Swansea City 1-2 Manchester City, 2016 EFL Cup: Player Ratings

Manchester City are through to the fourth round of the English Football League Cup after defeating Swansea City 2-1 in South Wales to stay perfect this season and advance to the next phase of the competition.

This wasn't a spectacular performance from Pep Guardiola's side as we've seen in the previous games, but with such a changed lineup and plenty of young players, this was expected. Still, there were some who did a great job, and we grade every Citizen that played on Wednesday, with help from our buddy Nick Patch.

Starters

Willy Caballero: 6.0

Distribution was not Willy's strong suit on Wednesday. Now it should be clear why Pep was so keen to bring in Claudio Bravo once Joe Hart was out of favor. Caballero did produce some nice saves though, and his shot-stopping has clearly improved since his arrival.

Pablo Zabaleta: 7.0

Zabaleta is consistently putting in solid defensive performances and with each game we see a little bit more of those old bombing runs forward. Zabaleta will always be a fan favorite and after a rough campaign last year, it's good to see Zaba playing so well again.

Vincent Kompany: 7.0

In his return Kompany looked fantastic for about 92 minutes. Seeing the skipper head down the tunnel while City were left to defend what seemed like a slim one-goal lead late in the game got everyone nervy. Hopefully it's nothing serious as City could use Kompany's quality in both defending and passing from the back.

John Stones: 6.5

Seemed a little too relaxed at time tonight. No doubt Stones will be more on his toes come this weekend's tie against the Swans. With (presumably) Otamendi, Bravo, and Kolarov back in the team, his mistakes should clear up.

Gael Clichy: 7.5

A goal for the French left0back capped off a nice evening for the veteran. Clichy was constantly getting forward and playing solid passes to the midfield. On a night City needed an unlikely hero, Clichy and a certain Spaniard stepped up.

Fernando: 7.0

Fernando has had a lot of varying performances this year alone. Sometimes he looks great, other times everything he does looks like a struggle. On Wednesday he was solid at protecting the front four, and even played some fine passes forward, but to get in this City squad now one a regular basis, more is needed.

Angeliño: 5.5

The young Spaniard did not fair well against Swansea, that's really all one can say. Positionally, perhaps it was too much to expect him to play in the De Bruyne role. Pep changed it up almost right away and brought Navas in the middle and Sane out right. But Angelino continued to struggle, though he did play a nice through ball for Clichy's goal.

Aleix García: 8.0 (Man of the Match)

Garcia showed that he can play anywhere in City's midfield. That's not something to overlook as we know Pep loves players who can play all over the place. Add to that his passing ability and scoring the game winner, expect to see him in a few more matchday squads going forward.

Jesus Navas: 6.0

More of the same: Navas got wide, but too often his final ball let him down. The few times he did manage to play good balls the other forwards wouldn't make great runs. Navas has a place in this team, but there is still room for improvement.

Leroy Sané: 6.5

Sané seemed to struggle on the left wing, where he started and played most of the first half. Once he was moved to the right he started to grow into the game more, and once De Bruyne came on he was really able to get free. City will need Leroy to pick up the pace because with Nolito's suspension, it's between him and Navas when City play the Swans again this weekend.

Kelechi Iheanacho: 6.5

The Nigerian was again solid without Sergio Aguero able to be selected. Despite not getting on the score sheet, his pressing game and attacking runs were all on point. It's truly exciting to think about the prospect of City's future forward options.

Substitutes

Kevin De Bruyne: 7.0

Hear me out here, I think Pep is turning De Bruyne into his new Messi. That's not to say De Bruyne will be as good a dribbler or passer, but he'll be the player Pep relies on to change games. De Bruyne's introduction immediately changed the game, and the Belgian is undroppable at this point in bigger games.

Brahim Diaz: 6.5

The youngster showed some nice skills in his brief appearance. He looked visibly nervous on the touchline getting ready to come in. Surely a night he'll never forget, and hopefully (another) one for the future.

Tosin Adarabioyo: N/A

The Manchester youngster was only briefly on, though obviously did help see the game out after Swansea equalized.

Do you agree with our ratings? Who's your man of the match?