League Cup Semi Final

Don't fancy this at all at Goodison.  Everton are just coming together after a poor start.  Anybody know if Jagielka is now fit to return?  They did very well against a much improved Spuds team.  Anyway, relying on good commentary from Bluemoonies as I can't record and watch it later - I don't subscribe to the channel its on over here - which is a channel that only shows one Championship match per Saturday and the League Cup games - not worth an extra $15/month on top of the $115/month I pay to watch the Premier League matches.  If the word "wank" appears in the commentary - I will know that its best I don't check the forum for updates and stick to the "wank" commentary on the BBC site.

He is rude isn't he wensdi

I thought that the politest word possible at the time.

it was utterly the right word at that time...

"Everton are just coming together after a poor start".....really ?

They've won 1 in their last 7 games...and that was a 93rd minute winner at Newcastle. If City lose at Goodison they don't deserve to get through tbh, although it still won't be the end of the world, as we'll stuff um at home. The Spuds totally out-played them on Sunday and i expect City to do exactly the same tomorrow (with or without Jagielka).

We just have to make sure we are solid (for a change)

Hart
Zabba, Otamendi, Mango, Clichy
Delph, Fernandinho
Kevin, Yaya, Silva
Aguero

I'd rather not have Yaya in there, but we all know he's going to play.

We better not be wank!

To be fair, without wishing to buck the trend, i would prefer Yaya to Delph in midfield as, despite his much mentioned laziness, he is a better passer of the ball, he is harder to shove off the ball, he is less likely therefore to lose possession and he is the more likely of the 2 to produce a goal especially when it seems unlikely our more vaunted attacking players will score at all. Not saying he isn't lazy, just that Delph has not played enough or done enough to convince me that he is the better option yet and as much as it is fashionable to attack Toure he does have some good qualities as mentioned although rarely by a few others on these pages who prefer to focus only on his faults.

city always seem to lose the away leg in these league cup semi,s only bucking the trend when we stuffed the ammers thanks to an awesome Negredo

a 1-0 win for us or a scoring draw.

ManCityMan wrote:To be fair, without wishing to buck the trend, i would prefer Yaya to Delph in midfield as, despite his much mentioned laziness, he is a better passer of the ball, he is harder to shove off the ball, he is less likely therefore to lose possession and he is the more likely of the 2 to produce a goal especially when it seems unlikely our more vaunted attacking players will score at all. Not saying he isn't lazy, just that Delph has not played enough or done enough to convince me that he is the better option yet and as much as it is fashionable to attack Toure he does have some good qualities as mentioned although rarely by a few others on these pages who prefer to focus only on his faults.

If I'm one of the one's who only concentrates on his negative aspects, see my reply to his goal against Watford.

I rarely complained in his first few seasons, when he put in 100% effort, played exceptionally well and scored goals, penalties and free kicks.

His attitude for me over the past 18 months towards our club has been nothing short of disgraceful. If you're happy with that, then fair enough - it just doesn't sit well with me. IF, he came back after all that bollocks of the cake-gate, then he came back after the whole Xmas "I'd like to play for Barca, then the "nobody appreciates me" shite and actually did what he did the previous few seasons, I can't imagine many disliking him, including me, a la Tevez.

However, his performances and form has been distinctly average for somebody who commands £250k pw and self-proclaims how good he is!!

If you actually look at his stats in the PL, apart from one season, maybe two...they're hardly electric - yes, he scored 2 vital goals in the semi and final of the FA Cup.....

2010-11 - 6 goals in 35

2011-12 - 6 goals in 32

2012 -13 - 6 goals in 32

2013 -14 - 20 in 35....brilliant

2014-15 - 10 goals in 29

2015-16 - 5 goals in 18

We can't use the excuse that he's a DMF so those stats are impressive, as we all know he isn't a defensive MF player and also, he has had the majority of free kicks and penalty taking duties in this time.

For me, his box-to-box runs with the ball are great to watch, but I'm sure, if we looked at the past 2 seasons, they have dropped off to one, maybe two if we are lucky per game.

Yes, his passing is a strong point, yes he's better at it than Delph, however, if his assist record was magical, it would be hard to argue with - but it's not, so therefore, what we've seen more and more of, is his sideways passing from deep within our own half - which to be fair, Delph could do on the whole....the problem is his energy and effort at tracking his runners and it's absolutely no surprise that we have struggled this season against far lesser teams who have targeted TLMLF specifically in MF and bypassed him as they know he can't or won't track back....which, in another argument, causes our CB's more and more problems....and Fernandinho left seriously exposed.

However, it's all about opinions.....

Even though a penalty still has to be scored, I'd always discount them when totting up goal tallies to see how good a player is.

Think we will either lose 1 or 2 nil or it will be a 1-1 draw.

looks likely to be dippers in the final going from last nights performance.. Stoke didn't get going until last 5 minutes really.

God wensdi. "Danny bloody" Mills is worse reading him on the BBC than he is slating us on matchday live. cant someone just retire him to outer Mongolia or somewhere.