Manchester City sat back in the second half of the Carabao Cup win over Manchester United to help manage the fitness of their players, defender Kyle Walker has revealed.
City were 'perfect' in the first 45 minutes according to forward Bernardo Silva, who had opened the scoring with a fine strike into the top corner from the edge of the area. He then turned provider for Riyad Mahrez, and Andreas Pereira put into his own goal to make it three before the break.
The scoreline put City in total control of the two-legged tie, but a more defensive second half performance allowed United a way back into the semi-final through Marcus Rashford's goal.
But Walker says the plan was to rest legs after a busy Christmas fixture list while trying to catch United on the break.
"We knew they were going to come out, and they had to come out differently with a fighting mentality so we knew what to expect," Walker told Sky Sports.
"It was basically about controlling the game as much as possible. We've had a lot of games in the festive period and save your legs as best you can but if there's a goal to get, go and get it."
Walker found Bernardo for City's first and was a constant threat on the right hand side against United in the first half.
Having lost his place for the last two games to Joao Cancelo, Walker explained the thinking behind his more attacking performance.
He said: "I just seen space and if i see it I'll attack it. Obviously I've got good players around me that can find me and I thought the first half was great and second half they changed the system, they had to come out fighting obviously 3-0 to a local derby.
"Fair play to us, we got the result we needed and on to the Etihad now."
