FA Cup final 2011 - City end long victory drought

MANCHESTER CITY’s 35 year trophy drought ended yesterday, as they beat Stoke City 1-0 in the FA Cup final at Wembley.  City’s semi-final hero Yaya Toure scored the only goal in the 74^th minute to break Stoke’s resistance in an intriguing final, though hardly a classic to be remembered.

     Stoke were taking part in their first ever FA Cup final, whilst City last made it this far back in 1981.  Therefore, it was a surprising final for many and unfortunately, the game never lived up to its pre-match billing.  Tony Pulis side were very poor in the first half and thanks to some great goalkeeping from Thomas Sorensen and wasteful City finishing, they held onto a 0-0 scoreline at half-time.  Both Carlos Tevez and man-of-the-match Mario Balotelli were denied by the exploits of Sorensen, who has been Stoke’s FA Cup goalkeeper all season.  The Potters were organised and very resolute, but sadly, not much more.  The best chance of the first half was missed by the off-colour David Silva.  Balotelli’s brilliant movement ten minutes before half-time set the chance up and although the Spanish World Cup winner approached it at an awkward height, he basically missed a sitter by his high standards. 

     At times, the final threatened to get out of hand into a very bitty occasion.  Two poor challenges from Robert Huth in the first half meant the German was very lucky to stay on the pitch by half-time.  Either side of the interval and Jermaine Pennant was the victim of two bruising challenges, which limited his impact.  With Matthew Etherington forced off on the hour mark, having picked up a recurrence of the hamstring injury that he first picked up against Wolves 18 days ago, Stoke’s threat, particularly on the wings was severely limited.  Toure went onto to make the right headlines, but even the Ivorian was lucky to still be on the field by the time he scored the decisive goal.  A very bad challenge on Andy Wilkinson which looked malicious and with some form of intent was the climax of a very scrappy and spicy start to the second half. 

CHANCE: Stoke's golden chance was blown by Kenwyne Jones

     Stoke’s best chance to win the FA Cup final came just before Etherington’s enforced departure.  His beautifully-flighted ball over the top found Kenwyne Jones.  Jones managed to escape the clutches of Joleon Lescott, but Joe Hart stood tall, and made a critical save.  At this point, Roberto Mancini elected to make a bold move.  He sacrificed one of his holding players; Gareth Barry, for the more attack-minded Adam Johnson and the extra aggression in the final third soon paid dividends.  Yet again, Balotelli was in the heart of the move.  His shot, after some clever skill was blocked by Ryan Shawcross and following another minor deflection, the ball fell perfectly to Toure, who produced a cracking drive to break the deadlock.  It was a strike that left Sorensen with absolutely no chance.  Despite sending Shawcross forward as an emergency striker and Sorensen for corners, Stoke’s late bombardment on the City goal ultimately came to nothing.

    The rise of Manchester City continues and it is a fitting tribute to Neil Young.  Young, who scored the winning goal the last time the blue side of Manchester won the FA Cup, in 1969, died in February.  Goalkeeper Hart insisted that Manchester United’s earlier title success at Ewood Park meant nothing to hinder the celebrations; “We don’t care about Man U.  This is about Man City and the players and the fans, we deserved to win.”  Losing manager Pulis accepted the result with good grace.  He told ITV; “We’ve had a great season, but ultimately we dropped off today.  The best side won.” 

ALOFT: Tevez lifts the FA Cup for Manchester City

      The 1976 League Cup was the last time Manchester City lifted a major domestic trophy and on the week when they also won qualification into next season’s Champions League, this will go down as a week to remember for all City fans.  Ultimately, they were the stronger and better outfit throughout and deserved the win.  It was left to Carlos Tevez, only the third overseas captain after Eric Cantona and Patrick Vieira to lift the FA Cup aloft.  Whilst Stoke played their part in a largely forgettable final, it was a Blue Day at Wembley yesterday and anything is possible from here for the rich-spenders.  This could be the start of something big and there is no doubt now, that the whole of the football world must sit-up and take notice. 

FA Barclays Premiership Report (14th - 16th August 2010)

In a new feature, I will be rounding up the Premiership action on this website every single weekend, with brief reports of each game.  This first weekend of the season bought twenty-six goals, a fairytale start for one of the new boys, a farewell goal from an England international and horror goalkeeping blunders from some of the Premier League’s best.

Saturday 14^th August – Wigan Athletic 0-4 Blackpool

Blackpool fans saw their players make a dream start to their maiden Premiership campaign, with a convincing 4-0 away day result at a dreary and awful Wigan.  Gary Taylor-Fletcher opened the scoring and Marlon Harewood added another two goals before half-time, to give the Tangerines an unforgettable first 40 minutes.  Wigan barely improved after the interval, and luckily, only conceded one more goal, when Chris Kirkland made a meal of Alex-John Baptiste’s cross and palmed the ball into the net.  This was the sort of day that Blackpool fans could only dream about, but the pressure will be already on Roberto Martinez, otherwise he could become a very early Premiership casualty. 

Saturday 14^th August – Chelsea 6-0 West Brom

Chelsea started this season as they finished last season, as the defending champions ripped newly promoted West Brom apart at Stamford Bridge.  After a dismal pre-season, Carlo Ancelotti’s champions made short work of the Baggies, who wilted once Florent Malouda put the Blues ahead on six minutes.  Didier Drogba earned himself a deserved hat-trick, whilst Malouda scored another late effort and Frank Lampard added a sixth.  This was a big warning of intent from the champions, ‘catch us if you can.’  For West Brom, their season effectively begins against Sunderland this Saturday.

Sunday 15^th August – Liverpool 1-1 Arsenal

A nightmare moment for Pepe Reina in the last minute cost Liverpool a deserved three points against Arsenal in a hard-fought clash at Anfield.  A poor first half came to life when Reds debutant Joe Cole was dismissed by Martin Atkinson for an unnecessary challenge on Laurent Koscieny.  Moments into the second half, David N’Gog capitalised on some slack Arsenal defending to smash Roy Hodgson’s side infront, beating the under-fire Manuel Almunia at his near post.  Reina was on top form to deny Thomas Vermaelen and Tomas Rosicky during the match, but made a hash of a simple cross from Rosicky, being beaten in the air by Marouane Chamakh and off-balance, palming the ball into his own net for an unfortunate own goal.  Koscieny were sent off for two silly yellow cards in stoppage time, but Liverpool will wonder how two points got away, whilst Arsenal will be the happier of the two sides, after a timid opening display.

Monday 16^th August – Manchester United 3-0 Newcastle United

Manchester United made a masterful start to their campaign, kicking off with an easy 3-0 win over Premier League returnees, Newcastle United.  Although the Magpies kept Sir Alex Ferguson’s side contained for the first half hour, they were broken down by Dimitar Berbatov cool finish, then a second on the stroke of half-time from Scot Darren Fletcher.  Substitute Ryan Giggs added a late third, keeping his record going as the only player to score in all 19 Premiership seasons.  There was also a wonderful display from Paul Scholes and although Wayne Rooney’s goal drought continued, this was a near-perfect start for the Red Devils.

Saturday 14^th August – Aston Villa 3-0 West Ham United

It was a strange atmosphere around Villa Park at the weekend, especially after the shock departure of Martin O’Neill from Aston Villa just five days before the start of the season.  However, his ex-players responded in superb fashion, comfortably getting the better of a very limp West Ham unit.  Stewart Downing opened the scoring, taking advantage of some dodgy goalkeeping from England reject Robert Green.  Stilian Petrov headed in a second, before James Milner, on his farewell appearance for the Villains before joining Manchester City smashed in a Marc Albrighton low cross.  West Ham will need to improve on this dismal display, but it was the perfect tonic for reserve team coach and caretaker boss, Kevin McDonald.

 

Saturday 14^th August – Tottenham Hotspur 0-0 Manchester City

Joe Hart proved his worth to Roberto Mancini with a breathtaking goalkeeping display to keep Tottenham at bay in the first game of the new season.  Picked over Shay Given, the recently appointed England No.1 produced a number of quality stops to deny Jermain Defoe, Peter Crouch and co from a winning start.  Tottenham’s performance was impressive, bar the result.  For City’s big spenders, they were battered and lucky to leave White Hart Lane with a goalless draw.

Saturday 14^th August – Sunderland 2-2 Birmingham City

Sunderland threw away a two-goal lead infront of their home fans on a day when the skippers had a day to forget.  After deliberately elbowing Garry O’Connor, Lee Cattermole was lucky to stay on the field for longer than 40 minutes.  He did commit two yellow card challenges and quite rightly, got his marching orders.  Birmingham captain Stephen Carr conceded a penalty converted by Darren Bent and then, looped a header over a bemused Ben Foster early in the second half.  Dreadful Sunderland defending led to a spirited fightback from Birmingham, with scrappy goals from Scott Dann and Liam Ridgewell. 

Saturday 14^th August – Wolves 2-1 Stoke City

Wolves came out on top of an entertaining opening clash at Molineux with Stoke City, inspired by a brilliant free-kick from David Jones.  Having lost new record signing Kenwyne Jones to an ankle injury early on, Stoke lost their way and conceded twice in three minutes.  First, to a 20-yard volley from Jones’s free-kick, teed up by Karl Henry, then to a simple header from new Wolves signing Steven Fletcher.  Although Abdoulaye Faye headed in a consolation, Wolves deserved to shade this match and continued their momentum from the end of last season in fine style.

 

Saturday 14^th August – Blackburn Rovers 1-0 Everton

Tim Howard gifted Blackburn a deserved opening day success, by dropping a simple ball forward from Steven N’Zonzi.  His glaring error allowed Nikola Kallinic the chance to slot the ball into an unguarded net and hand Rovers a day one win for the first time in seven years.  Everton, playing in absolutely disgusting pink away shirts huffed and puffed, but lacked the creativity required to beat Paul Robinson.

Saturday 14^th August – Bolton Wanderers 0-0 Fulham

This game had a 0-0 draw written all over it and sure enough, Bolton Wanderers and Fulham lived up to expectations.  Mark Hughes’s first game back in football management since his achromous departure from Manchester City last Christmas turned into a damp squib, as his side looked happy with a point.  Bolton forced the best of the action, but they were denied by fine goalkeeping.