FA Cup final: Manchester City vs Stoke City

eagle eye

Its been 42 years since Manchester City lifted the FA Cup for the 4th time and 30 years since they last reached the final where they lost in a memorable replay to a Ricky Villa inspired Tottenham Hotspur. For Stoke City this is a huge occasion as its their first time in an FA Cup final. It is a great day for the Potters and their supporters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EtVcZ92D3E

DOC09UNAM

C'Mon stoke!

eagle eye

Personally I just hope its a great game and best of luck to both teams. It would be nice to see Stoke and their new brand of attractive football win the day. City are already celebrating making the top four and the chance of a big run at the Champion's League next year.

Rebel Boy

COME ON STOKE!!!!!!

efb

Come on city!

L'prof

Really hope that Stoke can do the business today, I'll always root for the underdog if I haven't got a soft spot for either team.

Giggsy11

Would like to see Stoke winning the FA cup. Underdogs ftw..

jaykay74

Come on Stoke

DOC09UNAM

jaykay74 wrote: »

Come on Stoke

Ninja edit!

dahat

Can see this being a bore of a game tbh....

Really hope Stoke win to go with the romance of the cup as it is dying out over the last few seasons.......nothing to do with the fact i am a united supporter either!:D:D

theteal

I'm not gonna get a chance to watch this so its bound to be an enthralling end to end battle with lashings of strength, determination, passion........and perhaps a morsel of skill


It'd would be great for Walters to make a big name for himself with a standout performance

dahat

theteal wrote: »

It'd would be great for Walters to make a big name for himself with a standout performance

Watched him play against Arsenal and was really impressed by him,worked his socks off.

Woody_FX

Will be shouting for Stoke today! Delap FA Cup champion

KittyeeTrix

Won't be here later posting. Would like to wish any Stoke fans here Good Luck and enjoy the day as us City fans will:)

bonerm

Up for Stoke in this one (and on this occasion I think the underdog actually has a good chance of winning it).

Smegball

Interesting article in the Guardian by Daniel Taylor with David Silva.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/may/14/david-silva-manchester-city-fa-cup

David Silva may have to look into the history books to understand the significance but, at Manchester City, compliments rarely come higher than when Tony Book, the last manager to win a trophy with the club, started reminiscing this week and talked about the Spaniard reminding him of Neil Young. "Creative left-footers always catch your eye, there is a grace about them as they cover the ground," Book said, and it was easy to imagine supporters of a certain generation nodding their approval.

As Book pointed out, it is left feet that are usually described as "educated" and, in Silva's case, there is a strong argument his could have a degree when it comes to the art of finding the killer pass. Or running with the ball, jinking, leaning, edging ever close to the defender, before swaying free at the last possible moment.

It is that vision and balance that makes Silva a player of uncommon ability. Then there is the close control, the origins of which can be traced back to his childhood in Arguineguín, the fishing village in southern Gran Canaria, where the four-year-old Silva would play with a ball his father, Fernando, had made out of cloths and rags. The family had grown tired of the way the young Silva would procure oranges from the fruit bowl or potatoes from the bottom of the fridge. "We would play with anything we could find," Silva says of those street games with his cousins and friends. These days, you would trust him to do keepie-ups with an egg.

His family have moved with him to Manchester – one of the primary reasons, he says, why he has acclimatised so quickly to his new surroundings. There is one downside and, by his own admission, his English lessons have ground to a halt. "Hello," is the sum total of this interview without the use of an interpreter, though he promises that he will improve for next time.

Yet Silva has embraced life in his new city. There were stories earlier this season that he was homesick and it is true, for a boy from the Canary Islands, there have been mornings when the pounding rain makes him blow out his cheeks in despair. But Silva was indignant when those stories surfaced.

"It's been a really good first year," he says. "I settled in really quickly and that has been the key. That's down to everyone at the club but the thing that has surprised me, amazed me actually, is that you can just have a normal life away from football here. In Spain it's really tough to go anywhere because people are in your face. Here it's marvellous. You can just go out and be unnoticed. Or when people come up to say hello they are so nice and respectful. I like that nice, quiet life."

He did have reservations about joining City at first. "Spain is such a competitive league and, for the players to give up La Liga, it's such a tough decision." Plus City at the time were not in the Champions League. "But I always wanted to play in the Premier League. City came in strongly for me, put their cards on the table and what I have found out since is that every game in England is a privilege – the atmosphere, the fans, the interest that surrounds it. Every time I go out on the pitch I know I've made the right decision."

The vindication has come in other forms this week. First there was the defeat of Tottenham Hotspur that guaranteed a top-four finish and, at the very least, a place in the Champions League qualifiers. Two days later, it was the club's FA Cup final media day. A decade ago, a press conference at City comprised two or three journalists loitering outside the old training ground on Platt Lane. There were 150 people at the new state-of-the-art base on Thursday, squashed inside a wedding-style marquee.

Unlike his passes, Silva was a bit off-message when it came to the FA Cup. He didn't watch it when he was a kid, he said, and he didn't bother with the pretence of trying to remember any previous finals. But he seemed to understand the importance of, potentially, the club's first trophy since 1976.

The Copa del Rey, Spain's FA Cup equivalent, can be seen as "a pain in the arse", to use the line of Michel Salgado, formerly of Real Madrid and now Blackburn Rovers. "He might be right," Silva says with a smile. "But I don't think you can make the same comparison here in England because it's always been a big trophy."

His CV includes being part of the Spain national squads that won the World Cup and the European Championship. Further down the line, City have greater ambitions than the FA Cup. For now Silva has enough of an understanding about the club's history to recognise the significance of this moment.

"It would be just as meaningful for me to win this as anything I have won in the past, in the sense that it's so long since City won a trophy or even got into a final. What we've done this season is very positive. We've got to a final and reached the top four, the Champions League, and I know how important it is for the people who follow this club that we actually win something now – that first trophy. Then we can continue that upward curve."

His team-mate Yaya Touré has spoken of City ultimately being as formidable as Barcelona. It felt out of keeping with the direction in which City have tried to move – ie away from Sir Alex Ferguson's withering assessment of them as "noisy neighbours" – but Silva nods his head. "What you have to realise about Barcelona is that it hasn't happened overnight. They've been working in the same style for a good number of years now. But it's certainly something we have to be aiming for, and why not?"

Another extensive recruitment programme is expected. Cesc Fábregas would be Silva's ideal choice. "If only he could come," he says. "He treats the ball likes it's his best friend." He knows, though, it is probably unrealistic, and there is a wince, too, when the subject turns to the possibility of Carlos Tevez leaving. "He's a vital player for us, the real key player, our captain, a top guy. I feel so at ease with him, so comfortable because he makes things easy for me. It's very important he stays, but at the end of the day it's not my decision."

Tevez, you imagine, appreciates the former Valencia player just as highly. At the Mestalla, Silva was top of the assist charts for three successive years. Signed for £25m, his first season at Eastlands can be accurately gauged by the three player-of-the-month awards he won in succession from November to January.

Up close, the 25-year-old is remarkably slight, with his high cheekbones and sloping shoulders. But nobody talks any more about him being too small to cope with the rigours of the Premier League. "I was never worried about that," he says dismissively. "There are lots of small footballers out there."

It probably should not have been an issue in the first place. Luis Aragonés once insisted that Silva – 1.67 metres (5ft 6in) and not even 11 stone – had the "biggest balls" in the national team. Which could be useful considering the opposition City will face at Wembley.

"There isn't a Spanish Stoke," Silva says. "There are a few sides in Spain who resort to the long ball occasionally – but not all the time. They are a big side and play with a lot of aggression. They will be hard to beat, but we have a lot of desire and belief that we can beat them."

mike65

"Long ball/missile chucking" Stoke to play good football and beat City 2-1.

Unless Tevez is fit and it'll be 2-1 to City.

Wonder which thread will have most posts/views, this or Blackburn-Utd?

Mr.Crinklewood

Bit of a mistake on the free flags handed out...



Link

bluemooner

Very hard to predict this one seeing as stoke are on such good form and city being such a quality side. As a city fan tho, of course ill predict a CITY win! 2-0

karma_

I'm not going to tempt fate and make any predictions. My long wait could be close to being over!!!

Dr.Winston O'Boogie

I predict the City team to be like this:

Hart, Zabaleta, Lescott, Kompany, Richards, De Jong, Toure, Barry, Silva, Balotelli, Tevez.

If there is no Tevez Dezko will just slot in. Left back will be an issue if Pennant is up for it.

tevez starts according to bbc, full team in 2 minutes!

Hart, Richards, Kolorov, Lescott, Kompany, Barry, De Jong, Yaya, Silva, Balotelli, Tevez

colly_06

Hart Richards Kompany Lescott Kolarov De Jong Barry Silva Toure Balotelli Tevez

Thanks god Dzeko doesn't start. Would have liked to see Johnson to start.

ShamoBuc

If Stoke actually play football I'd be happy for them to lift the cup. If they play their normal crap but sometimes effective football, then I really hope City stuff the shít out of them.
A good footballing cup final would be nice.

Paully D

I really, really hope Manchester City destroy them.

homer simpson

I actually don't mind who wins this, I am hoping for a good game though! As much as i hope though in reality i duno if that will happen but i do hope so!

MagicMarker

I reckon Stoke could get a result here.

Pauleta

Im torn for this. I like Stoke and it will be a great moment for them if they win. City are going to be in more games like this over the next few years. I want Mancini to be sacked for cheating the club and fans by not trying to win games BUT i just love Balotelli

Paully D

Pulis can't even wear a suit for the cup final :rolleyes:

ShamoBuc

Loved the camera work just before the kick off - seriously good.

MagicMarker

Tevez looks like he's put on a bit of weight?

homer simpson

Is it just me or is the camera angle, for the main camera in the stand, really really shítty? very low down or something?

ShamoBuc

Paully D wrote: »

Pulis can't even wear a suit for the cup final :rolleyes:

you obviously just tuned in. He walked out in a suit, when the obligatory few things of the cup final were done, he went back and got changed.
What's the problem:rolleyes:

Minstrel27

homer_simpson wrote: »

Is it just me or is the camera angle, for the main camera in the stand, really really shítty? very low down or something?

Yes and for that reason I have turned off the game.

ShamoBuc

good start by city, spreading the ball around nicely.

ShamoBuc

thought that sneaked inside the near post!

Paully D

Manchester City have started very well. The advantage of having more players who have played in big games before is telling so far.

ShamoBuc

that was a great strike, very close.
Heres hoping city score and stoke are made to come out of their shell.

Insect Overlord

He'll get a ban for that!

IvySlayer

Huth wtf?

Paully D

That's absolutely disgraceful from Huth. Typical Stoke :rolleyes:

Kojak

Huth lucky that the ref didn't see that "challenge" on Balotelli.

riffmongous

Come on Stoke. I've been a Stoke fan since I watched their gutsy performances versus City last year, so it would be great to see them win today

Insect Overlord

Paully D wrote: »

That's absolutely disgraceful from Huth. Typical Stoke :rolleyes:

To be fair, I don't think it's fair to say elbows in the face are "typical" of any club.

everdead.ie

Really wish Huth hadn't done that no doubt it should of been red.
Sorenson was fantastic there !

Paully D

Insect Overlord wrote: »

To be fair, I don't think it's fair to say elbows in the face are "typical" of any club.

They're always trying these rough-house tactics.

IvySlayer

Some save.

MagicMarker

You'd think City fans would want to watch the game?

everdead.ie

City fans look bored turning there backs to the game :pac:

ShamoBuc

It's beginning to liven up.