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Roberto Mancini was keen to avoid praising individuals after seeing Manchester City beat Manchester United 2-1 on Tuesday.

The victory at Eastlands handed the Blues the advantage in their eagerly-anticipated Carling Cup semi-final, with a place at Wembley now well within reach.

City have gone 29 long years since they last graced a major final, but know they are now just 90 minutes away from achieving that feat after success in the first leg.

Argentine striker Carlos Tevez, who joined from United last summer, was their hero at Eastlands in midweek as he bagged a brace to cancel out Ryan Giggs' opener.

Tonight, Carlos played very well. But I think the whole team is more important than one player," he told Sky Sports.

"In the second half we played very well. In the last 10 minutes we were tired, but it was vitally important that we won this first game."

Mancini knows City will face a United backlash in the second leg at Old Trafford next Wednesday, but the Italian is confident that the Blues can get the job done behind enemy lines.

"At Old Trafford we will start at 2-1, but we know that it will be a hard game," he added.

"We can win at Old Trafford, or we could draw, it is possible."

I rate Mancini as a manager personally.
I think he will be good at us.
But that second leg will be a tough one i think.
Not un-winable though....

still unsure about mancini... that display against everton and the first 30 mins and last 15 mins of todays match was very worrying...

Love the guy though haha

We can no way afford to sit as deep as we did in the first half again in the second leg - but I suspect that we will.

Kladze wrote:We can no way afford to sit as deep as we did in the first half again in the second leg - but I suspect that we will.

And that game is made up perfect for his tactics. We'll ave those scummers comin at us and thrash them on the break IMO.

Burt wrote:

Kladze wrote:We can no way afford to sit as deep as we did in the first half again in the second leg - but I suspect that we will.

And that game is made up perfect for his tactics. We'll ave those scummers comin at us and thrash them on the break IMO.

Agreed, as long as we can find Bellamy or SWP when clearing the ball, then they will give them a lot of troubles on the break.

We rode our luck a fair bit last night.

There were several instances of frankly horrific distribution where players passed (under relatively little pressure) either straight to a red shirt or even straight into touch. I can only put much of that down to nerves and tension last night but if we do that kind of thing so much at the swamp we will be punished for it.

The very positive thing is that there was a lot wrong with our performance last night. Namely:

Turning over possession frequently and needlessly
Failing to put sufficient pressure on the ball/on united (there were several occasions where United got the ball around the centre circle and there wasn't a blue shirt for 10-15 metres) which combined with
Sitting way way too deep and inviting them onto us.

The final scary part was the fact that there didn't appear to be any real gameplan for dealing with Rooney. On the flip side he was pretty much unplayable last night.

All that being said, we won playing a flawed game. There is loads of material to take onto the training ground and much room for improvement IMO. I think we shall see what Mancini is made of in terms of the evidence that lessons have been learnt last night and that he has drilled the players/squad on that basis.

It was a pretty bonkers team he put out last night but it worked. Putting Boyata in must send amazing signals to the youngsters on the fringes. I still can't believe he played him TBH. But credit to Dedryk. Not a perfect performance by any means but pretty fucking good for a 19 year old in the biggest match we've played in almost 30 years??!??! Nedum looked great when he came on too.

All in all a very pleasing night but not too kind on the nerves that one!??!

ant london wrote:We rode our luck a fair bit last night.

There were several instances of frankly horrific distribution where players passed (under relatively little pressure) either straight to a red shirt or even straight into touch. I can only put much of that down to nerves and tension last night but if we do that kind of thing so much at the swamp we will be punished for it.

The very positive thing is that there was a lot wrong with our performance last night. Namely:

Turning over possession frequently and needlessly
Failing to put sufficient pressure on the ball/on U***d (there were several occasions where U***d got the ball around the centre circle and there wasn't a blue shirt for 10-15 metres) which combined with
Sitting way way too deep and inviting them onto us.

The final scary part was the fact that there didn't appear to be any real gameplan for dealing with Rooney. On the flip side he was pretty much unplayable last night.

All that being said, we won playing a flawed game. There is loads of material to take onto the training ground and much room for improvement IMO. I think we shall see what Mancini is made of in terms of the evidence that lessons have been learnt last night and that he has drilled the players/squad on that basis.

It was a pretty bonkers team he put out last night but it worked. Putting Boyata in must send amazing signals to the youngsters on the fringes. I still can't believe he played him TBH. But credit to Dedryk. Not a perfect performance by any means but pretty fucking good for a 19 year old in the biggest match we've played in almost 30 years??!??! Nedum looked great when he came on too.

All in all a very pleasing night but not too kind on the nerves that one!??!

Agree with most of that Ant. We were sitting way too deep, especially in the first half. I thought we had Rooney under quite good control, though, until Owen came on and Rooney dropped a few yards. He seemed to end up in a no man's lannd between the midfield and the defenders, where he constantly got the ball facing our goal, and our defenders being terrified of challenging him.

Boyata did well in my opinion. I really loved the fact that he was pissed off at being subbed. Shows great attitude!

I think a main problem in the first half was a lack of creativity in the middle of the pitch. Playing only Barry and NDJ as central mids just doesn't seem to work. We need someone with better distribution and who sits a few yards highher up the pitch. It got a lot berrer when we went Zabba went central, though. He played really well last night allthough he looked a bit lossed at times.

Yeah I think that's pretty accurate re Rooney....he was scary all night tho for me. Much more scary when Owen came on tho I grant you.

Zabba had a very good game didn't he. It's pretty bonkers how much better he looks when Tevez is playing....just looks like they understand each other really well. Or more to the point that Zabba has a really good sense of how and where Tevez will move. Excellent stuff to watch though.

Just heard a bookie on Talksport saying that they were offering 50-1 on United going one up and us winning 2-1 with Carlitos to score the winner and bemoaning a "costly night" hahahaha

Dedryk is a cool little dude isn't he. I loved how fucked off he was when he was pulled off. I couldn't really tell what the crowd reaction was like...did he get a good clap?

ant london wrote:Yeah I think that's pretty accurate re Rooney....he was scary all night tho for me. Much more scary when Owen came on tho I grant you.

Zabba had a very good game didn't he. It's pretty bonkers how much better he looks when Tevez is playing....just looks like they understand each other really well. Or more to the point that Zabba has a really good sense of how and where Tevez will move. Excellent stuff to watch though.

Just heard a bookie on Talksport saying that they were offering 50-1 on U***d going one up and us winning 2-1 with Carlitos to score the winner and bemoaning a "costly night" hahahaha

Dedryk is a cool little dude isn't he. I loved how fucked off he was when he was pulled off. I couldn't really tell what the crowd reaction was like...did he get a good clap?

Would like to know that as well. The crowd noise was really turned down on the BBC. I sure deserved a big hand for his performance.

mr_nool wrote:

ant london wrote:Yeah I think that's pretty accurate re Rooney....he was scary all night tho for me. Much more scary when Owen came on tho I grant you.

Zabba had a very good game didn't he. It's pretty bonkers how much better he looks when Tevez is playing....just looks like they understand each other really well. Or more to the point that Zabba has a really good sense of how and where Tevez will move. Excellent stuff to watch though.

Just heard a bookie on Talksport saying that they were offering 50-1 on U***d going one up and us winning 2-1 with Carlitos to score the winner and bemoaning a "costly night" hahahaha

Dedryk is a cool little dude isn't he. I loved how fucked off he was when he was pulled off. I couldn't really tell what the crowd reaction was like...did he get a good clap?

Would like to know that as well. The crowd noise was really turned down on the BBC. I sure deserved a big hand for his performance.

Yeah he got quite a rousing applause when he came off...personally...I was just impressed with his footwear ;-)

I really can't believe people find something to critisise after night like last night. I'm still high as a kite from pure euforia.

Maybe in few days but fookin hell..... as results go that was one of the best in my lifetime. I mean League Cup Semi win over Rags, don't get much better than that.

Were him and his cousin Vinnie wearing the same boots

City players...in red boots....against the scum. I never thought I'd see the day!!

Niall Quinns Discopants wrote:I really can't believe people find something to critisise after night like last night. I'm still high as a kite from pure euforia.

Maybe in few days but fookin hell..... as results go that was one of the best in my lifetime. I mean League Cup Semi win over Rags, don't get much better than that.

there's no criticism in this thread you fucking numpty!??!??!

there's some analysis......the two are quite different things.

EVERYONE is buzzing. I am tingling all over

ant london wrote:

Niall Quinns Discopants wrote:I really can't believe people find something to critisise after night like last night. I'm still high as a kite from pure euforia.

Maybe in few days but fookin hell..... as results go that was one of the best in my lifetime. I mean League Cup Semi win over Rags, don't get much better than that.

there's no criticism in this thread you fucking numpty!??!??!

there's some analysis......the two are quite different things.

EVERYONE is buzzing. I am tingling all over

There are few topics questioning tactics and whatever. I feel like I've just shagged Halle Berry and really can't see any downsides or tactical failures right now.

Moments like these don't come often.

that my friend is because you are a mentalist! I know what you're saying but it's nice to actually discuss things that can be improved after a monumental win rather than things that HAVE to be improved after a fucking depressing defeat.

I was impressed with the team and Mancini last night though. Little Carlos Tevez though....he's a fucking legend!

"my goals were special to me but these goals are for the City fans"

Epic

Niall Quinns Discopants wrote:I really can't believe people find something to critisise after night like last night. I'm still high as a kite from pure euforia.

Maybe in few days but fookin hell..... as results go that was one of the best in my lifetime. I mean League Cup Semi win over Rags, don't get much better than that.

It was one of those games mate where the result was great but the performance left a bit to be desired. In Mancio's first couple of games the ball was on the deck- all game. All of a sudden we have introduced long ball and giving it away cheaply.

We should have strolled that but due to our tactical naivety, made it a lot harder than it should have been.

mr_nool wrote: I sure deserved a big hand for his performance.

Why? What the fuck did you do?

dazby wrote:

Niall Quinns Discopants wrote:I really can't believe people find something to critisise after night like last night. I'm still high as a kite from pure euforia.

Maybe in few days but fookin hell..... as results go that was one of the best in my lifetime. I mean League Cup Semi win over Rags, don't get much better than that.

It was one of those games mate where the result was great but the performance left a bit to be desired. In Mancio's first couple of games the ball was on the deck- all game. All of a sudden we have introduced long ball and giving it away cheaply.

We should have strolled that but due to our tactical naivety, made it a lot harder than it should have been.

I hope you are joking. Rags are no mickey mouse side you know.

Niall Quinns Discopants wrote:I really can't believe people find something to critisise after night like last night. I'm still high as a kite from pure euforia.

Maybe in few days but fookin hell..... as results go that was one of the best in my lifetime. I mean League Cup Semi win over Rags, don't get much better than that.

I know exactly where you are coming from, but it is not won yet. We beat Hamburg at our place but didn't win the tie!!

Bingo Lewis wrote:

mr_nool wrote: I sure deserved a big hand for his performance.

Why? What the fuck did you do?

I is in Boyata I guess. Strange type-o.