Manchester City have surrendered meekly to the minnows, Chesterfield and Doncaster Rovers, in the Carling Cup during the past two seasons but, under Sven-Göran Eriksson, their new manager, they are made of sterner stuff. Despite a brief second-half lapse, goals from Emile Mpenza and Rolando Bianchi gave them a comfortable second-round victory against Bristol City at Ashton Gate last night.

Eriksson showed similar disrespect to the competition to that of most of his peers in the Barclays Premier League by making eight changes to the side that lost 1-0 away to Arsenal on Saturday. Weakened, though, his side were not. The spirit Eriksson has quickly engendered in his first-choice players appears to have filtered down to the irregulars.

Bristol City were torn apart by the crisp counter-thrust style of football. “It’s just like watching Brazil,” the Manchester City fans crowed. And, at times, they were not exaggerating. Eriksson’s attacking policy was rewarded in the seventeenth minute when Mpenza latched on to some incisive work from Stephen Ireland and Bianchi to beat Chris Weale with a rising shot. Bristol City threatened only sporadically but Lee Trundle did produce a fine save from Joe Hart.

Eriksson probably asked for more of the same during half-time and, whether he did or not, he got it. Manchester City resumed where they left off, but eventually the Coca-Cola Championship side awoke. Their growing confidence paid off in the 69th minute when Marvin Elliott nodded down Michael McIndoe’s free kick and Bradley Orr scored.

Nine minutes from the end, Bianchi regained Manchester City’s advantage when his stunning 25-yard shot flew past Weale.

Bristol City (4-4-2): C Weale - B Orr (sub: P Jevons, 86min), L Carey, L Fontaine, J McAllister - B Wilson (sub: I Sproule, 53), L Johnson, M Elliott, M McIndoe - S Murray, L Trundle. Substitutes not used: A Basso, C Skuse, T Vasko.

Manchester City (4-4-2): J Hart - Sun Jihai, V Corluka, N Onuoha, M Ball - S Logan, G Fernandes, S Ireland, Geovanni (sub: O Dabo, 83) - R Bianchi (sub: P Dickov, 90), E Mpenza. Substitutes not used: D Mills, K Schmeichel, M Laird.

Referee: R Beeby.