Manchester City v Sunderland - Capital One Cup Final - Sunday 2nd March (2pm) - SS1

Paully D

I thought I would be old and grey at best before I ever got to see my side play in a cup final, so it seems surreal to even be creating this thread with the word 'Sunderland' in the title, but somehow it's real

http://www1.skysports.com/football/live/match/307826/preview

Preview:

The first piece of silverware will be decided on Sunday as Sunderland and Manchester City clash in the Capital One Cup final at Wembley (kick-off 2pm).

In the first domestic final of the English season, both Manuel Pellegrini and Gus Poyet are looking to claim a major trophy at the first time of asking.

Pellegrini, who took charge of City in the summer, is still battling on three other fronts so this could feasibly be the first of four cups won.

And whilst Sunderland are battling relegation, they too are still in the FA Cup frame which could mean Poyet has more than one Wembley appearance on his agenda this season.

This game will mark the first Wembley appearance of Pellegrini's career, but Poyet has more experience at the home of English football - although only as a player.

Road to Wembley:

Poyet, who succeeded Paolo Di Canio on Wearside in October, won the FA Cup final beneath the old twin towers with Chelsea in 2000 - but he never made it to the League Cup final with them or Tottenham.

So it is a League Cup final debut for both managers, who will lead their respective sides out on Sunday in front of a capacity crowd of over 80,000.

City are becoming almost regular visitors to the famous arch, making their sixth appearance in just three years, but domestically this is the only trophy the current City squad are yet to win. Indeed, their last triumph in this competition was back in 1976.

Sunderland have never won the League Cup, their only final appearance coming in 1985 when they lost to Norwich. The Black Cats only have two Wembley victories to their name, both in the FA Cup, with their last win coming against Leeds in 1973.

Whilst City clearly have the upper hand in terms of historical silverware, it is actually Sunderland who have the better of the recent form between these two sides.

In the last five meetings, Sunderland have lost just once to City - winning three and drawing one.

And from their only clash so far this season, it is Poyet who got the better of Pellegrini with a hugely impressive 1-0 win at the Stadium of Light back in November.

The clubs have only met once in the League Cup, back in 1980, and it was Sunderland who got the better of City after a replay.

Team News:

City have a host of question marks hanging over their team selection, but they do seem set to welcome back star striker Sergio Aguero.

The Argentine has been sidelined for a month with a calf injury, but he looks set to start alongside either Alvaro Negredo or Edin Dzeko with Stevan Jovetic ruled out.

Manuel Pellegrini has a decision to make in goal, as he has been using Costel Pantilimon for all of his cup games since the turn of the year - including the semi-final double-header against West Ham - but Joe Hart has returned to form in recent months and will be eager to play.

Pellegrini must also decide between Gael Clichy and Aleksandar Kolarov at left-back and that could be important as one of them will likely be tasked with shackling former City star Adam Johnson.

Matija Nastasic is ruled out with a knee problem which will mean the much-maligned Martin Demichelis continuing at centre-half alongside skipper Vincent Kompany.

Fernandinho and Samir Nasri are likely to make up the midfield quartet alongside mainstay Yaya Toure and David Silva as City seem set to name a very strong side.

Sunderland have a near fully-fit squad to choose from for their biggest game in decades.

Injured goalkeeper Keiren Westwood and cup-tied midfielder Liam Bridcutt are the only ones missing from Gus Poyet's squad.

Poyet admitted after the weekend defeat to Arsenal that only the rested Lee Cattermole was guaranteed a place in his line-up for this weekend.

Cattermole will take Bridcutt's holding role, with Ki Sung-Yeung - who won the trophy with Swansea last season - set to take his place alongside him in the middle.

Fabio Borini and Jack Colback will be hoping they make the midfield, who will support a lone striker.

And one of the big questions is whether Steven Fletcher, who has not played since the end of January, will feature and indeed whether he might start ahead of Jozy Altidore.

John O'Shea and Wes Brown - who have six League Cup winners medals between them - look set to form the central defensive partnership with Phil Bardsley and Marcos Alonso at full-back.

Vito Mannone, one of the stars of Poyet's tenure so far, will be in goal.

Hell of a task on our hands with the bookmakers making us around a 9/1 shot to win but as teams such as Birmingham and Wigan have proved in recent years, anything can happen in a cup final.

In all honesty I'm just happy to be there (although I hope the players don't have the same mentality :pac:) and will sit back and enjoy watching us in a cup final not expecting to win. Regardless of the outcome I know the supporters at Wembley will do us proud and who knows, maybe the unexpected could happen.

My head tells me City by at least 2 goals. My heart tells me we get battered for 90 minutes but keep City at bay and win 1-0 like what usually happens against them at the Stadium of Light in the league. If only! :pac:

Kerrigooney

G'wan Sunderland. Best of luck to ye Paully.

DazMarz

Would be magic for Sunderland and would be a fantastic moment for them. Sunderland should look to Wigan's performance in last years' FA Cup final.

Head says City, heart says Sunderland. It would mean so much more for Sunderland to win it. Hopefully City will have one eye on the league and even the forlorn hope of the Champions League and might not just be as at the races as they should be. Sunderland could capitalise.

Here's hoping, and best of luck Paully!

ctrl-alt-delete

Heading to this one, Can't wait for it.

Ha'way the lads!

Paully D

ctrl-alt-delete wrote: »

Heading to this one, Can't wait for it.

Ha'way the lads!

You lucky, lucky bastard :pac:

Unfortunately, unavoidable circumstances mean that I can't go and seeing the pictures of the fans and getting phone calls and texts from those that are there is driving me crazy. I just hope I get another opportunity in the future.

London will be rocking tonight and tomorrow. Enjoy it mate.

Paully D

Great stuff from Newcastle fan Robin Raymond who is wearing a Sunderland shirt to the game in memory of his late father who was a Mackem:

Darkglasses

Costel hopefully in goal, deserves it really. Wouldn't be surprised if Aguero started also.

Hope we hockey them. 4-0

monkey9

Four nil to City. Not a chance of anything other than a City win considering what happened in the FA Cup final. They'll be more focused today rather than thinking they just have to turn up.

Darkglasses

Mannone, Bardsley, Alonso, O'Shea (c), Brown, Cattermole, Colback, Ki, Larsson, Johnson, Borini

loobylou

Pantilimon in goal, Aguero to start.

Darkglasses

Pantillimon, Zaba, Kompany, Demichelis, Lolarov, Yaya, Fernandinho, Silva, Nasri, Aguero, Dzeko

Darkglasses

Good teamsheet. Would rather Lescott started but having Fernandinho, Yaya, Silva and Aguero all starting makes up for it really.

mike65

Borini front and centre - just where he should be.

Paully D

Fearing a complete pasting here. All the City big hitters play. Good to see Borini start centrally though, the vast majority of Sunderland fans have been calling for that all year.

As long as we don't concede early. That would be a killer.

blueser

Darkglasses wrote: »

Good teamsheet. Would rather Lescott started but having Fernandinho, Yaya, Silva and Aguero all starting makes up for it really.

Agreed. Disappointed to see DeMichelis in, but he does seem to be MP's blue eyed boy. Ah well; I guess it'll have to be the ''you score 3, we'll score 4'' playbook today!

Darkglasses

blueser wrote: »

Agreed. Disappointed to see DeMichelis in, but he does seem to be MP's blue eyed boy. Ah well; I guess it'll have to be the ''you score 3, we'll score 4'' playbook today!

With respect to Sunderland, they won't score three!

No matter what I just keep smiling! 😬😬😬😬 can't keep a good man down..

Tweet by Micah Richards. Maybe feeling a teeny bit disappointed not to even make the bench. Ditto Lescott not starting.

mike65

Borini and/or Johnson will get at least one clear opportunity against that left side of the defence.

POKERKING

Darkglasses wrote: »

With respect to Sunderland, they won't score three!



Tweet by Micah Richards. Maybe feeling a teeny bit disappointed not to even make the bench. Ditto Lescott not starting.

He doesn't deserve a spot on the bench, I'm not in the least bit surprised he's not on the bench.

Good to see Aguero back early goal is crucial!

smileyj1987

Paully D wrote: »

Fearing a complete pasting here. All the City big hitters play. Good to see Borini start centrally though, the vast majority of Sunderland fans have been calling for that all year.

As long as we don't concede early. That would be a killer.

Ah that's the joy of football . Anything can happen in the next 90 mins . Best of luck today .

Darkglasses

POKERKING wrote: »

He doesn't deserve a spot on the bench, I'm not in the least bit surprised he's not on the bench.

Good to see Aguero back early goal is crucial!

I suppose, but then Demichelis doesn't deserve to start either! I guess I have more time for Micah because he's probably the most likable guy in the whole squad.

POKERKING

Darkglasses wrote: »

I suppose, but then Demichelis doesn't deserve to start either! I guess I have more time for Micah because he's probably the most likable guy in the whole squad.

Yeah I see where you are coming from, I'm a big Micah fan too but the few times he's played this season he has been poor and his jog back from attacks after they break down infuriate me! I think if he wasn't on of us(to a certain extent) we would want rid.

Paully D

That double save from Jimmy Montgomery in 1973 gets better every time you see it.

Talib Fiasco

If City start well this'll be over by half time.

Paully D

Talib Fiasco wrote: »

If City start well this'll be over by half time.

Yeah, that's my fear. If we sit back like we did at Arsenal they can score two within 20 minutes and that'll be it. I just hope we can settle, knock the ball around nicely for the first 30 minutes and get at them without conceding.

monkey9

Paully D wrote: »

That double save from Jimmy Montgomery in 1973 gets better every time you see it.

Unbelievable save. That's just taking the p!ss

monkey9

I'd love Borini to grab the winner!

Darkglasses

I laughed too much at that Aviva ad

Paully D

monkey9 wrote: »

Unbelievable save. That's just taking the p!ss

Jimmy made a good point earlier in the week that they are still and always will be heroes in the area and among the Sunderland support because of that win. He said a lot of them would have faded out into obscurity if they had lost the game just like many footballers from that era, but instead they are hero worshiped.

A lot of our players may never be remembered as anything more than ordinary in 20 or 30 years time, but if they are to win the cup today they will always be heroes in Sunderland.

Huge opportunity for them to write their name into history today.

Jesus, I sound like Andersonisgod there, but it's true :pac:

Cue City goal after 40 seconds :pac:

Lapin

That was a nice tribute on SKY to the team of 73.

While I hope Sunderland do it today, I doubt it will have the same life changing effect on today's team that it did on the lads of 41 years ago.

monkey9

Paully D wrote: »

Jimmy made a good point earlier in the week that they are still and always will be heroes in the area and among the Sunderland support because of that win. He said a lot of them would have faded out into obscurity if they had lost the game just like many footballers from that era, but instead they are hero worshiped.

A lot of our players may never be remembered as anything more than ordinary in 20 or 30 years time, but if they are to win the cup today they will always be heroes in Sunderland.

Huge opportunity for them to write their name into history today.

Jesus, I sound like Andersonisgod there, but it's true :pac:

Cue City goal after 40 seconds :pac:

Bang on. These will be heroes. Do you think Wigan's relegation will be remembered years from now? Nope, but the FA Cup win will.

Lapin

Good girl Louise !

monkey9

Days like this is why I never understand why the likes of Southampton, Newcastle etc don't take the domestic cups more seriously. These are great occasions, I don't care what anyone says.

I've seen Liverpool win European Cups, UEFA Cups etc. But I was just as excited and nervous and scared a couple of years ago when we won this cup.

Kess73

Looking forward to this and am hoping for a decent game of footy.



As a Liverpool supporter I hope Borini does well, but other than that I don't really care who wins as I support neither team and have no real preference or dislike for either team.


Best of luck to the supporters of either team though. Is always a very nice feeling to be watching your teams competing for a cup.

Johner

G'wan Sunderland!

Paully D

That tackle is exactly what was needed. Set the tone.

Adam Johnson needs to wake up defensively.

Knex*

That touch from Silva... Perfect.

Lapin

Paully D wrote: »

That tackle is exactly what was needed. Set the tone.

Fair balls to the ref for saying play on.
Let the game flow like.
We've often heard the whistle blown for a lot less.

Knex*

Love the noise when Sunderland were on the attack.

Johner

borini!!!

Knex*

Delighted for him!

mike65

BORINIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII:D

Lapin

Fecking Beautiful Goal !!!

Professional Griefer

Yeeeaowww

monkey9

Oh FAB-EE-OOOOOOOW!!!

RikkFlair

Cat among pigeons! Class finish

Darkglasses

Good finish

Knex*

That's a very Suarez-esque finish with the outside of the boot. Quality.

Celebrated that like it was a goal for Liverpool.

LightningBlue

Great goal. Stupidly high line by City

Paully D

Oh good God.

Lapin

Bit early to go parking buses ???

NUTZZ

That was a sublime finish.