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The next week is a busy one in various cup competitions which i believe indirectly affect us.

The rags have the second leg against Bayern. Prior to the first leg, baconface rested a fully fit Rooney at Bolton - I'm not suggesting he'd rest him if fit against City, but if U****d get through, they'll have the first leg of the semi-final in the midweek following the derby, and this may well affect his team selection and the players' attitudes in the game.

Similarly, if Arsenal can get past Barca (unlikely, I know), our game at the Emirates will be sandwiched by their two semi-finals, which could again play in to our hands.

On Thursday, the Scousers play their second leg against Benfica. We saw Benitez take Torres off after 65 mins today, presumably with an eye on that match - showing where his priorities lie, so for me the longer they stay in that competition, the better.

Next weekend, Spurs and Villa are at Wembley for their FA Cup semi finals, another distraction for them both - none of their players would want to get injured/suspended for a potential final.

What I'm saying is, whilst I would normally take delight in rivals' failure, the longer these teams stay in their competitions, the more it suits us. So this week, I'll be hoping Arsenal, Liverpool, Spuds, Villa and even U****d go through

Agree in full with you post and I posted about Spurs and Villa in a different thread. Players mentality does change if you have a chance of playing in a major cup final and this could play right into our hands.

The distractions of our rivals is undoubtedly to our advantage but at some point, we have to evolve into a club that can stand and fall by our own form.
At some point, like the top 3 we are cahsing, we will have to be able to compete at the top of the league whilst also challenging in other cup competitions.
Hopefull, this time next season, we will be chasing the Premier League title and debating who to rest for our forthcoming CL and FA Cup games...When that happens, we will have arrived at the top table.

This will be our distraction next season with NO experience at this level, but I`m gonna enjoy the next 5 games I`m sure.

would also like spurs & villa to goto to extra time & penalty's, that wembley pitch looks very heavy & will make all the players very tired

simon12 wrote:This will be our distraction next season with NO experience at this level, but I`m gonna enjoy the next 5 games I`m sure.

And not enjoy the final game of the season?

I still believe that we may well benefit directly from our rivals involvement in the Fa Cup. I think that one of Villa or Spuds could be coming to us, out of the race for fourth and with one eye firmly on a Wembley final. We could easily find we are playing a very much weakened or not fully committed side in the first week of May.

What John68 said

What Piccs said.

What Chinners and Gilie said

brite blu sky wrote:What Chinners and Gilie said

Was that not what I said?!

I wish I'd said that.

Managers are gonna have a big ball ache if they get through as they gonna be thinking "shall I save this and that player for the cup game or risk them against city" its a fucking nightmare problem to have. Usually it means a few of the top players sitting on the bench for half the match which gives us more advantage but this is City and only we can fuck this up.

dazby wrote:I wish I'd said that.

"You will Shaw, you will!"