First ever Manchester Derby final

[Eccles Blue]

Wigan Athletic say hi!

That wasn’t a good day in many ways:
It poured down, I was on the front row and got soaked. I’d travelled with the Eccles Supporters and we’d parked up at a pub a bus ride away, I’d made note of where to get the bus back but they didn’t run after the match because of the traffic. I started to walk in what I thought was the correct direction, following the bus stops and hoping I’d find a bus further along the route. I got phone calls from the coach saying they’d be going in 15 mins. Managed to get a bus that was crammed and it sailed past the stop and round the roundabout!! I saw the coach leaving the pub as I frantically tried to get off the bus and make my way back. You had to go on the underpass to get back and the coach dropped two of the Eccles crew off to find me and guide me back to the coach!!! YCNMIU

And we’d flaming well lost to Wigan! Noooooooo
But I can laugh about it and after that I always stayed in a hotel just across from the stadium and made a weekend of it. :-)

 

[CC1]

All getting kiddy over on red cafe confident they will mess up our treble. Well we will see about that wont we. Come on City, turn up with proper focus and play our game and we smash these bastards. Early revenge for that terrible offside decision not so long ago.

Well it’s their level of ambition - it’s switched drastically over the last 15 years. We used to feel it a triumph to beat them. It was our ambition. Now, it’s theirs because we are regarded more highly by the whole world

 

[Sir peace frog]

far too many games(big games) to think about before this, one game at a time.

 

[madloaf]

Far too stressful for my liking. I fucking despise them lot and their disgusting arrogance, they would be unbearable.

Our worst case scenario is 2nd in the league, lose the fa cup final and get beat in the last minute of a champions league semifinal. Our best case is winning all 3 including beating utd in a final. I mean, look at the worst case - we've come pretty fucking far - and yet that would feel ruddy bloody fucking horrible. I'm bringing out the cliche - one game at a time boys.

 

[paulchapo]

There’s a variety of feelings going through my head at the moment. City can do this but we need to remember how we felt prior to the 2011 FAC semi. We got our heads in the right place, did the Poznan and all of that to win the support battle, which gave us an edge on a day when clearly they had what on paper was probably a better squad (It’s debatable I know but we need to remember how we felt as supposed underdogs).

We need that spirit throughout.

I talk about the Poznan and how we felt in my special 1hour audio on 2011 and the years that led up to that. I listened to it earlier to remind myself how we felt and maybe it’d be worth, if you’ve got the time, to listen and remember. We need our minds in the right place. This helped me, it might help someone else. If not that’s fine. Cheers

Restored 2011: The All-Manchester FA Cup Semi Final

The closest Manchester City and Manchester United have got to playing each other in a Wembley FA Cup final were FA Cup semi finals in 1926 and 2011. I wasn’t around in 1926 but I definitely was in 2011. So a couple of years ago I made this special audio recording talking about the years…

gjfootballarchive.com

You have a point. We were the underdogs in 2011 and feared the worst, even though we had a much better side than we had been used to for decades. However, years of being the underdog and staying defiant as they mopped up all the trophies gave us a different edge. We had nothing to lose but the pain of losing a derby and we were used to that. They were still the favourites and full of arrogance and it backfired on them.

Derbies are a great leveller that's why I wince when I read our fans saying we'll smash them etcetera. If we go into the game with that overconfidence we could come unstuck. I watched the rags yesterday and although they were outplayed for large parts of the game by Brighton they hung on in there. Fouling, dogged, moaning at the ref, De Gea saving them as usual, dangerous on the break. They turned it into a horrible game and as a result won it.

They are a strange side at the moment you don't know which one will turn up. If they had shown that fight in Sevilla they might have gone through. Trust me they'll.show it against us. That added to the biased refereeing decisions they get makes them a dangerous opponent. If we get to the champions league final they'll know we will have one eye on that, it's human nature. That could drop our level by a small.percentage that could make the difference. Players won't want to risk missing it through injury. If I was Pep I'd show them that banner, clips of the many examples of their gloating arrogance, the Ferguson "Not in my lifetime" clip. We need to carry the hatred and fire of a derby into the game and that coupled with our superiority should win us the game.

 

[madloaf]

You have a point. We were the underdogs in 2011 and feared the worst, even though we had a much better side than we had been used to for decades. However, years of being the underdog and staying defiant as they mopped up all the trophies gave us a different edge. We had nothing to lose but the pain of losing a derby and we were used to that. They were still the favourites and full of arrogance and it backfired on them.

Derbies are a great leveller that's why I wince when I read our fans saying we'll smash them etcetera. If we go into the game with that overconfidence we could come unstuck. I watched the rags yesterday and although they were outplayed for large parts of the game by Brighton they hung on in there. Fouling, dogged, moaning at the ref, De Gea saving them as usual, dangerous on the break. They turned it into a horrible game and as a result won it.

They are a strange side at the moment you don't know which one will turn up. If they had shown that fight in Sevilla they might have gone through. Trust me they'll.show it against us. That added to the biased refereeing decisions they get makes them a dangerous opponent. If we get to the champions league final they'll know we will have one eye on that, it's human nature. That could drop our level by a small.percentage that could make the difference. Players won't want to risk missing it through injury. If I was Pep I'd show them that banner, clips of the many examples of their gloating arrogance, the Ferguson "Not in my lifetime" clip. We need to carry the hatred and fire of a derby into the game and that coupled with our superiority should win us the game.

Their back 4 is going to be the same as yesterday. martinez is out for the season for sure, varane is probably out. Lindelof and shaw at centre back. They have no frontman at all. I just don't see how, if we have everyone fit and well, we don't make enough chances to win the game. We were in horrible form when we played them at theirs and were robbed on the 1st goal. If that doesn't go in they don't get the 2nd - but we have to be careful not to let our heads go for 10 minutes as we occasionally do.

 

[M18CTID]

All getting kiddy over on red cafe confident they will mess up our treble. Well we will see about that wont we. Come on City, turn up with proper focus and play our game and we smash these bastards. Early revenge for that terrible offside decision not so long ago.

It's worth noting - for both City and United fans alike - that for that to happen we still have to be on for the treble in the first place once that game comes round. There's a lot of very important football matches to be played in the meantime so in that sense the FA Cup Final is on the back burner for now. Worst case scenario is that becomes our only chance of winning a trophy this season. Best case scenario is that we sweep up all three pots in the space of a fortnight. Let's hope it's the latter!

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

It's worth noting - for both City and United fans alike - that for that to happen we still have to be on for the treble in the first place once that game comes round. There's a lot of very important football matches to be played in the meantime so in that sense the FA Cup Final is on the back burner for now. Worst case scenario is that becomes our only chance of winning a trophy this season. Best case scenario is that we sweep up all three pots in the space of a fortnight. Let's hope it's the latter!

Absolutely right to remind us. If we lose on Wednesday things'll look rather different, won't they? Even if we win there's still a lot to do, both in the league, and in the CL.
The cliché is a cliché because it's true: one game at a time.

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

I'm afraid that I can't think of any other outcome than the ref will connive again to modify the LotG mid-match to hand the Rags the trophy! I can't think of one single ref who would fill me with the confidence that the outcome would be based on what has actually happened, that the LotG have been applied as they are written, and the better footballing team will win!

 

[trevorriley]

unless the is a freak happening in the cup final ( dodgey offside goal ) can only see the game going one way. Perhaps the rags hope the derby makes t a different game but which players n the pitch actually know what a derby is in manchester, its the fans and media that feel the derby.

this will be easier for us than had it been brighton.