Boss wants no more cup shocks

[Mark (Blue Army)]

Roberto Mancini will be bearing some recent cup shocks in mind when City take on Scunthorpe at Glandford Park.

The Blues travel to north Lincolnshire having already beaten Nigel Adkins' side this season in the Carling Cup, but for Mancini that 5-1 win at the City of Manchester Stadium will count for nothing when the two sides kick off on Sunday afternoon.

He said, "We have watched Scunthorpe on video, and of course we played them in the Carling Cup earlier in the season.

"Sunday will be a different game, there
will be a few changes to our team but
I want us to play well. Anything is
possible in the FA Cup, and when I
was in Italy everyone knew how big
the FA Cup was."

"We must remember what happened between Liverpool and Reading, and United and Leeds as well. If we think about what happened in those two games, then we can go to Scunthorpe and make sure we win. It's a small ground, they will be strong because they are at home but we will have to be at our best and do what we can."

One player yet to feature since Mancini's arrival at City is Joleon Lescott, who had surgery to remove floating bone on a knee in early December. The England international is making good progress and could be in contention within a couple of weeks.

"Joleon is training with the physios," the boss continued, "maybe next week he will be able to train with the team. It might be possible that he will be ready for either Portsmouth or Hull after that. I saw him play when he was with Everton, and I know he's a good player with a lot of experience."

[CityFanFromRome]

Hopefully the players will follow his advice and bear in mind the united-Leeds and Liverpool-Reading games, and also the Tottenham-Leeds one today, even if Spurs still can go through on the replay, but with our full fixture list it would be better if we avoided the replay and got through tomorrow.