team looking to reclaim the trophy for the fourth time, after last winning the competition in 2014 in Manuel Pellegrini's inaugural double winning Season. Man of the match Silva was outstanding, De Bruyne irrepressible, and Otemendi again looked very solid at the heart of defence. Of further note is it looked as if the injury fairy had for once been absent from the Etihad, although Aguero is still nursing his ankle from Saturday and remains a doubt for the visit to Stoke at the weekend.
