Thanks to Bobby for taking the difficult half of the preview, I've definitely had it easier and it's a long one so apologies if anyone gets bored before the end but my Cup Final excitement took over! (also no mention of Dave Whelan here either)
[center]Manchester City[/center]
[center]The Road to Wembley[/center]
Many have scoffed at City’s route to the final – saying that they have played lesser teams and have had no real challenges. Obviously if you are the reigning Premier League Champions then you can class most teams as “lesser” teams. However the beauty of the FA Cup is in the giant killing so often seen. This year Oldham took the scalp of Liverpool and pushed Everton all the way. Struggling Blackburn put out Arsenal and Leeds saw off Tottenham, whilst Uwe Rosler’s Brentford nearly accounted for Chelsea.
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Third Round: Manchester City 3 – 0 Watford
First up for City in the Third Round was Watford at the Etihad. With Gianfranco Zola at the helm and a list of loanees from Udinese and Granda the length of the OED City faced a potential banana skin. However Mancini fielded a strong team and a professional performance followed with City never really getting into top gear. Tevez opened the scoring with a powerful free kick after 25 minutes before Gareth Barry doubled the lead nodding in from close range following neat work from Silva and Milner on the left. The match also saw Mario Balotelli’s last appearance at the Etihad and it was the maverick Italian’s crashing long range drive that led to debutant Marcos Lopes’ late goal. Balotelli’s effort proved too hot to handle and Lopes followed it home well to knock in the rebound from close range to see City clinch a comfortable 3-0 win.
Fourth Round: Stoke 0 – 1 Manchester City
In the Fourth Round City drew Stoke at the Britannia. A difficult fixture for any team, and a bit of a bogey fixture for Roberto Mancini’s City who had never beaten Stoke away. The game was as expected with a tight affair, City attempting to unlock a solid Stoke defence and having to deal with a multitude of balls lobbed into the box from all angles. Stoke continued to live up to their “dirty” reputation with Glenn Whelan escaping sanction for a horror tackle on Javi Garcia. Having not won away at Stoke since 1999 and with the minutes ticking away the game looked to be heading for a stalemate. However Pablo Zabaleta had other ideas. The manner of the goal had Zabaleta written all over it. Dispossessing Ryan Shotton with a robust tackle in the City half Zabaleta laid the inside and set off in a lung busting run to find himself in the right place at the right time as Aguero’s cross fell kindly for him to dispatch from 5 yards.
Fifth Round: Manchester City 4 – 0 Leeds
The fifth Round brought City back to the Etihad with Championship opponents in the shape of Neil Warnock’s Leeds United. Despite not hitting the heights in the Championship Leeds had just dumped Tottenham out in the Third Round and so there was the potential for another upset on the cards. Particularly against lower league opposition it’s important to start well and City did. Yaya Toure opened the scoring on 5 minutes, the powerful Ivorian played a smart one two with David Silva, pushed the ball to Tevez and headed into the box to collect the Argentine’s clever return flick rounding the helpless Jamie Ashdown to finish. The second came from the penalty spot courtesy of Sergio Aguero. The Argentine was tugged back in the area and to the surprise of many as the contact was minimal Mark Clattenburg pointed to the spot (a correct decision but still strange to see it given.) From there the result was never in doubt and City eased off somewhat and cruised through. Number three came courtesy of Carlos Tevez, tapping in following nice work from Silva and Aguero. And Aguero and Silva combined again for the fourth, the Spaniards chipped pass was weighted perfectly and Aguero beat the offside trap before guiding a fine finish in off the post.
Sixth Round: Manchester City 5 – 0 Barnsley
When the draw was made Barnsley at home was better than anyone could have asked for. Again Roberto Mancini put out a strong line up and his team did not let him down. City dominated from the off with Carlos Tevez (selected despite being arrested for a driving offence two days earlier) in scintillating form. City have never lost an FA Cup tie that Tevez has played in and he showed to gulf in the class between the two sides with a well taken hat-trick. The first goal came after just 10 minutes. Toure chipped the ball into the area, Silva managed to keep himself onside and turn the ball goalwards and as it rebounded off the post Tevez was on hand to turn it in. Tevez turned provider for the second with his low cross slid in at the back post by Kolarov. Tevez and Silva combined for the Argentines second goal with Silva neatly turning Kolarov’s cross into Tevez’ path, Carlos collected the ball and turned inside the 6 yard box leaving Barnsley’s Luke Steele helpless to prevent City’s third goal. Number four was the pick of the bunch, good work on the left hand touchline from Samir Nasri and a low cross into the box was calmly swept home for the hat-trick. David Silva finally got himself on the score sheet before Mancini range the changes and rested his starts. The little Spaniard collected the ball on the edge of the centre circle and headed straight for goal. Following a neat one two with Tevez, Merlin’s initial effort was well stopped but the rebound was kind and Silva guided it home to complete the rout.
Semi Final: Chelsea 1 – 2 Manchester City
And so to Wembley.... again. With the number of trips City have racked up to the national stadium recently many City fans may be wishing they’d splashed out on horribly overpriced Wembley bonds to secure themselves a decent seat. However seen as how the “New Wembley” was first proposed back in 2000 just as City were slipping from the Premier League you’d have to be a time traveller to think that it might have been a wise investment. The Semi Final saw Manchester City the reigning Premier League Champions take on Chelsea the reigning FA Cup holders and European Champions (another easy match on City’s run to the final then.) City went into the match without key man David Silva and also with Sergio Aguero struggling to find form as he came back from injury. Despite this, it perhaps shows how far City have come that even with this in mind the general consensus was that if City turned up they would have too much for Chelsea.
The predictions turned out to be accurate. When they start well City can overwhelm any side and at Wembley they started strongly. Cech was forced into two early saves, and Ivanovic and Bertrand made important blocks. For a while it looked like “Typical City” were beginning to make a comeback. However as half time approached the deadlock was finally broken. Yaya Toure advanced menacingly towards the Chelsea box and his neat pass found Aguero in the area who lay the ball perfectly into the path of Nasri. For reasons unknown with the goal in his sights Nasri tried to slide the ball back to Aguero. Fortunately Nasri’s attempted pass was blocked and the rebound fell nicely for him to fire past Petr Cech from 5 yards. City doubled their lead shortly after the restart with a superb goal; Barry picked the ball up 25 yards out and to the right hand side of the box before floating a cross towards the back post where Aguero expertly peeled away from Ivanovic and guided his header back across the helpless Cech. From there it should have been plain sailing but City seemed to tire. Chelsea began to get back on top and Benitez turned to Torres to spark something from the bench. A long ball forward wasn’t dealt with by Kompany and Nastasic and the ball fell to Ba who finished expertly. There was nothing Costel Pantilimon could do to prevent the goal and the Romanian rewarded Mancini’s faith in him with a fine display, making a number of fine saves as City dug in and ground out the victory.
[center]The Team[/center]
You'll have to indulge this somewhat as I think we all probably know what the team will be but I've tried to make it slightly more interesting.
Roberto Mancini takes his team to Wembley for the 6th time in three years on Saturday and with a squad which is virtually injury free he will be looking to secure the second FA Cup and third major trophy of his short tenure in Manchester. Although he does like to pull the odd selection surprise it is unlikely that there will be any this weekend in London as Mancini will know that delivering more silverware is the only thing that can strengthen his hand after a disappointing CL campaign when he sits down with the board at the end of the season.
There is certainly no question as to who will be between the sticks against Wigan with Mancini already making it clear that he intends to stay true to his word and stick with his number two goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon. Having featured in all of City’s domestic cup matches this year the gangly Romanian has proven to be an admirable back up goalkeeper and delivered a series of assured displays. In particular he pulled off a couple of really world class saves in the semi-final against Chelsea and many supporters around the Etihad have been whispering that he may deserve a little more game time ahead of regular keeper Joe Hart.
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[center]Costel will be hoping for an easy day at Wembley unlike last time.[/center]
Moving into the back four things are likely to remain fairly predictable. At right back Micah Richards whose havoc wrecking in the opposition penalty area has been missed this year has not had enough time and match fitness to mount a serious challenge to the City fans undoubted choice for player of the year Pablo Zabaleta. On the opposite side, Gael Clichy has long now been Mancini’s favoured option and whilst he has not set the world alight he has done nothing to merit losing his place, particularly with Kolarov struggling to shine when given the opportunity.
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[center]Pablo Zabaleta and Gael Clichy have nailed down the fullback spots this year.[/center]
Predicting City’s centre halves is likely to be fairly simple too. Whilst club captain Vincent Kompany has been turned to whenever fit, Mancini has tended to rotate his partner to meet the specific challenge posed by the opposition. Against teams such as Stoke and West Ham who have offered a strong robust forward line and a direct style of play Mancini has favoured then strength and aerial ability of Lescott, however against the “footballing” sides of which Wigan is one then Mancini has turned to Matija Nastasic. With Wigan’s small forward line he is again likely to be selected alongside Kompany and Mancini will be hoping for an assured display from the impressive youngster.
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[center]Kompany and Nastasic close the door on Fernando Torres.[/center]
Within the midfield and forward line there is a little bit more competition however this may just be because none of City’s forward thinking players have really excelled this year. It’s easy to put Mancini into the category of “traditional” Italian manager. Often cautious, particularly in big games his sides’ defensive record this year tells its own story and is the reason keeper Joe Hart is set to pick up another Golden Gloves award. However in the final, and particularly as with due respect the opposition are Wigan and not the rags Mancini is likely to opt for a slightly more attacking line up. Of the six remaining spaces on the team sheet there are realistically only two spots up for grabs with the remaining four going to Mancini’s go to men.
In the middle of the park, the ever reliable Gareth Barry is sure to be one of Mancini’s first choices. Solid and dependable, Barry works well keeping the ball moving around the centre of the pitch with short simple passes, however what he really brings to the side is that security in front of the back four. Reading the game well, if the opposition break quickly it is normally Barry they encounter well placed to breakdown an attack by fair means or foul if necessary. Alongside him Yaya Toure is an ever present, on his day there are not enough superlatives for the big Ivorian and he really is City’s colossus. Deceptively mobile, obviously powerful and remarkably fair of foot whilst in possession Mancini will be hoping that Toure’s impressive Wembley performances continue.
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[center]Definitely wouldn't want to get caught between these two.[/center]
Another shoe-in starter is the mercurial magician David Silva. Whilst it does not appear that Silva has quite hit the heights of last year this may in part be due to the fact that he has been feeding an oft misfiring forward line. Last year the little Spaniard twisted and turned, teasing opposition defences before sliding the ball into Aguero and watching the Argentine hit the back of the net. This year Silva has still created a tremendous number of opportunities for his team mates but has seen a good number of them squandered by wayward finishing. So the front six already includes, Silva, Barry and Toure the next dead cert to start is that man Agueroooooooooo. Whilst the diminutive Argentine has also struggled to recapture the form he showed last year he has started to look like he is coming back to his best of late. Particularly in the semi final against Chelsea he was starting to look sharp and his header was a real classy finish.
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[center]This picture can't fail to make City fans smile.[/center]
The composition of the rest of the side will depend which way Mancini wants to play it. There would appear to be three realistic options from here:
The attacking: Nasri and Tevez
The middle ground: Milner and Tevez or Milner and Nasri
The conservative: Rodwell and Milner (also known as “the Italian backs to the wall lads nothing makes me happier than a 1-0 win”)
Coming back after another extended lay off Rodwell had a decent game against West Brom; full of energy, tough in the tackle (if slightly reckless at times – calm down Jack!!) and popping up and getting on the end of stuff in the box too – albeit unsuccessfully on this occasion. There is a good deal of excitement around Rodwell at the Etihad and if he can truly get over his injuries then he does have the potential to become a mainstay in the City engine room. Strong and athletic with a reasonable turn of pace, Rodwell is good on the ball and strong in the tackle and could be the perfect box-to-box midfielder alongside Yaya Toure with someone in behind holding. However on this occasion Mancini is likely to go with a more attacking line up.
However it is most likely that Mancini will opt for the middle ground. The industry provided by Milner up and down that right hand flank and his willingness to track back makes him perfect against a Wigan side that will look to play football. Like Zabaleta he is one of the few players that can look at himself in the mirror and say he’s performed as well as if not better than last year and thoroughly deserves a place in the starting line up. So alongside Milner it’s looking like one of Tevez or Nasri - a tough one to call. Tevez was very good against WBA and has been impressive in all of his recent games. This is not particularly news to most people though, whatever you think of him Tevez will never give less than 100% and his constant harrying of opposition defenders can put their team on the backfoot. Against a side like Wigan who tend to play the ball out from the back Tevez’s aggressive closing could be a real bonus (Just look at the comical goal that Bale scored against Wigan recently.)
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[center]Milner and Tevez.... Are there two men in the league today who do more running than these two.[/center]
If selection was done by a fan poll then Tevez would get the nod ahead of Nasri. Looking for clues as to where Roberto will turn next it may be telling that Nasri was first to be withdrawn in mid week with Tevez playing until the 90th minute. Since Mancini criticised Nasri’s performances to the press the Frenchman has certainly responded. Ok so he hasn’t yet shown the sort of play that convinced City to shell out £20 something million for him but of late he has at least looked to be working harder than he was in the past. He’s never going to throw himself into 50-50 challenges like a Rodwell or a Milner but City fans on the whole aren’t that difficult to please. The banner unveiled before home games reads “We dream of playing in the shirt, today God chose you, play like we dream” and a look at City heroes up and down the years includes a number of players who didn’t always have the most ability but always gave their all and that’s all Nasri needs to do.
Predicted Team:
Pantilimon
Zabaleta Kompany Nastasic Clichy
Milner Barry Toure Silva
Aguero Tevez
Bench:
Hart, Lescott, Kolarov, Garica, Rodwell, Nasri, Dzeko
[center]Prediction[/center]
No prediction for this one, lets just hope we enjoy the day!
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