More Boro reax

Colin Young, Daily Mail

City sauntered to the fourth round of the FA Cup against toothless Middlesbrough. A frozen Given, struggling to feel his feet an hour after the final whistle, did not make his first save until David Wheater's tame injury-time header.

Roberto Mancini made five changes and will have mixed views on his replacements, of whom young Belgian defender Dedryck Boyata was the most outstanding. Hopefully, he has found a manager prepared to develop such talent.

Jason Mellor, The Times

Once Adam Johnson departed with a recurrence of a hamstring problem, Middlesbrough barely mustered a threat on goal, and the tie was effectively over when Benjani Mwaruwari confidently fired home his first goal for more than a year from a pass by Martin Petrov in first-half injury time.

Roberto Mancini brought Carlos Tévez, Gareth Barry and Craig Bellamy of the bench in the second half as he comfortably maintainted his 100 per cent unbeaten start.

Mark Ogden, Daily Telegraph

A biting wind and heavy snow might have tested the resolve of some of more illustrious City players who were absent due to injury or international commitments, but Mancini’s starting XI proved up for the challenge against the Championship club.

Belgian youngster Dedryck Boyata impressed at centre-half, while Benjani, the definition of the forgotten man under Hughes, performed the centre-forward role admirably. His goal, in the 45th minute, was a well-executed finish from Martin Petrov’s pass and it marked his first strike for the club since Dec 2008.

Paul Wilson, The Guardian

Considering he has been in the country only a matter of weeks Mancini got his formula spot-on at the Riverside, certainly better than Ferguson did at home, although Middlesbrough do not remotely resemble a fired-up Leeds. Robinho was not required, Dedryck Boyata and Vladimir Weiss made their first starts and, after Benjani Mwaruwari had celebrated his first game since October with the only goal of the match, City brought on Gareth Barry, Carlos Tevez and Craig Bellamy to stretch their legs and a tiring Boro defence in the second half.

Boro reax

Mark Ogden, Sunday Telegraph

Middlesbrough, who went into this game having won just twice in ten games since Strachan’s arrival in October, saw their hopes of a shock recede dramatically when winger Adam Johnson limped out with a recurrence of a hamstring injury before the interval. Without Johnson, Boro lacked the one player capable of worrying City.

Mancini’s team were rarely troubled by the home side in the first-half and City should have gone in with a greater half-time lead than the one goal provided by Benjani in the 45th minute.

Paul Wilson, The Observer

It is a third successive clean sheet under Mancini, too, which has to be counted as a significant improvement, even if the Italian has not encountered any of England's more potent attacking forces yet. Boro are miles behind even Stoke and Wolves when it comes to causing problems for defences, which is why Strachan is struggling at Championship level. He must envy Mancini his gentle introduction to English football.

Bob Cass, Mail on Sunday

As a warm-up for next Wednesday's Carling Cup semi-final against United, Middlesbrough provided the perfect workout. Will we then see what the new boss is really made of in that first leg at Eastlands?

The blue and white scarf which Mancini presumably sleeps in was a necessary antidote to the freezing cold rather than a lucky adornment.

His winter of content continued with a no-frills victory over a Boro side which, apart from a token flurry near the end, provided scant opposition.

Jason Mellor, Independent on Sunday

The hosts were stymied in their efforts to spring a shock by the early loss of Adam Johnson with a recurrence of a hamstring injury which denied them of their most eye- catching player. Middlesbrough enjoyed plenty of possession, but barring a second-half header from Rhys Williams which landed on the roof of the net, City goalkeeper Shay Given will earn few easier clean sheets this season.

Steve Lillis, News of the World

City's mix-and-match side included full debuts for Dedryck Boyata and Vladimir Weiss, but they always looked capable of exposing Boro's back four.

Benjani sees more of Martin Petrov on the training ground than his does the pitch but they quickly linked up.

They served notice of what was coming late in the first half when they played a delightful one-two, which Petrov wasted - firing wide with his right peg.

Boyata's debut

Praise from the manger:

"This was Dedryck’s first chance to shine at this level and I thought he did very well. The game will have given him confidence and helped him mentally to know that he is part of the squad"

And Boyata himself was clearly delighted:

"The Manager took the defence in training during the week, and when he called me over I was really shocked. I could not quite believe I would be in the team, and I did not want to really believe it until today. I only saw my name on the team sheet two hours before kick off, and I was a bit stressed for a while but once the game started that went away and I was fine.

"All the lads just told me to play the way I do in training, so it was not too difficult to make the step up. I just kept telling myself to stay focussed, but once we kicked off I was fine.

"I think it went pretty well, we won the game and I think I did OK, but I'm not too sure! I had had fantastic support from my team mates so I'm really happy."

Boro player ratings

Given Had very few saves to make: one or two ones straight at him but that was it. Tended to let Kompany and Boyata head away set-pieces. 6

Zabaleta Didn't have much to deal with but played his best game for a while. Was almost faultless defensively, which was particularly helpful with Micah Richards and Dedryck Boyata starting at centre-back. Attacked pretty well when needed, almost scored in the first half. 7

Boyata A very promising City debut from the Belgian youngster. He towered over everyone else on the pitch (including Kompany) and won everything in the air. With the ball on the ground he was more competent than confident - but I think that we will see more of this guy. 7

Richards Only played the first half but looked relatively comfortable at centre-back - his first game there since the 1-1 with Wigan in October. We'll need him fit for the rest of the month, though. 6

Garrido A quiet game but for a brief spell when he looked very troubled by Adam Johnson. But Johnson went off with a hamstring strain after losing the ball to an excellent Garrido challenge and after that he was fine. Mancini has a big call between him and Sylvinho for the Carling Cup semi. 6

Weiss Had a chance to impress today but couldn't quite take it. He struggled to get on the ball and when he did he looked a bit too keen to show off rather than to deliver. On the right hand side in the first half, on the left in the second, but not a great performance overall. 5

de Jong Solid stuff in the first half - as expected - but replaced at half time. It is quite important that he stays fit for the rest of this nine game month. 6

Kompany Played the first half in centre midfield - where he was tidy rather than dominant, before moving back to centre-back at half time. He typically threw himself in front of everything, matching David Wheater for size and commitment under crosses, corners and free-kicks. 7

Sylvinho Mancini clearly likes the idea of playing full-backs in wide midfield positions to provide balance, and Sylvinho started on the left wing. He doesn't have any pace, but still has a good football brain and showed some nice touches. Moved into central midfield at half time and passed the ball nicely. A good option to have in future. 7

Petrov Our best attacking player in the first half, putting Benjani through for our only goal. Moved out wide in the second half, where he found space as the game opened up and hit one shot just over the bar. 7

Benjani I don't want to be too critical of the game's only goal scorer but he wasn't great today. His first touch was woeful, which rendered him completely unable to hold the ball up. Which, for someone playing as a lone striker, is pretty problematic. Already has more goals for City in 2010 than he scored for us in 2009. 5

Subs:

Barry Added a touch of class and control to midfield when he came on. It would have been nice not to need him but with injuries to Stephen Ireland and Michael Johnson it was likely to happen 7

Tévez His energy and running transformed us - we looked much sharper with him on the pitch. Missed a chance or two but it didn't turn out to be a problem. 7

Bellamy Too late to mark. n/a

Boro 0 - 1 City

• There were two goals today: progression and atonement. We succeeded with regard to both. Given the pitch, the weather, and the City line-up it was never going to be a great game of football. And with only 12,474 fans in a 35,000 seater stadium it was never going to be a great cup tie either. But we're in the bag for the next round, and that's all that counts. Remember how we did at this stage last season, going out to Nottingham Forest at home? Or remember last year's Carling Cup exit at Brighton? If this season has taught us anything it is that 'typical City' is alive and well. Throw in having to listen to lazy stereotyping that Mancini will struggle on snowy away games in the north and it all adds up to a pretty good result today.

• Just as important, though, was to right the wrong of 11 May 2008. That was the most shameful result I can remember as a City fan. Most people responsible for that result have left the club. But three that started twenty months ago - Javi Garrido, Martin Petrov and Benjani - started today. When Petrov put Benjani through in first half stoppage time, and the Zimbabwean finished past Danny Coyne, it was a perfect piece of atonement. I would have liked us to have won by more, but at least this way all of our goals were scored and set-up by those that played in the 8-1. But the goal and the win leave a strong sense of redemption this evening. These things are difficult to expunge from our collective memory, but I do hope that it haunts us less now.

• Which is to say nothing of the performance today. All things considered we played pretty well. We tended to keep the ball nicely, and Middlesbrough barely created a single decent chance all match. There was one brief spell in the first half when we looked troubled, thanks to Javi Garrido's inability to deal with Adam Johnson. But when Johnson went off for Marvin Emnes we were fine. As the game progressed, Boro became increasingly dependant on high balls into the box to create anything. So extra credit must go to our second half all Belgian centre-back pairing of Vincent Kompany and Dedryck Boyata, who dealt excellently with everything Boro launched at them.

• At the other end of the pitch we had a poor first half but a good second half. We started with Martin Petrov playing off Benjani which for 45 minutes was pretty abject. After the half-time changes - Tévez and Barry came on for Micah Richards and Nigel de Jong - we looked much sharper, and created enough second half chances that on another day we would have scored five or six. I can't quite work out whether it is Tévez or Bellamy who is the real talisman, the indispensable man, but they both transform games when they come on.

• So we're in the Fourth Round: I'd either like an easy home game or an interesting away one. Have a personal preference for QPR away (in terms of proximity to me) but would love any of the remaining League One sides left in the competition.
  

Boro preview

Today is game three of the Roberto Mancini era. Thus far it has gone surprisingly smoothly: two comfortable and confident wins against admittedly limited opposition. Today is another similar test - average opposition, unfavourable conditions, with only the romance of FA Cup third round day pointing against our progress to the next round.

Frankly, I'm not sure how much of a priority the FA Cup is for us this season. In normal circumstances it would be, but that's usually because we have nothing left to play for by New Year. This season, though, we only need to win our game in hand to go fourth, and are in the semi-finals of the Carling Cup with a dream draw against Manchester United Reserves. So we're not in the usual position of making the FA Cup the only vessel for our hopes in the second half of the season.

Of course we would love to do well, but if we can increase our chances of beating United in mid-week by weakening our team today, it's a trade-off that I would be willing to make. I mean this with reference to Craig Bellamy, whose knees will not allow him to play both the Middlesbrough and United games this week. But Mancini has said that he won't do this:

"I have told the players they should not be thinking about the semi-final," said the Italian.

"We must have full attention on the FA Cup. We can prepare for the next game as soon as the final whistle goes.

"I will not be thinking about the match against United next week just what is best for the team and the players.

"I will play the strongest team I can at Middlesbrough but we do have a lot of injuries."

So I guess that Bellamy will play, as will other players - Tévez, Barry, de Jong - who could probably do with a rest. With Kolo Touré now on international duty, Micah Richards will have to play centre-back, leaving Pablo Zabaleta at right back. Javi Garrido should be rewarded for his free-kick at Molineux with a start at left-back. Further up the pitch we don't have the option to rotate even if we wanted it: with Stephen Ireland, Roque Santa Cruz, Emmanuel Adebayor all out and Shaun Wright-Phillips a doubt we have no choice but to play the big names - Carlos Tévez, Craig Bellamy, Martin Petrov and Robinho should all start. How about this:


I think that we will win. But there is something more important here than mere progress. Twenty months ago we lost 8-1 at the Riverside. It was one of the most shameful results in the history of Manchester City. Most of the people responsible for that defeat - Sven-Goran Eriksson, Thaksin Shinawatra, Tord Grip, Hans Backe, and most of the players have now left. But some are still here. And two of them - Javi Garrido and Martin Petrov - have just returned to the side, with timing that almost feels pre-destined. I don't mean this flippantly, or ironically, or humorously, but this afternoon is a chance for Garrido and Petrov to atone for that most shameful of results. But I back them to do it: they'll both score in a 2-0 win.