Manchester City Thread

[Chittychangchang]

Manchester City won the Carabao Cup after a penalty shootout

Manchester City picked up their first major trophy of the season but it was a triumph that came at a price...
Manchester City were not at their fluent best at Wembley but it was still enough to edge past Chelsea on penalties and lift the Carabao Cup for a second successive season. The first part of the quadruple is complete but injuries to Aymeric Laporte and Fernandinho could complicate Pep Guardiola's plans with the fixture list at its busiest.

City won the shootout 4-3 after being held to a goalless draw by the Chelsea team that they beat 6-0 in the Premier League earlier this month. Leroy Sane saw his effort saved but Ilkay Gundogan, Sergio Aguero, Bernardo Silva and finally Raheem Sterling all converted. City got the job done. "They managed to do it," club legend Pablo Zabaleta told Sky Sports.

"The way that City have been playing lately, you expect them to score three or four goals in every game. They played against a tough team and it was difficult to create chances. Normally, they create five or six clear chances every game but today was very difficult because Chelsea were fantastic. But in the end the penalty shootout went their way."


6:36


Chelsea 0-0 Man City (AET: 3-4 on pens)
Highlights of the Carabao Cup final final between Chelsea and Manchester City.


















Highlights of the Carabao Cup final final between Chelsea and Manchester City

Earlier in the day, Liverpool were held to a goalless draw by Manchester United. The point was enough to restore the Reds to the top of the Premier League table but with 11 games remaining their lead stands at just one point. As a result, City are now 1/2 favourites with Sky Bet to retain their Premier League trophy just as they have done with the Carabao Cup.
With City also favourites to win the Champions League and odds-on to lift the FA Cup for the first time under Guardiola, talk of an unprecedented quadruple is not going to go away any time soon. "It is still possible," said Zabaleta. "Let's be positive. They just have to go game by game now. Every single question is about the quadruple now. They have so much quality in that team to go for every single trophy but it is going to be tough."


Aymeric Laporte will be a big miss for Manchester City in defence

If there is a concern it will be the injuries that were suffered at Wembley. This trophy came at a price with Aymeric Laporte and Fernandinho both facing injury lay-offs. "The two players who are injured now are so important to them," Jamie Redknapp told Sky Sports.
Laporte has missed only one Premier League game all season having established himself as the first-choice centre-back. He has also filled in at left-back with Benjamin Mendy unavailable so Guardiola has been robbed of that option too. There are alternatives at centre-back with John Stones, Nicolas Otamendi and Vincent Kompany but it's not ideal.


Fernandinho was forced off with an injury that could keep him out for weeks

The loss of Fernandinho once again could be even more problematic. The Brazilian missed two Premier League games either side of Christmas - at home to Crystal Palace and away to Leicester - and City surprisingly lost both of them. With Stones potentially needed in defence, the onus will be on Gundogan to cope in Fernandinho's absence.
The fixture list is not too unkind but it is congested. City host West Ham at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday evening before visiting Bournemouth on Saturday. There is then a rare free midweek before playing Watford at home on the following Saturday. They are all matches that City will expect to win but that only highlights the need to avoid any slip.

[Dillinger]

Highlights of the Carabao Cup final final between Chelsea and Manchester City

Is there mean to be a photo above that?

You will struggle without Fernandinho I feel......but we are a quarter of the way there to our epic bender in August brother Achmed

[Dillinger]

On a side note- i stumbled into an Irish pub last night, sat at the bar and prematurely cheered when
Chris Smalling nearly scored, not realising there was a Liverpool supporters group of about 6 snarly Scousers sat at a table

[harrybarracuda]

On a side note- i stumbled into an Irish pub last night, sat at the bar and prematurely cheered when
Chris Smalling nearly scored, not realising there was a Liverpool supporters group of about 6 snarly Scousers sat at a table

At the 1987 League Cup final, our office mailman (fellow Gooner) had a couple of spare tickets courtesy of his tout brother, so off we went to Wemberly to see The Arsenal do Liverpool.

Said mailman was a staunch union man, so suggested the cheapest beer pre-game would be at Willesden CIU.

Of course on walking in, every mickey mouser south of Hadrian's Wall was in the place.

So we sat there for two hours listening to all these mickey mousers going through their repertoire of songs. I doubt there was an employed union man among them.

Anyway, we got by with our best Brookside accents and the result spoke for itself.

Ruined Rushie's record of never losing a game in which he scored. It was also the only fucking useful thing Charlie Nicholas did.

[Chittychangchang]

Was it called O'Malleys Dill?

Gotta be careful in there, got a reputation by all accounts.

Gonna be a squeaky bum couple of months now with the quad on, should have just bet a few quid.
Would have been less stressful.

[Chittychangchang]

[Chittychangchang]

Manchester City fans have called for the club to "win the quadruple" in honour of a supporter who was attacked following their Champions League first-leg win over Schalke in Germany.

The 32-year-old man suffered a serious head injury after being confronted by two "ultra" Schalke fans.

City fan Mark Rogers set up a fund for the victim and his family, which has also had donations from Schalke fans.

"We've had a good response - now let's do the quadruple for the lad," he said.

"City is a family. You expect there to be some anger but there wasn't - it's all about hoping it's a full recovery and that everything is going to be OK.

"It was a family going to a football match - a mum, a dad, a son and a daughter - a family trip and they were attacked. It shouldn't happen, not at any ground."

The injured fan, who has not been identified at his family's request, was left in a coma following the attack and is now responsive but cannot talk because of a breathing tube. Gelsenkirchen police have since arrested a 30-year-old man.

The City supporter had travelled to Germany with his family for the club's 3-2 win in the first leg of the last-16 tie , with the second leg to be played at the Etihad on Tuesday.

Asked if home fans were worried about possible violence at the match, Rogers said: "Everyone is going to go and enjoy the game.

"The only concern for us City fans for the second leg is that we get through to the next round, and we would love to give that family something to smile about come June."

C'mon City

[Chittychangchang]

For Manchester City it was an evening of spectacular superiority. They have had a lot of those occasions at this stadium and for the latest it is probably fair to say VAR gave them more grief than Schalke. Even the referee looked apologetic at times, embarrassed perhaps, about the slightly awkward occasions when the crowd were not sure whether they could celebrate goals properly.

Not that it mattered too greatly on a night when City threatened to repeat the 9-0 that Burton Albion suffered here in the Carabao Cup (restricting themselves to the same margin of victory they had against Rotherham in the FA Cup) and waltzed into the quarter-finals. It felt almost like a trick of the mind that there was a point in the first leg when they were losing 2-1, down to 10 men and Pep Guardiola was looking anxious, to say the least.

Manchester City 7-0 (agg: 10-2) Schalke: Champions League last 16, second leg – as it happened
Read more
This was a much more stress-free occasion, featuring a three-goal blitz in seven minutes towards the end of the first half and, as always with City, no sign that they are ever willing to ease up when a rout is on the cards. Sergio Agüero scored the first two, struck the post with another first-half effort and, if anything, might reflect on a good opportunity to get his fourth hat-trick of the season.

Leroy Sané added the third goal and then set up others for Raheem Sterling, Bernardo Silva and the substitute Phil Foden. Gabriel Jesus made it seven on the night and 10 on aggregate. Yes, Schalke were obliging opponents but the scoreline still felt like a reflection of City’s ambitions, having softened up their opponents in Gelsenkirchen three weeks ago.

To put it into context, this was the 28th occasion in the Champions League era when a team have scored three away goals or more in the first leg and not once has it resulted in anything other than that side qualifying for the next stage. Schalke, Bundesliga runners-up last season, are four points above the relegation places and their slender hopes were obliterated when, first, Agüero demonstrated that he had been practising a panenka routine from the penalty spot and then, three minutes later, the same player added City’s second goal.

Agüero has missed more penalties over the years than he would probably care to remember but this one was a beauty. A new technique, too, for someone who usually prefers to hit the ball hard and low. Guardiola has a curious habit of not watching when his team have a penalty, choosing to stare at the floor rather than observing the action, and therefore missed Agüero chipping the ball down the middle while the goalkeeper, Ralf Fährmann, dived at thin air.

The penalty had been awarded for Jeffrey Bruma’s challenge on Bernardo Silva and the VAR analysis seemed to take an age before the decision was relayed back to the referee that Schalke’s full-back had, indeed, prevented his opponent from latching on to Ilkay Gundogan’s through ball.

When VAR is introduced to the Premier League next season it can only be hoped it is a speedier process because the length of delay here did little but irritate the crowd and affect the game’s momentum. The first wait felt unsatisfactory but it was an even more numbing delay when Agüero doubled the lead and, this time, the most infuriating part is that it looked relatively straightforward to decide that Raheem Sterling was onside in the buildup. With a clever backheel, Sterling found Agüero inside the penalty area. The striker held off Bruma before squeezing his shot past Fährmann at the near post and, finally, the goal was confirmed via a message on the large screen. Modern football, indeed.

Juventus 3-0 Atlético Madrid (agg: 3-2): Champions League last 16, second leg – as it happened
Read more
Nor was that the last time the referee was doing that now-familiar rectangular sign with his fingers. Sané had a goal disallowed for a marginal offside decision early in the second half and at least the officials were a little quicker with their verdict when Sterling scored his goal shortly afterwards. Again, it was an issue of whether the player was offside when he ran on to Sané’s cross and thumped in a splendid first-time shot. The video replays showed he had timed his run perfectly and the fourth VAR decision in 31 minutes went in City’s favour.

It was a strange subplot but for City only a minor irritation in the overall story. Sané, in particular, looked keen to impress against his former team and his goal stemmed from possibly the best passing move of the first half. David Silva set up the shooting chance and the German drove his shot emphatically into the bottom corner.

Sané’s cutback gave Bernardo Silva the chance to drive in the fifth goal and he was prominently involved again when Foden ran through to make it six. Jesus, another substitute, added the final goal with a right-foot finish and City, on this evidence, will take some stopping.

[harrybarracuda]

Well the old flat track ponies won't get the 14th best team in Germany in the next round.

Ronaldo, that's some player eh. Can't stop him.

[harrybarracuda]

City are playing some team in the lower reaches of the championship, so a good opportunity to show off this "academy of homegrown players" we keep hearing about and start some youngsters.

Not a single one. Not even Phil.

Must be some fucking academy that one.

[Dillinger]

This Celina kid came through their academy. Looks pretty decent

[NamPikToot]

City are playing some team in the lower reaches of the championship, so a good opportunity to show off this "academy of homegrown players" we keep hearing about and start some youngsters.

They need someone, perhaps the Hatrick Homo Icon

[Dillinger]

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co...ansea-15952080

[Dillinger]

Quick...cancel that Madrid holiday bro

[Jack meoff]

[Jack meoff]

2-2
Coming up

[Dillinger]

CITY SLICKERS[at]Man City’s amazing £153m haul from selling kids who made 33 starts combined

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co...ansea-15952080

Its like that Leaving Neverland

[Dillinger]

2-2
Coming up

Probably end up 8-2

I'll give it half hour before I start looking for sheep and Skegness holiday memes

[NamPikToot]

there's 18K on this

[Jack meoff]

Dill next game thoughts,
Your home team or United?

Who you rooting for after a disappointing away game in Cambo last week

[Jack meoff]

there's 18K on this

18 kg of rice?

[Dillinger]

there's 18K on this

And my free night out.

[Dillinger]

Dill next game thoughts,
Your home team or United?

Itll be a tough game. They play some good high tempo football them Dingles and will be favourites to win the cup if they can win and City don't pull their socks up.

[Dillinger]

a disappointing away game in Cambo last week

I netted 8 times. OK 6 were own goals. It was a boggy pitch.

[Dillinger]

Come on Citeh!!!!