Manchester City saw £63m of January signings show their potential in separate halves of their FA Cup win at Leyton Orient.
Pep Guardiola insisted he never considered replacing Abdukodir Khusanov in the first half of his nightmare debut vs Chelsea - but he would be forgiven for wondering what he was seeing in front of him.
But Guardiola saw his senior players rally round Khusanov against Chelsea and refused to criticise the Uzbekistan international after his mistakes. Phil Foden made an effort with him in training, Khusanov watched from the stands against Brugge and from the bench at Arsenal, and he was introduced at half-time against Leyton Orient in the cup.
He was strong, got stuck in, made three clearances in 45 minutes , and complemented John Stones well. Only five players made more touches in the game despite him playing just half the match, and only three players made more passes. "His quality is fighting, understanding of movement, but as well, his speed. This guy plays with such anger. He wants to hit everyone on the pitch because he's coming from a poor country, poor background."
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