M18CTID said:
Just posted this in the pre-match thread. Words fail me. Apparently, it's the crowd that our players need to worry about on Sunday and not their in-form team. Oh, and United fans on derby day aren't a patch on what Liverpool fans will be like on Sunday:
Ha ha what gobshites, met city fan through work today i said looking forward to sunday? he said oh yes, i said problem youve got is the crowd he said " ohhhh we dicked united the other week in front of 70 odd thousand fans screaming at us" i was speachless, there clearly in for a shock....
I really don't understand this attitude Liverpool fans seem to have about their home support. I'm sure the atmosphere will be fantastic, and that they will get behind their team on Sunday, but we play Liverpool at Anfield every season, it's hardly a new phenomenon for our players, plus we've played in a fair few big games over the last few years, in some pretty intimidating places, United at Old Trafford (which obviously for us is a derby game so more highly strung than your average match at Old Trafford), Barcelona at The Nou Camp, Bayern Munich at the Allianz, Borussia Dortmund at the Westphalia, CSKA Moscow at the Khimki (which, ordinarily, you wouldn't assume would be a tough environment but when you factor in that the players were on the receiving end of some pretty terrible racial abuse that makes it different), not to mention United, Stoke, Sunderland, Chelsea and Wigan all at Wembley for various domestic cup semi final and final appearances. Oh yeah, and the little matter of the QPR game, if the atmosphere, and the tension, in the stadium that day wasn't intimidating and didn't apply pressure on the players then I don't know what would be.
And all of this is before we consider the high pressure, high profile games some of our players have played in prior to joining City, or whilst on International duty. Rome derbies, El Classico games, The European Championship Final, The Champion's League Final etc, I'd imagine most if not all of these are bigger occasions, and tougher atmospheres, than a league match at Anfield between Liverpool and Manchester City!