City will be without the injured Kolo Toure and Martin Petrov as Mark Hughes looks to secure a place in the quarter-finals of the Carling Cup. A Scunthorpe side who are holding their own in the Championship this season will come to Eastlands with plenty of backing from over 3,000 travelling fans.
Continue Reading →The Cup gods smiled on City this lunchtime, granting us a home tie against Championship side Scunthorpe in the fourth round of the Carling Cup. The game will take place on the week beginning 26th October.
City did well to avoid any of the 12 other Premier League sides left in the compeition, and Mark Hughes will doubtless be confident of progressing to the quarter finals.
The Iron are holding their own in the Championship after getting promoted via the play-offs last season. At Wembley, they beat a Millwall side managed by former City coach Kenny Jackett. It’s often been noted how Sven’s side went downhill after Jackett left, and it’s interesting to wonder what might have been had he not been tempted by the delights of the New Den.
Given their recent promotion and respectable start in the Championship, City will be facing a confident Iron team, and we’ll need to be mindful of that. The prospect of a trip to Eastlands should excite them and I’d expect a few more in the away end than the 91 from Fulham. With all due respect, it’s hardly a glamour tie for us, and hopefully City will price tickets accordingly.
With Mark Hughes rightly looking to win the Carling Cup this season, it’s interesting to look at how the draw panned out for our potential rivals. With the ‘big four’ all fielding weaker teams in this competition, it’s hard to say where the biggest threats lie.
Sunderland and Villa both fielded strong sides in the last round and are now playing each other, so one of them will be out of the way.
I was surprised to see Everton field a strong side last time, given they’re having to cope with the Europa League as well, and it will be good to see either them or Spurs go out at White Hart Lane.
Arsenal always use this competition for their conveyor belt of youngsters, so it will be interesting to see how they fare against a Liverpool side that scraped past Leeds.
United have landed themselves an easier tie against struggling Barnsley. If City are going to be doing better in cup competitions, then it’s likely we’ll start seeing more of United. At the moment I’m quite happy to avoid them.
Stat facts: City have only played Scunthorpe 4 times competitively but have won them all scoring 21 times! Last time, Robbie Fowler bagged a hat-trick in the FA Cup in 2006. The only League Cup tie finished 6-0 in the 1974/75 season.
Check out video of Scunthorpe’s latest exploits on their BBC page here if you wish. (At the time of writing it’s showing their victory in the previous round against Port Vale).
At Maine Road, they used to sing:
“I’ll walk a million miles for one of your smiles… Summerbee!”
Check out this picture from last night’s match, courtesy of The Sun, and try:
“I’ll walk a million miles for one of your smiles… Bellamy!”
It ought to be a caption competition for our lovable hero, who was in fine berating form last night. Maybe he’d just seen the fourth official put up the Additional Time board.
(Warning: the page with the picture will resize your browser, but doesn’t do any harm)
Given – Shay looked as stunned as the rest of us with the Fulham goal. Thereafter it was most about organising those in front of him at set pieces. 6
Zabaleta – His big chance and he looked… rusty. Never really appeared on the same wavelength as those around him, which was a pity as he was outstanding in his last game against Celtic. 6
Toure – The captain bagged his first goal, and kept the defence focussed in a determined effort to silence the critics. 7
Lescott – A couple of misplaced passes, a couple of mistimed interceptions, but still looks decent enough. Good to see him have the confidence to venture forward in search of a goal. 7
Bridge – In the beginning there were forward runs, then there were sideways runs. Finally, as tiredness set in, the runs ceased. But where were the forward passes? 6
Wright-Phillips – Not able to influence the game on the right flank, he actually looked better when moving in-field after de Jong went off. 6
De Jong – Fulham didn’t offer much threat, but he won everything regardless. Some decent passing as well. The one player (apart from Bellamy who’s in a league of his own when it comes to commitment) who looked truly up for it. 8
Ireland – Another disappointing showing where none of the incisive passes seemed to come off. I know he hasn’t played much with Tevez, but neither have I and yet I know the Argentine doesn’t have the pace to chase balls played over the top. 5
Barry – Trundling, rather than sprinting around the middle, he was still able to play most of our better passes from the middle of the park. Popped up with a timely goal. 7
Tevez – Still doesn’t look fully fit. At least I hope he isn’t, otherwise his price tag is a little ‘toppy’ afterall. With a lack of pace and height, the Argentine isn’t cut out to play as a lone striker (Bellamy would be better) and it’s to be hoped that Hughes eventually realises this. 6
Bellamy – Earnt the biggest cheer as the teams were read out for his hat-trick (2 goals and 1 fan) on Sunday. Hilarious, as he gives his all and remonstrates with everything. At one point I swear the referee actually ran away to the middle after giving a debatable decision against the Welshman. 8
Subs:
Petrov – Within a few minutes of coming on, he’d put over more crosses than Wright-Phillips managed in the whole match. Thereafter he became increasingly erratic, but at least offered a threat. Adebayor and Santa Cruz will benefit from his delivery. 7
Weiss – A little to eager to impress initially and kept falling over. Steadily improved and gave the Fulham defenders something to think about. 6
Man of the match: de Jong, though it is tempting to give it to Sylvinho for a world record warm-up, covering first half, the whole of the second half, and going in to extra time. Guess it’s all part of that winning mentality.