GOOD ENOUGH ?

October 17th 2011 and this game was Crucial. Due to a draw with Napoli in game one and losing away to Bayern in Game two, City found them selves 3rd in their Champions league group with 1 point. Second were Napoli with 4 points and top with 6 points were Bayern, so tonight We faced bottom of the table and pointless Villarreal. Outside the ground the mood seemed positive and anyone who was asked was predicting a City win, but this being the Champions League, i wasn't so sure that this was going to be the walk over a lot of fans were predicting.

The team sheet saw Dzeko starting up front with Nasri, Johnson and the mercurial Silva backing him up. The 2 holding midfielders were Yaya and De Jong and in came Mancini's preferred fullbacks for Europe, Kolarov and Zabbaleta. The centre backs were the usual Lescott and Captain Kompany with Hart in net. The atmosphere as kick off loomed was great, that music once again making the hairs on the back of my neck stand on edge, and as the teams came out, the fans held up the paper provided on each seat to create the blue moon banner. It was all set up to be one of those nights. The new singing section created by moving the away fans out of the south stand to make the stadium 360 degrees of blue was in great voice. Everyone was ready, apart from maybe the 11 players on the pitch.

Three minutes into the game and a loose pass from Silva meant that the ever dependable De Jong lost possession of the ball 30 yards from our own net, their danger man Rossi picked the ball up on the edge of our area, cut inside Kompany and got of a shot. Hart saved, but could only palm the ball into the path of the in coming Cani and before we knew what was happening we were 1-0 down and facing a mountain to climb. The fans didn't seem to lose hope though and kept them selves entertained by screwing up the paper from their seats and throwing them at each other. After the early set back it was all City as we desperately tried to get back into the game, But Villarreal had set up well and held up to our waves of attacks, mostly coming down the left in the form of Kolarov, getting forward when ever he could, but the breakthrough wouldn't come. It was Kolarov himself who made the best chances. One shot from the left whizzing just wide and then a free kick from the right, nicely saved by the Villarreal keeper.

 5 minutes before half time and Mancini made his first substitution. Adam Johnson off for Barry, and Jono looked as confused as the rest of us at this decicion, but the manager later explained that he wanted to get another midfielder on to combat the away teams formation and also get Yaya further up the pitch. I questioned this decision, thinking that this was a change that could have waited until half time, but as I'd questioned the starting 11 vs Villa the weekend just gone and was proved wrong, i was quickly proved wrong again.  42 minutes and Silva gave the ball to Nasri, the little french man played a great pass to the ever running Kolarov, and his cross was put in the net to equalize, Not by the in coming Dzeko, but by Marchena, the defender trying to stop Dzeko from scoring. We didn't care who scored it or that it was an own goal, we just cared we were level and back in the game. Minutes later Silva played Dzeko in again but his shot was saved and the halftime whistle came, probably at the wrong time for us as we were building some momentum. In all honesty we hadn't been great and it wouldn't be fair to single out anyone who was playing badly, because everyone hadn't been brilliant.

Second half started and as i watched it pan out in front of me there was only one thing going through my mind, "This isn't good enough". We weren't creating much, and when we did Dzeko wasted it. We were getting caught offside far to much and although we had all the possession, they kept trying to break on us, at one point bringing a good save from Joe. On 63 minutes Aguero made his return, his first appearance since limping off against Blackburn. He added some much needed pace and urgency, but he seemed to be off the pace a little and lost possession or over ran the ball far to many times. 81 minutes and Milner entered the game. Milner picked up where he'd left off against Villa, looking hungry and determined and it was him that started the move that became one of those "I was there when" moments.

Three minutes of injury time had been announced and three minutes had almost elapsed when Milner picked up the ball on the right. He skipped inside a sliding challenge before playing a pass that got Zabbaleta in behind the back four. He turned into the box and played a first time cross, across the front of goal. It took a little flick from Silva, but it was Aguero, arriving at the back post to poke home the winner with seconds remaining. We'd done it, our first Champions League win, and 3 vital points. The place erupted ! Me and Little D jumping up and down in each others arms. It felt amazing, and was a brilliant result, but it did maybe disguise a poor performance overall, but tonight was all about getting a result, and we had. Villarreal only had time to kick off again before the whistle ended the game and sent us blues home happy.

There was a lot to be disappointed about. The most disappointing thing for me was the away support. I'd been to a lot of European games and a lot of the time the away support was colourful and loud, but the Villarreal fans were practically none existent. The overall performance was disappointing, but the 5 seconds before the final whistle swept all that under the carpet. Maybe this was the catalyst to kick start our European campaign now. Villarreal away would be next and the fact Bayer had drawn at Napoli 1-1 meant we were right back in it.

Bayern      7 points
Napoli      5 points
CITY       4 points
Villarreal   0 points

Also, a draw here would have probably meant our champions league dreams were all but dead and we would have all been feeling low. But Aguero's last ditch winner meant we were alive and kicking in our group and all on a high going into our next game, Manchester United away on Sunday. Us top, 2 points clear of them in second. This is probably the biggest derby in recent history or at least since the semi final of the FA cup last year. Bring it on. I can't wait. Thanks for reading.

GREAT WEEKEND

Saturday 15th October and we were playing Villa at home. It was a surprisingly nice bright day and i arrived at the ground to hear team news that worried me slightly. David Silva, Samir Nasri and Edin Dzeko all on the bench and Sergio Aguero not even in the squad. Starting 11 was Hart in net and the usual back four of Richards, Kompany, Lescott and Clichy, the holding midfielders were Barry (against his former club) and De Jong making his first start since his injury. The front four were Johnson and Milner (against his former club) and Yaya and Balotelli leading the line. Maybe we do have a strong deep squad now but to leave Silva and Nasrio both out made me wonder. The Villa starting 11 boasted 3 ex blues. Richard Dunne and Stephen Ireland, and returning to the Etihad for the first time since he left, Shay Given. Each ex Blue received a good ovation from the city faithful, which is more than can be said for the ex Villa players in the city side.

The match started and straight away it was good to see De Jong back and sliding into Tackles hard, like he does, and again it came obvious that we were gonna have to play through the parked Villa camp and also the match quickly became Balotelli vs The Villa fans. Mario, trying to keep a ball in play, slipped right in front of the travelling Villa ranks, much to their entertainment, and they cheered loudly. Mario put his finger to his lips and he shushed them. Not long after that, Mario tested the returning Given with a shot that bounced awkwardly and Given had to usher it around the post. The villa fans again jeered out Italian superstar in waiting and he responded with a look that suggested "I'm going to get you sooner or later". He wasn't wrong.

29 minutes, A corner swung in, took a nick of Darren Bents head at the near post as he tried to defend it. It landed on the ample chest of Richards who chested it down thinking he could follow up with the finish, he was wrong, the ball had landed in Front of Mario with his back to goal, that didn't matter, because as the ball sat up, Mario opened the scoring with an audacious over head kick. Given was rooted to the spot as the ball nestled into the back of the net, but Mario was back on his feet to go celebrate his goal in front of the Villa fans who were mocking him no more. His city team mate came to celebrate with him, and also usher him away from the away fans. 4 goals in as many games now for Mario and the city strikers seemed to be sharing the wealth this season.

It was 1-0 at half time then but a minute into the second half the lead was doubled. A long ball from midfield over the Villa back four, and a missed over head attempted clearance from Warnock saw Johnson in with only Given to beat and with a first time attempt he casually rolled the ball into the bottom corner and Shay could only stand and watch, Johnson had now scored 2 in 2. My worries about the starting line up now subsided. On 51 minutes, a Johnson corner was met on the near post by captain Kompany who casually headed home City's third and now we were strolling. But for a few half chances, Villa hadn't really threatened but they managed a consolation from warnock.

The best goal of the game was yet to come. 70 Minutes and city had a 3 goal lead again. Milner picked the ball up on the left wing just inside the Villa half and he played a sublime pass, over to Johnson on the right wing, which he picked up near the corner flag. Johnson did what he did best and attacked the box and the villa left back, forcing him back into the penalty area, before laying the ball off to Barry, just outside the box. He rolled the ball across the front of the area for the advancing Milner who Cooley curled a right footed shot past the helpless Given to make it 4-0. Milner showed his class, first with the goal and second by not celebrating against his former employees, he left that to his team mates, and the sold out crowd.

Now this 4-1 victory brought a lot of pleasing things. Not only had we managed to rest a few of our best players for the upcoming crucial game in the Champions league vs Villareal, but we had showed just how strong and deep our squad now is. Again we'd scored 4 goals, like we did before the International break against Blackburn, and again we'd had 4 different goal scorers. But the most pleasing thing about today was the fact that down the M62, Manchester United had only managed a 1-1 draw against Liverpool, so this left us sitting 2 points clear, at the top of the league as we go into the Derby next weekend. When was the last time City had gone into the Manchester Derby not only above our Rivals, but top of the league ? This result, followed by an absolutely brilliant night out in Manchester with some good Friends, old and new, made this a very, VERY pleasing weekend. Thanks for reading.

BLUE VIEWS

So there is no domestic football this weekend because of international break so i thought I'd write a blog about my History with Manchester City and my memories through the years. I started supporting Manchester City because of my brother. I was 9 years old when he went off to Wembley to watch us play Spurs in the FA cup final in 1981. Up until then I'd rather play football than watch it so hadn't really decided to follow a team back then. I did like certain players though. Peter Withe, who at that time was playing for Aston Villa was one that a liked, along with Gary shaw, they scored a lot of goals. Glenn Hoddle was another player that caught the eye also. But it was seeing my brother come back from Wembley disappointed, not once but twice made me realise that i wanted to be passionate about a club like that, so why not follow the same team as him and have something in common with him, so that's how it started.

It was 1996 - 97 though before i went to my very first City game at Maine road and we played Blackburn Rovers who had won the title the year before so we were playing the champions. The first goal I saw scored was scored by Alan Shearer to put us 1-0 down, the second goal i saw scored and the first scored by a city player was the equalizer scored by Steve Lomas. A goal he celebrated right in front of me in the north stand. This got my picture in the city magazine and the program becasue there i was in the background as he celebrated, this also started my love with the north stand, but the thing i took away from that game the most was My admiration for the amazing little player I'd just seen, none other than Gio Kinkladze.

Brought to the club by Alan Ball, Kinkladze rapidly became my Favourite City player. The way he ran at speed with the ball, the passing, the dribbling, the guy was magical to watch and some of the goals he scored were amazing, none better than the one On the 16th March 1996 at Maine road vs Southampton. Kinkladze beat five players before chipping the ball over Southampton goalkeeper Dave Beasant and i was there to see it. My favourite player to ever wear a city shirt providing me with my Favourite ever memory also. Kinkladze's brilliance in our side was not enough to save us from relegation and unfortunately he moved on. But my love for City never ended and i continued to go to matches as and when i could afford to, even when relegated again into the third tear of English football i never stopped supporting my Team.

Obviously there have been ups and downs supporting City, More downs if I'm honest and a lot of Bad memories to boot, but these are the memories that make us who we are, these are the things that make us love the club all that much more, and those who have stood by us through the dark days are now beginning ti enjoy the pay off now the money has come rolling in and the long long wait for a trophy finally ended. Who would have thought 10 years ago we'd be in the champions league, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Bayern Munich.

Anyway, you all probably have your own memories good and bad, and your favourite players through the years. We all have our "BLUE VIEWS"

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MOVING FORWARD TOGETHER

The build up to the Blackburn game was dominated by the fallout from Carlos Tevez, allegedly refusing to come off the bench in Germany on Tuesday. Supposedly when asked to come on the little Argentinian Diva had refused. Now i stated a few weeks ago in a previous blog, referring to the Cook mess, that this Blog was started to share my views on the games and not get embroiled in the politics that surround football these days, so that being said, all i will say on the subject is, the day Mr Tevez leaves (or is sacked) can't come quick enough. The man has made it perfectly clear more than once he has no desire to be a part of our fantastic club and yet the fans have stood by him, but you have lost my support Mr Tevez and i will not be sorry to see you gone.

The team shown 6 changes to the one fielded in Europe, Dzeko was rested (or punished) after his poor showing in Munich and his little strop when he was substituted and Balotelli got his first premier league start. Johnson returned from his ankle injury to replace Nasri who was also rested. Lescott returned to the center of the defence and the full backs were all new to with Zabaletta and Kolarov coming back in. The other change saw Milner starting in midfield. The first half was a pretty uneventful showing played at a fairly slow pace on an extraordinarily hot day for the first of October and chances for either team were few and far between. Blackburn set up like most teams that face us now, to absorb us and try and counter. The best chances city did manage to create fell to Balotelli, but he managed to fire over or wide, and Joe Hart was rarely tested and didn't even make a meaningful save. The most notable moment of the first half came on 26 minutes when Sergio Aguero limped out of the game with what looked like a groin strain, he was replaced by Samir Nasri. So after an eventful week then the whistle brought an end to an un-eventful, and in all honestly, un-entertaining first half.

Second half started and it was noticeable that Mancini had addressed the speed that the game was being played at so City began to step it up and on 56 minutes, the deadlock was broken. A cross from Kolarov was partly cleared to the edge of the box, falling to Johnson's feet, he took a touch, composed him self and then curled a brilliant shot into the top corner, brilliant to have AJ back in the team, even better to see him score an absolute blinder to put city 1-0 up. 3 minutes later and the lead was doubled. Good work down the left from Nasri who fired in the cross that most strikers would have gone for with their heads, but Mario isn't most strikers, and he turned the ball in with his foot. 3 goals in 3 games now for Mario and reward for his brilliant attitude and patience in waiting on the bench in previous games to get his chance (unlike someone else I could, but won't mention).  On 73 minutes it was 3-0 and a first goal in City colours for Samir Nasri, that is if it isn't taken away from him. Brilliant patient build up again saw Silva set up Nasri for the shot which took a deflection before nestling in the back of the net. Blackburn fans singing Keane out now and the banners that were apparently prepared for a demonstration after the final whistle were now getting an airing. Remember the days when City fans used to protest at Matches ? Sitting in the middle of the pitch after the final whistle and refusing to leave Maine road all those years ago ? How far we've come ? 79 Minutes gone and Savic comes on to replace Johnson and on 87 minutes it's Savic who scores his first city goal to make it 4-0. Silva's corner met by Savic with a powerful header, so 4 goals and 4 different names on the score sheet. Dzeko did get a late run out replacing the brilliant Balotelli, but the game ended 4-0 and the Blackburn fans protest began.

So after 4 days of the gutter press talking abut "a club in turmoil" and the fact we are "imploding" we still sit unbeaten in the premier league, separated only by 1 goal in goal difference from the league toppers and champions United, some turmoil we are in ? It is pleasing that we have gone to Ewood park today and made a statement, and shown the world that we are all on the same page and going in the right direction under Mancini. One player is not bigger than this club and gone are the days when we rely on Carlos Tevez for goals, maybe there in lies his problem ? Two weeks off now until we play Villa because on an international break, time maybe for Aguero to shake what ever injury he picked up today and time to resolve internal problems, all i will say is.....Carlos ? Carlos who ?

THE BIG TEST

This was the nights that City fans have been dreaming of and the nights that if I'm honest, 10 years ago, i never thought I'd see. September 27th 2011 and City go to German Giants Bayern Munich. A team that have been involved in 8 finals and won it 4 times. No doubt about it, this was going to be a test. I was having a week off work and decided that i wasn't going to sit and watch the build up all day as it would only make me nervous for the match, so i chose to watch a couple of films and avoid sky sports in any form all day, until 7 o'clock. I turned on Sky sports 2 to see a brilliant little Montage of Noel Gallagher talking about us and our history and what the club has grown into since the relegation 13 years ago. It almost moved me to tears and now the nerves began. The team news was Kolo Toure coming in for Lescott and the rest of the team pretty much picked its self. The fact that Mancini had dropped Lescott, who had looked better and better the more games he played and changed the central defencive pairing for such a big game was also worrying. When the Champions League Music kicked in and the whistle sounded the start of the match my heart was pounding.

City actually started very well, passing the ball around well and keeping possession. We should have had a nailed on penalty early on to when David Silva was taken out in the penalty but we got nothing. Bayern began to settle into the game now though and the game became very open. We looked comfortable though and this worried me. I even said to my son, "we've looked ok here, probably the better team, that means they will probably score first". I hate it when I'm right. On 35 minutes Bayern took the lead. We'd just had one warning when Bayern should have scored but it was scooped over the bar, and we didn't learn from it because straight after the breakthrough came. Hart made a fantastic double save but couldn't stop the 3rd as Gomez scores as our defence falls asleep. We had to regroup and keep it to 1-0 or even equalize before the break. It looked like we could do to, Until the 45th minute, and with the last kick of the half Gomez made it 2-0, Hart again making a good save but as the defence watched on he couldn't stop the follow up. So the half time whistle goes and we are 2-0 down with a mountain to climb. I dreamt that we'd lose 3-0. Maybe dreams come true. Or did it qualify as a nightmare ?

Second half starts and we didn't look confident, giving away unnecessary free kicks in the first 10 minutes, Ribery coming more and more into the game. On 55 minutes needing 2 goals Mancini decides to bring off Dzeko and replace him with De jong, Meaning that Yaya would play further up the field, Platt saying at half time we hadn't defending far enough up the pitch. Dzeko was not happy about coming off at all. The change didn't seem to help as straight away we were on the back foot and Bayern should have scored again. 60 minutes gone and we just couldn't get hold of the ball and when we did we couldn't keep it. It looked bad now. Surely needing 2 goals, seeing the manager take Dzeko off who can get you goals must surely have a negative affect on the team. German crowd were lapping it up and enjoying their Octoberfest now. 69th minute and Milner replaced Nasri.  Bayern were just passing the ball around for fun now because time was on their side and frankly, we didn't look like we even wanted the ball. 72nd Minute and our final su comes on, Kolarov for Barry, so needing 2 goals, Dzeko was off and Tevez was still on the bench. I don't like to knock our manager after all he's done for the club, but sometimes his substitutions leave me baffled.  Joe hart pulled of a fantastic save from a free kick to keep us in touch with 10 minutes to go, Joe hart being the player who could hold his head up highest tonight.

The final whistle sounded and we'd suffered our first defeat of the season and failed our first Champions league test. Bayern had looked like a quality team but hadn't looked like they had needed to play at their very best to beat us. Ultimately this was disappointing and maybe just highlighted the difference between us and the experienced teams in this competition. It looks like Bayern will be strong favourites to win our group, but its not over, we have 4 more games to play, 2 of them against Villareal, who had lost their opening 2 fixtures and looked like the weakest team in our group. So as long as Bayern take points against Napoli and we can win our back to back games against Villareal, there is still a long way to go in this group. Still not looking for any bridges to jump off, still not going to slate anyone or rant and rave, but the choice of subs tonight was puzzling and it also looked like it puzzled the subs bench also. Guess this one has to be chalked up as experience. We live and we learn. Not such a happy blue tonight,  but we've come a long way and we still have a long way to go. Thanks for reading. CTID !

STICKY TOFFEE'S

September 24th 2011 and the early kick off saw our Bogey team coming to the Etihad stadium as we played Everton. We'd found it hard to get anything against Everton recently, last season they came and only had 2 shots and somehow managed to win 2-0 so we really needed to break the Hoodoo that the Toffees seemed to have over us. Mancini had the luxury of being able to change the complete starting line up from our midweek win over Birmingham, showing just how deep and Strong our squad is now.

The toffee's came with a game plan. Park the bus and defend, man mark David Silva, and kick the crap out of him every single chance they got, and thats exactly what they did. In the first 15 minutes it actually looked like Everton might offer something to the game, but after City settled, it was clear that they wouldn't offer much, apart from 5 bookings, at least 3 of them for fouls on Silva. They did however not allow us any space on the pitch and we were unable to get the movement going that had made us look so good in the first few games of the season. Silva, when he wasn't being fouled, was his brilliant best again, running things as usual but maybe we were looking for him to much when there was other options on. Dzeko who had started the season well was also struggling to get into the game and Nasri and Aguero were having to come to deep to get involved so it was no surprise when the first half finished 0-0. Tevez and Balotelli were warming up constantly through the first half and it seemed it was only a matter of time before one of those replaced Dzeko.

The second half started and again Everton had a spell, earning a few consecutive corners, but it was clear that Everton were a team that hadn't improved at all since the last time i saw them and they had the same game plan they had last season. Last season we couldn't handle it or break them down but our improvement showed as we did start to create chances as the second half unfolded. On 60 minutes the obvious change happened, and after his goal in mid week it was Balotelli who replaced Dzeko and man did he make an impact. 8 minutes after coming on it was Mario who curled a wonderful shot low into the bottom corner of the net to open the scoring and knock the stuffing out of the Toffee men. After scoring it was nice to see Balotelli run to the halfway line to give his manager a hug.  Now Everton would have to come out and maybe try and play a bit of football instead of killing the game. Milner replaced Aguero on 79 minutes and then Savic came on for Nasri on 83 as the manager tries to sure things up and take what we had. Balotelli and Siva combined to put the ball in the net and send the crowd wild, but Silva was ruled offside and the goal didn't count.

Always had that feeling that we would need another goal if we were going to take the points because with the hoodoo that Everton have had over us it wouldn't have been a shock if they were to get a late equalizer so when David Silva played in James Milner on 90 minutes to fire the ball under Tim Howard for the second goal I was a happy blue. The fixture was put to bed and the jinx of Everton was finally broken and city were 2nd in the league to United, But only on goal difference as United Drop their first points of the season away to Stoke. The derby is now only four weeks away and we are keeping track with the Champions so if things carry on like this, that game will be a very tasty fixture. Next for the blues though is a trip to face Bayern Munich in our second Champions League game on Tuesday. Has Mario earned himself i place in the starting line up for that one ? If it was down to me I'd play him, but it's not, so we'll wait and see. This weekend though, for one reason AND another, I'm a very happy blue. Thanks for reading.

LEAGUE CUP CAMPAIGN

September 21st 2011 and Manchester City start their League cup campaign against Championship side, but current cup holders, Birmingham City. I thought long and hard about whether i should go to this game or not on a cold wet Wednesday Night but in the end i decided to attend. I got there early because i was unable to buy my ticket over the phone due to complications, so i went down to the ground in good time so i didn't have to queue so much. After purchasing my ticket i then killed a bit of time with a Macdonalds and a wander around Asda before returning to the ground just in time to see the team arrive, and it was a much changed team that exited the coach.

Pantilimon, the big Romanian goalkeeper bought in August would make his debut in goal. The back four was Onuoha getting his first start since returning from loan at Sunderland last season, Savic and Kolo Toure making his return to the side after his 6 month drugs ban and Champions League hero Kolarov. Youngster Razak got a start in midfield along side Owen Hargreaves making his City debut. Hargreaves was picked up on a free transfer after he was released by Manchester United at the end of last season due to his lack of games for them through constant injury. He had worked hard to regain his fitness over the summer and became a shock transfer day deadline purchase for the blues. The front 4 was a strange one. Full backs Zabaletta and forgotten man Wayne Bridge would act as wingers and Tevez and Balotelli were the strikers. So a squad of debuts and returning players but the most pleasing return was the sound of Supra's version of blue moon belting out rather than the weak Beady eye version they had opted to play for the first 2 home games.

The game started and in all honestly Birmingham didn't really offer much in the first half, City had a lot of the ball and passed it around for fun. Razak and Hargreaves seemed to have more touches of the ball as anyone as they ran midfield. It was good to see Hargreaves back on a football pitch, because when fit, there is no doubting his quality, but his fitness had been the problem. It wasn't long though until his quality shone through, when he picked up the ball on the edge of the area and fired in an unstoppable shot into the Brum net for the opening goal on 17 minutes. He looked like he really enjoyed it to, and this prompted a chorus of "Fergie fergie, sign him up" from the city faithful. Mario, who was getting some much needed game time, made it 2-0 in the 37th minute and pretty much put the game to bed.

The second half was Man City just going through the motions really and there wasn't really much to write home about. Hargreaves left the pitch to a good ovation to be replaced by Milner on 57 minutes. A fantastic debut and a good 57 minutes to get under his belt for Hargreaves. Rekik made his City debut on 80 minutes, replacing Bridge and slotting in at left back, meaning Kolarov played the last 10 minutes as a winger, and then on 87 minutes, another debut, this time for Italian youngster Scapuzzi, replacing Razak who was struggling with what looked like cramp. Tevez should have made it 3 near the end when he was through one on one with the brum keeper, but the keeper made a good save, first stopping Tevez's attempt and then Stopping Toure's follow up attempt.

The final whistle came and the FA cup holders had knocked the League cup holders out and were in the draw for the 4th round, something we didn't manage to do last season as we went out to WBA at this stage. The season before had seen us reach the semi final and go out to United, but after last seasons tastes of Wembley, maybe this season we'd want this a bit more ? Be nice to see if we had enough in our reserves to take us on a nice League cup run this year, but that remains to be seen. Else where, our opponents for the coming Saturday, Everton, had to go into extra time, with many of their first team players having to play, so maybe when we meet our bogey team this weekend, they will have tired legs while Mancini will be able to field a completely rested team. Good to have a big, quality squad at last.