City v Stoke City |Match Day thread |13th | 17:15 | FA CUP

[mcfc83]

It's amazing what can motivate a player to perform well. The whole Terry situation may actually help Bridge find that extra bit to up his standards. The Ashley Cole injury has given him a real shot of a World Cup place too. He could be a real bonus to us this season.
As for the result I'm really disappointed. I had us down for a 2-0 win as I thought the Cup, after our near-miss in the Carling Cup, would give the players the extra appetite to go on another run.
Fair play to Stoke they battled away but we knew that would happen. You have to win the battle first before you can play football against them and we didn't do that, we got dragged to their level and were lucky not to lose in the end.

 

[nikusha]

Bridge played well because he knew Cappelo was watching the match : D
we need more aggression
Barry isn't playing well
we need better defenders than Zabaleta or Bridge or Boyata

From my experience, defenders often get nervous and indecisive when being watched by their international manager so Wayne Bridge's very solid performance was a real bonus. Barry and Zabaleta both played okay. We simply lacked creativity and spark up front, which Tevez and/or Bellamy would normally provide. We are not out of the FA Cup yet, mark my words.

City must beat stoke even if we play with the second team!The thing that Tevez was out isn't excuse