Crystal Palace’s stars wilt, Manchester City’s youngsters shine, and Liam Rosenior starts in stylish fashion
Playing against lower-league opposition as a top-flight side in the FA Cup is like batting on the first morning of a Test match – you cannot really win and failure can prompt humiliation and reputational damage. To that end, some members of the Crystal Palace side deservedly beaten by Macclesfield perhaps learned a valuable lesson at Moss Rose. Marc Guéhi and Adam Wharton are linked regularly with big moves away from Palace, but part of succeeding at elite clubs – the pair are admired by Manchester City and Manchester United respectively – is coping with being overwhelming favourites. Oliver Glasner, too, may have designs on bigger things, with United again a possible destination, but to see his side schooled by part-timers was a blow to his burgeoning reputation. Glasner slammed his players after the defeat but the Austrian must take a portion of the blame. They must all do better. Dominic Booth
Report: Macclesfield 2-1 Crystal Palace
In only his second senior game for Manchester City since being recalled on Monday from his loan at Watford, Max Alleyne scored the opener and cruised through the trouncing of Exeter until being replaced on 64 minutes. “The last week’s been kind of crazy,” the 20-year-old said. “But I really enjoyed every second I’ve been back. I was at Watford and was recalled, so I was straight in on Wednesday [for the 1-1 draw with Brighton] and then again on Saturday. My family are down south so I haven’t seen them much [since].” His 17 games in the first half of the season for the Hornets have aided Alleyne’s development. “There’s such a different style of football that I was asked to play there. It really helped me in duels and just learning little tricks in the game. You don’t get many options to do that in the academy,” he said. Jamie Jackson
