An eventual rout of Notts County could prove to be a very important victory for City at a crucial juncture of the season. The post match reaction including VMC feedback…
Roberto Mancini:
‘The FA Cup is an important competition and we want to win it. Reaching the final is our aim but we cannot look too far ahead. We have a Europa tie on Thursday and then we must play in the league on Sunday before the cup match against Villa…We play every three days so it is not easy to be on top form all the time…we started slowly but in the first half hour Notts County played well. We did very well in the second half and took our chances too.’
City now face Aston Villa at Eastlands in the Fifth Round next week knowing that the reward of a win would see Everton or Reading come to Manchester in the following stage of the competition. Everton being easily the bitterest of opponents that The Blues have faced in recent seasons:
‘It is good to be drawn at home but we never seem to beat Everton. In any case we and they have tough matches to get through before then…
Mancio maintains that there is not a problem with the Mario Balotelli who’s hissy fit post substitution made for a pathetic spectacle:
‘We want to ease Mario back into action. He knew he would not play the full game. Sometimes in training when he misses a chance he holds his knee and then when he scores he doesn’t…his knee is ok. We want him to play for the next two months which is why we had the plan to ease him back into the game.’
Finally the dapper City gaffer gave an update on a noteable injury with Shay Given’s notorious shoulder problems having struck again:
‘He has a shoulder problem and next week he will go to the doctor in London to see if he needs surgery.’
Paul Ince:
‘I thought we did ever so well and with a bit of luck we could have been one nil in front…That is what you need when you come to places like this. We started well and at times it felt like a home game…We were ready for it but when you get your chances you need to take advantage and but for the width of a post it didn’t happen because that would have set us off nicely.’
Patrick Vieira:
‘We know how to win but we saw how difficult it will be to go all the way…
We need to believe in ourselves, work as hard as we did today and we will see.
‘It’s a competition in which the club want to do well. It’s important for us to win some silverware this season but there is still a long way to go. But when you see how deep our squad is we have to believe in ourselves…we don’t score enough goals from corners or free-kicks so thank God I scored twice!’
The VMCers:
Buzz Lightyear:
‘Silva and Zabaleta ran this game with a supporting role from Richards, but Vieira took his goals really well, but apart from that, still needs games to get back to match fitness…Silva played the link between the midfield and the forward line and was like the Scarlet **cking Pimpernel, here there and every **cking where!’
fifthcolumnblue:
‘…Balotelli did next to nothing, but I’d cut him some slack, seeing as this was his first start in a couple of months…no excuse for his strop and I won’t defend it, but he was denied a pretty clear penalty and i can only assume that he still expects the refs to give the same decisions they would in serie a – Not going to happen Mario, better get used to it…Richard’s finish would put a few strikers to shame!’
JJ Manc Girl:
‘Why are we the only club who have screwed up our stands? I went today and no doubt people have said this in the past but we had one stand behind the goal full of away support and the other goal was overlooked by a family stand with like 10 people in it! What a joke. Come on City, get real, put the family stand in a corner or another stand and get the away fans as far away from the pitch as possible.’
CITYBOY 1000:
‘Didn’t want Everton, home or away. Been our bogey team for a long time now – assuming we get past Villa which isn’t a given.”
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