Leicester City tasted victory for the first time in 39 days with a resounding 6-2 win over Queens Park Rangers in the FA Cup. It ends a torrid run of five straight victories and feeds some much-needed confidence into Ruud van Nistelrooy's players.

Impressive displays by Bilal El Khannouss, Facundo Buonanotte, James Justin and Wout Faes helped the Foxes on their way to the fourth round. Minus two individual errors by Harry Winks, City played with conviction in spells and punished their Championship counterparts.

Naming his strongest possible XI was the right decision for Van Nistelrooy. Nearly all of the 11 that started will be feeling much better about themselves going into Crystal Palace on Wednesday night than they were before the cup clash.

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"I feel [like] we are in a process where we are getting better, doing the things better and that's why I wanted to continue that," Van Nistelrooy explained. "When you have the advantage of being 4-2 up early in the game, you can take players off. That was a big benefit.

"The triple substitution means you can keep players fresh and get other minutes as well. I'm delighted with the game today."

Van Nistelrooy spent most of the contest, as he does every game, tight to the touchline, observing what was playing out in front of him. He often retreated back to the dug-out and discussed tactics with his coaching staff whilst also barking out specific orders to players.

However, something that is becoming more noticeable is the presence of new first-team coach Brian Barry-Murphy. The former midfielder joined Van Nistelrooy's coaching staff over Christmas, the second appointment made following Jelle ten Rouwelaar's arrival in November.

Barry-Murphy, like Enzo Maresca, arrived at the King Power Stadium after working with Manchester City's development team. During his time at the Etihad, the Irishman worked closely with Pep Guardiola and led the Under-21s to successive league titles in his first two years.

He also played an active role in the development of Cole Palmer and Romeo Lavia, now plying their trade under Maresca at Chelsea. After leaving City in the summer, Barry-Murphy is now working under Van Nistelrooy and his presence is telling.

As well as being a key figure in City’s training sessions, he also oversees the sessions in the warm-up to games. A hands-on coach working alongside Van Nistelrooy.

Throughout the win over QPR, he spent most the game standing around two metres behind Van Nistelrooy. Messages constantly shouted on to the pitch, offering encouragement, tactics and instructions.

"It's a very important factor in the translation of the game model to the training pitch, developing the team, the unit and individual to the max.," Van Nistelrooy said when asked about Bryan-Murphy in December. "He is excellent in that and I'm very happy to add him to the team."

His role at Leicester takes a little pressure off Van Nistelrooy. Much had been made of the lack of staff appointments made in line with his arrival but two have now followed him to the King Power Stadium. A former head coach with experience working with one of the game's greatest like Guardiola is only good news for Leicester.

Barry-Murphy was one of the first members of staff to greet players coming off the pitch and often was spotted in conversation with Van Nistelrooy. A coach of his quality working with City could be big in their hopes of remaining in the Premier League and implementing Van Nistelrooy's style of play.