*** City v Sheffield Wed - FA Cup Match Thread ***

[phips]

thank god for the birthday boy.

i was upset that we had to bring Nasri and Silva on but 30 extra mins today is better than a 90 min replay in a congested schedule.
Silva was the key to this match.

[Hutch's Shoulder]

Skin of our teeth there. Only Milner and Navas of the starting outfield players did themselves justice. Jovetic and Yaya were a bit lost without others to feed off. Kolarov deserving of Nick's scorn today.

Into the 4th round nevertheless, as good as a 7-0 in the end.

[Beefymcfc]

Well, that completes an hectic period of football where we played 10 games in 35 days, coing out of it unbeaten. It may not have been nice to watch sometimes but we're now unbeaten since Bonfire Night (5 Nov), a run of 13 games where we've only drawn 2.

We now go into quite a normal month with only a game per week but the games coming up may/will have an affect on our season. We're still in the shout for 3 cups and this time last season we had to play 9 games in January (W8, D1) due to our continued form in the LC as well as a replay with Blackburn in the FA Cup. No such concerns this time and after the away game to Everton & home game to Arsenal, it is Chelsea who have a bit of fixture congestion as they play their 2 legged semi against the Dippers. Those games just may take their toll as they looked leggy coming out of the festive period, only picking up 4 points from a possible 9.

And now this game is out of the way, the FA Cup shouldn't really cause us any concerns if we carry on winning as the dates of each round don't clash too much with any of the other PL or possible CL games.

It's been a good period for us and even though Yaya will be away, I'm confident, with players coming back, that we can go on and push for top honours again. Even with taking a 'Pinch'.

Come On The Blues!!!

[freshie]

When is the draw for the next round?

[Beefymcfc]

When is the draw for the next round?

They've started doing them on a Monday so I'd guess it's before the games tomorrow evening.

[Herb]

Willy is in goal, Pellegrini said earlier in the season that he likes to give a few games back to back to his goal keepers and that's why Willy got a few around the capital one cup games and again on New Years Pellegrini reiterated that because of busy schedule he thought he'd give Willy Sunderland game and then the FA cup game together before Hart comes back in at Everton.

There should be a 4th round FA Cup tie in between Arsenal home and Chelsea away, would be interesting to see if Pellegrini sticks to his back-to-back games for Willy then or just picks him for the one off FA 4th round game (also depending on who we draw, as a big PL team away might see Hart keeping intact).

Caballero was good today, catching the ball with 2 hands rather than show-boating Hart-style by punching it anywhere. His distribution was good too - at a level that sloppy joe could only dream about - he started a number of attacks from the box and by putting the ball to players on the halfway line and he should keep the shirt in the opinion all all those around me at the match (the regular Hart fanatic who sits in front didn't turn up today).

[DoomMerchant]

Where's Carl?

Waxing his corvette.

Cheers

[blues2win]

Willy's distribution was miles better than Joe's usually is. Still Pellegrini says Hart will be back for Everton. Trip to Abu Dhabi on 19/1 looks certain now with friendly against Hamburg on 21/1.

[Ted Hughes]

Willy's distribution was miles better than Joe's usually is. Still Pellegrini says Hart will be back for Everton. Trip to Abu Dhabi on 19/1 looks certain now with friendly against Hamburg on 21/1.

Hopefully they take a few of the kids so the folks in Abu Dhabi don't have to watch a bunch of uninspired old pros, like we did today.

I'm going to fuck the domestic cup games off along with the Champs league if we don't start introducing some young players. Got it totally wrong today.
No spark. Cold. Waste of an afternoon.

[South Stand Balti]

Very pleased with the win today and it was great to have a bit of atmosphere and banter with the Wednesday fans. We were nt great but our quality found us a way through. In the end we were PDC to their BDO.

[blues2win]

I really think Brandon Barker and Ambrose could have been given at least a half. Pellegrini is just rotating EDS members onto the bench but on the face of it has no intention of actually playing them. Of course if he does give these guys a chance fans need to be patient with them if it doesn't work. They wouldn't of course.

Surely the Hamburg match is a chance to give some of the kids a chance. I wonder what sort of team Hamburg will put out.

[twosips]

Awful game of football and that XI made the idea of 'playing a strong team to get through, no time for kids' out to be what it is. Utter bullshit.

No energy, no life and a bunch of reserves going through the mentions. Nowt to be excited about. What's the point in having an incredibly good youth team if we don't give the ones most deserving a chance? It's not as if they're all 16. Barker et all are 18 approaching 19, some 19 approaching 20. Too much talent there to ignore and who knows, maybe having a kid in the team would actually add a bit of excitement and drive to all involved - the older pros, the crowd. Wasted opportunity and i'm 99% certain that that team today would have done no better than one with a couple of kids given a chance. We might have actually learned something then too.

[Ted Hughes]

Awful game of football and that XI made the idea of 'playing a strong team to get through, no time for kids' out to be what it is. Utter bullshit.

No energy, no life and a bunch of reserves going through the mentions. Nowt to be excited about. What's the point in having an incredibly good youth team if we don't give the ones most deserving a chance? It's not as if they're all 16. Barker et all are 18 approaching 19, some 19 approaching 20. Too much talent there to ignore and who knows, maybe having a kid in the team would actually add a bit of excitement and drive to all involved - the older pros, the crowd.

Jeremy Helan played for them. He wouldn't get in our EDS team, but we can't risk one of them vs Wednesday ?

What use was starting Frank ? Just showed that he's old & needs City's proper team to bring the best out of him. The 11 we put out today was like watching England with Yaya Toure in it.

[twosips]

Exactly. Every single player in our youth team is a better footballer than Helan. Helan's a runner and that's it. Celina would probably have done a better job than Lampard today, actually. He's got a bit of arrogance to his game so it'd have been interesting to see.

[Peter Doherty (AGAIG)]

@MCFC: SUBS NEWS @MCFC: Hart, Demichelis, Clichy, Nasri, Fernandinho, Celina, Silva #cityvswfc #mcfc

Clichy, Nasri & Silva for me.

Get you!

[Beefymcfc]

@MCFC: SUBS NEWS @MCFC: Hart, Demichelis, Clichy, Nasri, Fernandinho, Celina, Silva #cityvswfc #mcfc

Clichy, Nasri & Silva for me.

Get you!

Just goes to show that Pellers doesn't need the app for his android ;-)

[Sideshow Bob]

Just wanted to mention that Willy's distribution was excellent. Refreshing to see.

[Ted Hughes]

Exactly. Every single player in our youth team is a better footballer than Helan. Helan's a runner and that's it. Celina would probably have done a better job than Lampard today, actually. He's got a bit of arrogance to his game so it'd have been interesting to see.

Could have started Barker & maybe even Celina or Ambrose, then changed one or both later if it didn't work, meaning we have a full set of quality subs to go at when Wed get tired later.

Edit: then again if Barker had played in front of Kolarov, it might have ruined him.

[twosips]

Just gutted now that we probably won't see any kids get a chance this year now. We won't get an easier draw than Wednesday at home i'd presume and they defo won't get a chance in the league or CL.

[Blue Since 76]

Just gutted now that we probably won't see any kids get a chance this year now. We won't get an easier draw than Wednesday at home i'd presume and they defo won't get a chance in the league or CL.

We might play a few away to Barca providing we're far enough in front after the home game...