Burnley (H) - FA Cup - Sat 18th March, 17:45 | Pre-Match Thread

[AliBobbyJ]

Would be nice if the stadium could sing “City loves you more than you will know” to him before k.o.
Then kid gloves off, serious stuff begins, no quarter asked or given. We're there to win it, and win the competition.

By the way, I'm old school, and I love the F.A. Cup. Been to several finals over the decades, won and lost (not exclusively involving City, either), and it's a special event. It is the world's oldest knock-out competition. Spent part of this afternoon watching highlights from finals in the sixties — it was striking that the commentators kept saying “this is the country's premier competition, the one those players most want to win”. I know it's a long time since it has been that ...

Best of them (non-City) for me was Sheffield Wed. v Everton when the Everton fan ran the length of the field shedding jacket and (nearly) pants before being rugby tackled by a copper.
Or West Ham v Preston in '64.

As a great national occasion the Final began to lose something when the community singing went out of fashion, part of a wider (and welcome) cultural shift in the '60s. In more recent times having the semi-finals at Wembley has taken away from the special nature of the day, as has giving up the 3 p.m. kick-off. So I'm forever thankful i was there in 2011, seeing people I'd not seen in a while and the traditional "Abide With Me" still brought a tear or two. Unlike the Watford final later no one could be sure City would win, it was just the start of City's emergence from the misery years. What brought it home was when with five minutes to go two pissed-up fellas sat nearby were trading punches until a lass shouted "will you stop it, CITY are about to win the f***ing Cup!"

And Vinny was there, back again tomorrow.

 

[Tbilisi]

After that CL draw I am more than ever hoping Pep rests Dias, Rodri, KDB and Haarland.

They will be flogged to death by their national managers in the next 2 weeks risking overplay injuries so its up to us to give them a rest.

Not a chance that Pep will do that but to me its a no brainer. If those 4 stay fit we will not have a better chance to win the CL imo.

 

[jimharri]

After that CL draw I am more than ever hoping Pep rests Dias, Rodri, KDB and Haarland.

They will be flogged to death by their national managers in the next 2 weeks risking overplay injuries so its up to us to give them a rest.

Not a chance that Pep will do that but to me its a no brainer. If those 4 stay fit we will not have a better chance to win the CL imo.

FFS; it's "Haaland".......

 

[eyalluvitt]

will city be providing SSL pac-a-macs for the 7000 strong troglodytes raining piss down

And 7K pairs of six fingered gloves

 

[RodneyRodney]

Gundog‘s wife gave birth after the win against Red Bull, we need to give some regulars a rest, but we should still have enough, a narrow victory willdo for me

...just for an instant, I mis-read that as "dildo" !

 

[Blue Theatre]

With them winning every week & super high on confidence, this is very much a potential banana skin.

So no weakened team / Gomez, Palmer, etc, please - as it would pretty much be inviting Burnley to come & beat us.

 

[wolviedinho]

Dangerous game for City. They will harass us off the ball. Nice interview in the mail with Bellamy. Be glad to see him and big vince back but a win is a win. Expect few changes for this to give players like Mahrez and Ortega a game. Probably Laporte, Walker and foden. Alvarez in for the Viking.

2 weeks off now so let’s go out with a bang. Tough game and I expect it to be close.

 

[the talisman]

After that CL draw I am more than ever hoping Pep rests Dias, Rodri, KDB and Haarland.

They will be flogged to death by their national managers in the next 2 weeks risking overplay injuries so its up to us to give them a rest.

Not a chance that Pep will do that but to me its a no brainer. If those 4 stay fit we will not have a better chance to win the CL imo.

Play them at least until the game is looking safe.
Then tell Belgium that Kev is injured.

 

[TonyM]

...............Ortega..............
Walker Dias Laporte Ake
..........Rodri Lewis...........
Mahrez Grealish Foden
..............Alvarez..............

I'd play Lewis in Bernardo's CM position and Grealish in KDB's AM role. I know its tinkering but I think if it could work well then we could see Grealish breaking through the center over and over.

I'd try to bring on Philips, Gomez, Palmer or some other kid if all is well. I just hope none start. Walker is enough of a passenger these days (only messing Jayzus)

 

[AliBobbyJ]

Two good articles on City v Burnley today, one by Oliver Holt in the Mail and another by Jonathan Lieuw in The Guardian. Both describe the job Kompany & Craig Bellamy are doing at Burnley, the intelligence, admirable hard work and passion they're putting into it. Two good guys who gave their all for City, now doing it in a small Lancashire town on a fraction of the budget. They'll get a great welcome at the Etihad on Saturday evening, especially Vinny, yet I wish City were playing anyone else today and that this match was at Wembley in the Final (couldn't care less about who joined the "hateful eight" etc.) I think City will win 4-2 but if by any chance - and they have a small chance - VK and Bellamy are celebrating at the end I'll be just a bit glad for them.

(Let the stonings for heresy begin ...)