Derby reax

Henry Winter, Daily Telegraph

No amount of consoling words can possibly comfort City, particularly with the Stretford End crowing long and loud, but they should take pride in defeat. Carlos Tevez never stopped running, never stopped worrying Rio Ferdinand and Jonny Evans. Micah Richards never stopped seeking to break down the right, even bringing an unbelievable save from Edwin van der Sar.

Sam Wallace, The Independent

It was a monumental effort from City to haul themselves back into the game from two goals behind to take it to the brink of extra time. There were impressive performances from Craig Bellamy and Tevez; there were equally important contributions from Ryan Giggs and Darren Fletcher but in the end there was Rooney and only Rooney who really mattered.

Oliver Kay, The Times

On balance, United deserved it. They had been in control for long periods of the first leg last week, when two goals from Tévez gave Roberto Mancini’s side a 2-1 win, but last night, after an uncertain first half, they turned the screw.

Scholes, Carrick and the excellent Darren Fletcher took a grip of midfield and, as the pressure increased on City’s makeshift defence, there was a familiar air of inevitability about the outcome, even after Tévez had made the aggregate scoreline 3-3.

Kevin McCarra, The Guardian

The chance had been laid on by Bellamy, who ought to be a candidate for the footballer of the year award. His side was also vigorous and, before the interval, neither team had been in command for long. Mancini has had an early impact at the club by instilling a touch of rigour into the defence. This has occurred despite the current need to put a youngster such as Dedryck Boyata at the core of the back four while Joleon Lescott recovers from surgery.

Derby player ratings

Given A great save from Darren Fletcher but he might just have done better with the first goal. And the third came from his failing to win the ball when coming out of goal. 6

Richards Another good performance from Micah, whose return to form has been very welcome. He dealt much better with Ryan Giggs than he ever has done before, and did well carrying the ball from the back. Almost scored a great goal with a left foot I never knew he had. 7

Kompany For 91 minutes he was immaculate - cutting off almost everything and throwing himself into blocks. Let Rooney escape in stoppage time, though, which must have been as upsetting for him as it was for us. 7

Boyata It's testament to his maturity that Mancini trusted him ahead of Onuoha for the game. He did well again - composed and confident. 7

Garrido Never looked comfortable with the skill and movement of Nani, and was withdrawn after an hour. Is the Garrido Renaissance coming to an end? 5

Zabaleta He lives for the battle and he fought hard on the pitch. Tried his best to get Wayne Rooney sent off in the first half, unsuccessfully, and after that put in a number of strong tackles across the pitch. Moved to left back for the last half hour. 6

de Jong Tackled hard, as ever, but could not stem the tide when Fletcher and Scholes really started playing in the second half. Passing not always perfect - gave away the ball in the run-up to the second goal. 6

Barry Still looks like he needs a rest, which limited his attacking potential, but was still largely effective in putting out fires in our half. 6

SWP A few good moments, bursting past players, but could never quite find enough space for a good final ball. Took a bit of a kicking, as he always does against United. 6

Tévez He had to score, and he did - with a remarkable finish that would have got a lot more attention if the last fifteen minutes had happened differently. He worked hard all evening, giving Rio Ferdinand a difficult time, although not everything came off before the goal. 7

Bellamy Another one who lives for these big games, he was a constant menace - he clearly enjoys playing against Rafael - getting into good positions and crossing for Tévez's goal. Did well to play on after getting coined in the second half. 7

Subs:

Ireland Found some space and played some nice passes. I'd love him to start on Sunday. 6

Adebayor Ran hard when he came on. n/a

United 3 - 1 City

• So much for Wembley. We went to Old Trafford this evening needing a draw or a win, and we got neither. For a brief period it looked as if we were going to take the game into extra time, but we couldn't even make it that far. Ultimately, United were too good for us. Taking the game to extra time would have been an achievement itself. Losing the game in stoppage time was heart-breaking, but was no breach of football justice.
  

• As in the first leg, we stuttered at first. We conceded too much space to United, and they subjected us to a level of pressure that we deserved. We improved as the first half went on, and 0-0 was probably fair at the interval. But again we faced the problem of retreating in the face of pressure, and again we were reliant on Vincent Kompany and Dedryck Boyata to keep the game level.

• But their resistance could not last forever. The upsetting thing about the second half was that both goals were avoidable. Both came from a sequence of missed tackles, both could have been avoided had best defensive practices been followed. It was a shame after such a good defensive performance, but it was almost inevitable from the off: we never quite looked like having the experience to hold them off.

• Once we went 2-0 down we finally started to play. The addition of Stephen Ireland and Emmanuel Adebayor added more to our game, and our goal when it came was deserved. But a really excellent team would have pressed that advantage and gone into the lead. We didn't. After a brief spell of pressure we ceded control back to United, and as much as I would have liked to complain about Rooney's goal, if it had not have come in the 91st minute it would have happened in the 101st or 111th minute.

• To get through this evening we would have needed to have been either defensively flawless or brutal on the counter-attack. We were neither, which is why we failed. But we're still in the FA Cup, and in competition for fourth place. This season isn't over yet, and glory is still within reach.
  

Mancini: 'We have to play to win'

I don't know if this is mind games (it could easily be), but Mancini has said that we won't just sit back tonight and hit United on the break:

"I want us to start the game by playing high up the pitch and don't hold back like we did at home. We have to play to win from the first minute."

If we are going to do this then we really ought to be playing 4-4-2. And so it's a real shame that we won't have a fully focussed Emmanuel Adebayor. We've tried 4-4-2 with Carlos Tévez and Craig Bellamy at Molineux, and it worked well, but Old Trafford is a different proposition. Teams have gone to Old Trafford and attacked this year - and been successful - but you've really got to be bold. Trying to contain Wayne Rooney in the hope of hitting them on the counter is probably beyond us.

United preview

Tomorrow evening hosts our biggest game since Gillingham. All we have to do is win or draw at Old Trafford, against what will presumably be a full-strength United side, and we've made the final against Aston Villa on February 28th. Lose 3-2 or 4-3 and we make it through after 120 minutes.

It's going to be difficult. United were very good in patches of the first leg. Tomorrow they can only be excellent. Wayne Rooney is in the form of his life, Luis Antonio Valencia is improving and even Nani had a good game on Saturday. Feeding off the tension and emotion of the anti-Glazer protests and the whole Tévez/Neville feud they will take some stopping. And if the first leg is anything to go by the game will be played almost entirely in our half. Mancini is clearly quite comfortable sitting back, trusting our defence and taking our opportunities when they occur.

But I worry. I just can't see us keeping a clean sheet. Rooney has twelve in twelve in all competitions. We have some of our first choice defenders out. We can be as well organised as we want but I fear at a crucial moment Rooney will produce and we will concede. I'm not sure that we can do this without scoring. We will be effective on the break - Tévez and Craig Bellamy will play, plus one of Shaun Wright-Phillips and Martin Petrov. There will be a chance or two, which we can't afford to miss.

There is evidence, though, that attacking at Old Trafford is the best policy. They are no longer infallible there. So far this season they have lost at home to Leeds United, to Aston Villa and to Beşiktaş. They've drawn against CSKA Moscow and Sunderland, relying on two stoppage time equalisers to do so. And these games suggest that if you come out and play, 4-4-2, you can push them back and succeed. I don't know whether Mancini will play that way tomorrow night. With a fully focussed Adebayor we certainly could, but without I think we'll go 4-5-1 again: with the third central midfield spot just going to Pablo Zabaleta over Stephen Ireland. Great for shutting most teams down, but United at Old Trafford, with Rooney on form is different.

Will it be enough? Not quite, I think. We'll give it a good shot, we'll play well but I don't think we'll make it to Wembley. Not this time. 2-0 to United.

Our chances

The boss puts them at 51% - he's probably right:

"It is not a big advantage, but it is an advantage," said Mancini.

"I am happy with the result because we were behind after 20 minutes and I felt it could be difficult.

"But we recovered, scored two goals and played well.

"They had three or four chances but, in Shay Given, we have one of the best goalkeepers.

"Now I would say we have a 51% chance."

Of course, we are more likely to go through now than we were 24 hours ago. But once it was clear that Ferguson was going to play a full-strength team the chances of our progressing from a two legged tie - with the first leg at home - were on the slim side of 50/50. Last night's win will have improved our chances, but a lot of likely results still send United through. All two goal margin wins and more, of course. Any one goal margin win of theirs will go to extra-time before being decided by away goals. I'd quite enjoy a repeat of the 4-3 this time round, actually, if it meant we progressed.

I'd love us to draw or win, naturally. But it's a big ask.

The players speak

They all loved it, naturally. Pablo Zabaleta:

"Carlos was fired up because of what was said. United fans know he was a big loss because he was a great player for them. He can repeat this in the second game. Every team wants Carlos Tevez, and we have a great opportunity to enjoy him at this club. I am sure that Carlos will try to take Manchester City right to the top.

Vincent Kompany:

We got the result we wanted, and before the game I had called for some extra support from the fans for tonight and they were terrific. Even when we have gone behind against the best teams, at home they have really made a difference...

He adds, “If you’re not going to be confident after a result like this, when are you going to be? It’s the perfect situation, I believe we can score again as well and that’s a big difference for us.”

SWP:

“It was a very satisfying win,” declared Wright-Phillips. “The players showed great character to come from a goal down.

The fans drove us on and on and in the end it all came good. To hold on to the win was terrific but we know there is still a job to do at Old Trafford.

“What we have to do is savour this tonight and then put it aside, we have a game on Sunday night that we have to win and we will be back in training for that match tomorrow morning. Preparation is everything.”

Gareth Barry:

He continued: "We knew, as individuals, we were all going to have to dig deep. Shay has performed well as well so we're delighted with the tie.

"It's still in the balance, it's half-time obviously, and we expect a tough game at Old Trafford. They're going to push on and give all they can, and we're going to expect a battle again."

On the derby atmosphere, Barry added: "It's my first one here and the noise was tremendous at times and hopefully we can give them something to shout about in the second game."