Stoke reax

Joe Bernstein, Mail on Sunday

Bridge alone could be exempt from criticism. In front of England coach Fabio Capello, he showed why he was regarded as the natural stand-in for Ashley Cole before the John Terry affair. He was capable in his defending, adventurous going forward and made a terrific block to deny Liam Lawrence.

Paul Wilson, The Observer

City were so poor without their two leading lights that it was hard to take Mancini's claim of wanting to be in the last eight seriously. It might be an idea at least to have them on the bench for the replay. While Bellamy could be back for the league game at the Britannia on Tuesday, Tevez is in Argentina for the birth of his child.

Stoke were City's opponents in Mancini's first game in charge and here, despite making three changes within an hour and giving away an embarrassing early goal, the visitors gave a better account of themselves. They came back at City and claimed a deserved equaliser, something they never managed in December.

Tim Rich, Independent on Sunday

Although Wright-Phillips' unchallenged runs and a comfortable, controlled display by Gareth Barry, would have interested the England manager, it is Manchester City's left-back who would have been at the centre of his vision. Bridge may not have justified Mancini's description of him as "the best left-back in England" but he was impressively solid in the first half, rather looser after the break.

Stoke player ratings

Given A few decent saves, although there may be questions about Fuller's goal. Mancini has exonerated him, and I think he's right - it was probably just too far out for it to be his. But there were times when communication between Given and his defenders didn't look perfect. 6

Zabaleta I thought he was very poor today. Stoke had Tuncay Şanlı playing on left midfield and too often he was too quick and too clever for Zabaleta. Liam Lawrence's volley into Wayne Bridge came from one such moment. I'm used to seeing Zabaleta flustered and clumsy in away games but it doesn't usually happen at home. Richards needs to shake off his injury. 4

Touré I know I'm a broken record on this but there was a vacuum of leadership and organisation where a decent captain was meant to be. Stoke's goal is a case in point: the ball sailed over Kolo's head and straight onto Fuller's - a failure of both defending and captaincy in one perfect moment. I'd put Vincent Kompany in as soon as we can. 5

Lescott Did well in front of Fabio Capello. With people's attention elsewhere he seems to have reproduced the calm efficiency of his late autumn performances immediately after returning from his two month knee injury. 6

Bridge He was the main attraction today and he dealt admirably with it: playing excellently. Not only was he our best defender, brave and smart throughout, he was probably our second best attacking player too - getting down the flank quickly and putting some good crosses in. 7

de Jong Not one of his best games. With Stoke hitting long balls to Fuller and Mamady Sidibe there was never really much play for him to break up. There were one or two big tackles, and more bicycle kick clearances than usual, but the game passed him by for the most part. 5

Barry Another inconsistent performance. There are things he always does well - winning headers, moving the ball out wide quickly and accurately, and 'buying' free-kicks in the style of Didi Hamann. But he is still failing to dominate games as he can, not using his experience to swing things our way when necessary. Still needs a rest. 6

SWP His running at Andy Wilkinson and Danny Higginbotham provided the only sparks in our performance. He was our only consistent attacking threat, all the way up until the final whistle. He also scored a goal, which was easy enough but his lob over Sorensen was almost brilliant. 7

Ireland He said before the game that he wanted to be played in his position - and he certainly was. Two holding midfielders, wingers either side and a big centre forward made this the 4-2-3-1 - with Ireland as keystone - that we played last season. At times he was excellent - the pass for SWP's goal was like his very best - and he got into some good positions in the first half. But the quality wasn't always there and he struggled with a knock in the second half. Frustrating for all. 6

Petrov He could have been destructive today but it wasn't happening. Couldn't get into the game, and didn't produce when on the ball. His firing that free-kick from a narrow position wide of the goal was the most predictable event since Robinho declared his wish to stay at Santos beyond the length of his current loan deal. 5

Adebayor Not much of a contribution until the last twenty minutes when he livened up, started drifting wide to run with the ball. It looks like he prefers playing in a 4-4-2, or maybe he just doesn't prefer playing in performances as flat as today's. 6

Subs:

Vieira A few nice passes over the top late on but I think he looks sluggish in possession - too often he was quickly closed down and lost the ball. The same thing happened against Bolton. Maybe he needs to get fitter. We'll see. 5

RSC Missed a good chance but did ok in his first outing for a while. More of a traditional target man than Adebayor, he won a fair share of headers. Could play on Tuesday. 6

City 1 - 1 Stoke

• Wembley looks a bit further away this evening. Having let a lead slip at home against a side we should beat - a feeling which has become depressingly familiar this season - our progress to the quarter-finals, which felt so likely on Saturday morning, is now unlikely.
  

• But this result had been coming for the last few games. I wish our performance was an aberration from the Portsmouth and Bolton home league wins, but it wasn't. In fact, our first half performance was probably better than in either of those games. We kept the ball moderately well, we created a chance or two without ever tearing the opposition apart, and we certainly never pressed and pushed our advantage home as we might. We were defending better today than we did for the first hour against Portsmouth, in terms of chances created.

• The one difference between today and the Portsmouth and Bolton games was the goal we conceded. Grinding out narrow wins is great but it doesn't give you the luxury of a margin for defensive errors. It certainly doesn't allow you to switch off at a Rory Delap long throw, and fail to pick up the excellent Ricardo Fuller. Like much of the game - the blown lead, the 4-2-3-1 built around Stephen Ireland, the revealed fragility of Joleon Lescott and Kolo Touré it was very reminiscent of the Mark Hughes era. I like to think it would have been different with Vincent Kompany playing, but I am rather prejudiced on this point.

• Players that we certainly missed were Craig Bellamy and Carlos Tévez. They have shared the role of attacking talisman this season, leading by example, dragging the team with them, creating and scoring chances. So often this season a flat performance has been lifted by a sudden contribution of one of these two. With neither we struggled. There should have been goals in our team - Martin Petrov, Stephen Ireland and Shaun Wright-Phillips lined up behind Emmanuel Adebayor. Wright-Phillips did well (in front of Fabio Capello), but Ireland and Petrov are both out of form and Adebayor's recent goal scoring run does not seem to have coincided with a major improvement in performances. We started well but then failed to create much until a late switch to 4-4-2, as we mimicked Stoke and hurled long balls up to Adebayor and Roque Santa Cruz. There were a few half-chances but not enough to put us through.

• With the money we've spent we should be able to lose a few players and still win home games against teams with away records like Stoke's. Our home record is pretty important, remember. It's the one thing stopping us from being a very average football team. If results today become habitual - and I don't think that they will - then we have little to no chance of reaching our targets for this or any other season. Because our away form certainly isn't going to get us anywhere. Which is why I think we won't be going to Wembley this year.
  

Stoke preview

People are getting very excited about the race for fourth. We're only behind Liverpool on goal difference, and we have two games in hand. It's a stronger position than I thought we'd be in, given our mixed start to the season and our managerial changeover in December. But I'm still quite a bit more excited about the FA Cup.

On one level this is to do with fear. We only need to win four more games to win the Cup. And yet we've got another fourteen Premier League games left. Now, obviously our Cup games, on average, should be harder than our league games. And we're probably more likely to finish fourth than win the Cup. But having to play out a fourteen game sequence to maintain a league position is so at odds with the traditions of MCFC that I'm not sure I can stomach it.

But there is also the fact that, unlike the majority of City fans, I actually think winning the Cup would be better than finishing fourth. I can see that the prestige boost of Champions League football, allied to the fees and wages we can pay, could see us bring in some seriously world class footballers to Eastlands for 2010/11. And I know that the case of Portsmouth shows that an FA Cup win is no guarantor of long term success. But I still want it: the trip to Wembley (I wasn't at Gillingham), the players holding the trophy, the glory, the memories, the end of that banner. Trips to the Nou Camp would be great, of course, but I don't see how coming fourth in something is in anyway better than winning something else.

Which is a very long way of saying that Saturday's game against Stoke is much more important to me than next Tuesday's. If we win we're one game away from a semi-final at Wembley. (Of course, it's ludicrous that the semis should be at Wembley rather than Villa Park, Old Trafford etc but that's an argument for another day.) And we really should win. Stoke have come to Eastlands twice, and lost 3-0 and 2-0 - the latter occassion on Roberto Mancini's first game as City boss.

It is a shame that the man of the moment - Adam Johnson - won't be playing. But it does mean Mancini has some freedom in his team selection. We have broadly three options. The first, and least likely, is the 4-4-2 diamond that started against Bolton. Without Johnson, Stephen Ireland can return in what is almost his best position. More exciting, though, would be a Mark Hughes-style attacking 4-4-2 with Martin Petrov down the left wing and Shaun Wright-Phillips on the right. It would open the game out, as it did for the last twenty minutes on Tuesday, although it would require the sacrificing of one of Patrick Vieira, Nigel de Jong or Gareth Barry. Most likely, though, is the retention of all three of them in a 4-3-3. Without Johnson it is a straight choice between Petrov and Wright-Phillips to join Emmanuel Adebayor and Carlos Tévez up front. I think this will be the favoured system, and I think Petrov will be the man to come in.

In defence Kolo Touré's knee injury should see Joleon Lescott return in his place (forming my preferred centre-back partnership), and there's also a possible return for Micah Richards at either right back or centre back.

We should have enough to get past Stoke, so I'm going to predict comfortable progression.

Cup tied

I'm going to the game on Saturday, my first home game since this parody of a Mark Hughes-era performance.

For long spells of this evening's game I was thrilled at the prospect of seeing Adam Johnson play, before I realised he's cup tied. This is a real shame, and we will miss him, particularly if we get past Stoke City.

Will Martin Petrov come straight in for him in 4-3-3? Or will we try the diamond again, but this time with Stephen Ireland there?