FA Cup Semifinal: Manchester United vs. Manchester City

Manchester City 1-0 Manchester United

53'- Toure
HIGHLIGHTS

The Blue and Red sides of Manchester clashed at Wembley Stadium on Saturday, and the stakes are rarely higher, as a birth in the FA Cup Final was on the line.

For City, it was a last chance at silverware for a side yet to bear the fruits of owner Sheikh Mansour's heavy expenditures over the last three seasons. Add in the fact that the Blues hadn't won a major trophy of any sort since 1976, and this match was absolutely vital.

United entered the match retaining hopes of winning the treble. Success in the Champions League Quarterfinals against Chelsea at mid-week raised confidence, but it also heightened the squad's overall fatigue and fitness. The busy fixture list saw Sir Alex Ferguson swap out Javier Hernandez for Dimitar Berbatov, while Antonio Valencia entered the first 11 for Ryan Giggs. But the biggest loss was that of in-form striker Wayne Rooney, who served the first of his two-match ban stemming from his expletive laced tirade whilst celebrating a goal last week.

Roberto Mancini picked his best 11 for the match. But Carlos Tevez's injury would ask questions of his attack, which saw him start the enigmatic Mario Balotelli and skilled Adam Johnson up front.

United started on the front foot, and should have been one up 13 mintes in after Berbatov missed two chances in less than 30 seconds. First, Joe Hart saved his shot from close, and then the Bulgarian missed an absolute sitter, somehow touching the ball over from 2-yards out after reaching Nani's low cross.

City were resolute in their approach. They defended well, and started to get back into the match in the final 15 minutes of the half. Balotelli had a dipping long effort turned over the bar by Edwin van der Sar. Then, Joleon Lescott found himself all alone at the far post from a corner, but his full volley was rushed when he might have thought about bringing the ball down.

City's other center-half went close in the 44th, when Vincent Kompany's beautiful one-touch blast missed inches wide of the right post.

City may have been upset not to have gotten the opener whilst dominating the latter period of the first 45. But they came out with more of the same in the second, playing one of their best halves of football this season.

An early goal surely made things easier on Mancini's side. Yaya Toure read a pass from Michael Carrick in the United half, and then showed off his pace to evade Nemanja Vidic before slotting home past van der Sar.

In the 62nd, Johnson did well to tip toe along the by-line, beating Evra before van der Sar saved uncomfortably.

Lescott had another great chance one minute later, winning a header from close range off a cross from David Silva, but his glancing effort was well wide.

City's dominance ended with 25 minutes or so to play, as United substituted Hernandez for Valencia and started to throw everything forward. But their defense continued to impress, keeping the Red Devils at bay for the most part.

Nani had United's greatest chance in the 65th minute, but Hart did well to push his slightly deflected free kick onto the bar.

The Red Devils faced an even greater uphill battle when Paul Scholes was sent off for a poor challenge on Pablo Zabaleta in the 72nd. The Englishman couldn't have too many complaints, as he went studs up into the challenge and struck the right back on the upper thigh after the ball had already gone.

With tired legs and ten men, United couldn't muster a clear-cut opportunity for the rest of the match, resulting in delight for City, who enjoyed one of their most famous wins in club history.

As often is the case in this derby match, things boiled over afterwards. Rio Ferdinand took exception to Balotelli's taunting of the United fans, as well as a sarcastic wink in his direction. Seconds later, he was in the young Italian's face and had to be restrained by several teammates before finally leaving the pitch.

Thoughts

This match featured a brilliant performance from Mancini's men, who played with great intensity throughout and frustrated United's attack. For once, they played inspired football, winning the vast majority of the 50-50 balls (it's no coincidence that the Toure goal came from such a play) and keeping United on their toes in the back with some solid possession football.

The effort from the victors was worthy of the result. Toure was brilliant, running circles around the United midfield, while also joining his midfield compatriots with a fine shift defensively in the center of midfield. Credit also must be given to defensive midfielders Nigel de Jong and Gareth Barry, who were all over the place, typically winning the ball from Man U in their own half before the favorites could sustain any sort of attack.

To be fair, this match was far more important to Man City than to Ferguson's bunch. United are on the cusp of winning the league, and have a Champions League Semifinal with Schalke to worry about as well. Say what you will about the history and tradition of the FA Cup, but it was United's last priority with regards to winning silverware. Perhaps that showed in their play, as City ran themselves inside-out to get the result, while United turned in an average performance at best. Simply put, City needed to win this match more than United, and it showed on the pitch.

In many ways, it's been a disappointing season full of turmoil and drama at Eastlands. The title push that the club hoped for ended well over a month ago, and European dreams concluded with defeat in the Europa League to Dinamo Kiev. But more disturbing was the off-field drama, featuring a host of disgruntled players, and face-offs between manager and players (Mancini vs. Tevez, Mancini vs. Balotelli being the main battles). In my opinion, all of that mess spilled over onto the pitch, as the immensely talented (although not well meshed together) side looked a beleaguered bunch, failing to score goals and lacking the supreme defensive effort required from their manager. But on Saturday, they finally showed what they are capable of, turning in a passionate and classy performance against one of the world's best sides.

Overall, it's been a year to forget at Eastlands. But another win at Wembley in the FA Cup Final could change that outlook.

City face Stoke City in the final on May 14. The Potters spectacularly defeated Bolton 5-0 on Sunday.

Weekend in Review

Arsenal Heartbreak... Again

Highlights

It's been nearly six years since Arsenal last won a trophy. And Sunday's heartbreaking 2-1 loss to Birmingham in the Carling Cup Final means they'll have to wait a little longer to grasp silverware.

The defeat left the Gunners in despair. But the way they lost will hurt even more, as a comedy of errors involving Laurent Koscielny and Wojciech Szczesny in the final minutes allowed for an extremely soft game-winning goal in the 88th.

The Gunners had the more chances overall of the two teams as well. But Ben Foster came up with a man of the match performance in goal, while the underdogs also must be credited for turning in one of their best shifts of the season.

In typical Cup Final fashion, the match was played at a high pace throughout. And Birmingham should have had a penalty just three minutes in when Szczesny took out the legs of Lee Bowyer in the box for what was clear cut penalty kick. But the midfielder had been incorrectly ruled offsides and Arsenal escaped.

Although Birmingham started off on the front foot, it was Arsenal who took control during an exciting opening 20 minutes.

Andrei Arshavin had the first opportunity for the favorites, spinning around a defender and firing a left-footed blast directly at Foster, who did well to save.

Johan Djourou should have done better with two headed chances from consecutive corners in the 10th minute. But he missed both attempts badly.

Samir Nasri did well to juke his defender and set up on his right foot in the box in the 14th. But he blasted his attempt over the near post from a difficult angle.

The Blues were right in the match, looking dangerous on the counterattack and set pieces. They took the lead via the latter in the 28th minute. A nice corner found the head of Roger Johnson at the top of the box, who flicked towards goal as the Arsenal defense scrambled to get into position. Nikola Zigic reacted quickest, sneaking in between a host of defenders, and heading past the onrushing Szczesny from close range.

Arsenal came back immediately afterward and nearly equalized on a header from Robin Van Persie.

Birmingham had Arsene Wenger's side on the ropes thereafter. The Gunners needed several last ditch clearances on dangerous crosses as the presence of 6-7 Zigic was clearly giving the back four issues. He nearly netted his second in the 34th, finding a quick opening in the box only to see his shot pushed away by Szczesny.

With their backs against the wall, Arsenal managed to get back into the match, and netted the equalizer through Van Persie in the 39th. It all started when Jack Wilshere's long range effort slammed off the crossbar and back into play. But the Gunners gave BFC no time to exhale, as Arshavin ended up with the ball and turned Liam Ridgewell before crossing brilliantly onto the right foot of the Dutchman, who buried his full volley attempt home.

The equalizer was not all good news for Arsenal. Van Persie's right knee slammed into Martin Jiranek during the goal. The injury would force him off the pitch in the 70th minute for Nicklas Bendtner.

The two teams went to the half having both showed their best football over the first 45. And there was plenty more great play to come.

Tomas Rosicky came close in the 47th on a low volley from a Sagna cross.

Birmingham came within a whisker of their second goal in the 58th when Keith Fahey fired past Szczesny and off the post.

Both sides slowed down over the next ten minutes. Birmingham occasionally looked dangerous on the counterattack but were typically stifled by some valiant Arsenal defending. Meanwhile, the Gunners were controlling the ball but not creating much of anything.

Arsenal started to come to life in the 74th and 75th minutes when Ben Foster thwarted efforts from Samir Nasri and Bendtner.

The Gunners continued to look the most likely to score. In the 78th, Bendtner created space in the box, but his right footed blast was partially blocked and saved by Foster.

One minute later, substitute Marouane Chamakh got free and played the ball across the face of goal just past the outstretched Rosicky and Bendtner.

Nasri was again involved in the Arsenal onslaught, but Foster did well to parry his curling his from 22-yards in the 80th.

And then, from out of nowhere, the Gunners found themselves behind with virtually no time left. A miscommunication between Laurent Koscielny and Szczesny saw the Pole spill the ball in the box. It fell to Obafemi Martins, who could hardly believe his luck as he passed the ball into the wide open goal for the winner.

What a Final!
First and foremost, you have to credit to Birmingham. Although much of the talk from the match has surrounded Arsenal's most recent implosion, one must realize that Alex McCleish's team were game from the opening whistle, creating chances and doing well to exploit their size advantage via Zigic. They put the Arsenal back line under pressure and made things increasingly difficult for them. In all honesty, they were unfortunate to be down at the half as Arsenal's equalizer had certainly come against the run of play.

Zigic appears to be coming into his own after a rocky start in England. He has the size to give defenders hell, as you can never forget where he is. Ideally, that would open up space for others as well, but his addition had yielded mixed results this year. That's all changed a bit recently, as the Serbian has scored four goals in five matches. Surely it's no coincidence that the results have taken a turn for the better during that time. The Blues have lost just once over the period, moved closer safety in the EPL, and now have some silverware to add to their trophy case.

You've also got to heap the praise upon goalkeeper Ben Foster. The Manchester United outcast was viewed as damaged goods by some. But McLeish was right to give the promising youngster a chance and it's paid massive dividends. If not for his heroics, the Martins goal doesn't even matter.

As for Arsenal, this defeat was of the devastating variety. Tears were streaming from the eyes of young Wilshere, whilst several players fell to ground in agony after the final whistle. The reaction was steep for a team still heavily involved in three other competitions. But finally winning a trophy would have been a huge boost to the Gunners' psyche, and would have signaled to everyone that all the promise of Wenger's side is finally starting to yield great results. Instead they have yet another dissapointing defeat to think about, and that will surely get everyone asking questions about their mental strength for the umpteenth time.

How the Gunners respond from this is absolutely crucial. There is still plenty of season left and there are some massive fixtures right around the corner. They face an FA Cup replay with Leyton Orient tomorrow, and then head back to the league on Saturday before the crucial second leg against Barcelona at the Camp Nou next week.

To Arsenal's credit, they have responded well from tough results this season, but surely this defeat was the toughest of the season to swallow, and we've seen them fall apart after similar misfortunes in years past.

United Roll

Wigan entered Saturday's matchup having lost 14 in a row to league leading Manchester United. It's 15 straight defeats now after a convincing 4-0 trouncing extended United's lead back to four points over Arsenal, who had previously closed the gap to a single point after a win in mid-week.

The match surely would have been different had the Latics finished their chances in the first half. Victor Moses broke through in the 13th down the left side, but saw his near-post effort saved by the shoulder of a charging Edwin van der Sar.

United showed the finishing touch that the hosts could not in the 17th. A nice one-two between Rooney and Nani saw the winger in down the left side, and he rolled a beautiful ball across the box for Javier Hernandez, who easily slotted home for the lead.

Wigan should have equalized just moments later. A nice flick from Hugo Rodollega left James McCarthy all alone at the far post, but again van der Sar came up big and saved the strike from short range.

Holding a 1-0 lead, the visitors began to take over. Nani nearly gave them a spectacular two goal lead when his lazer of a strike slammed off the crossbar and bounced out in the 29th minute.

The second half was a simply brilliant performance from Sir Alex Ferguson's side.

The visitors were fortunate not be two goals down early on after United missed a host of chances.

The first opportunity came through Nani, who cut back onto his left foot in the box, but should have done better and missed wide.

United kept pressing, and they nailed the clincher in the 74th. Rooney did well to play Hernandez through behind the leaky Wigan defense, and "Chicharito" did well to control and settle himself for the finish.

United poured it on afterwards. Darron Gibson's long ball hit Dimitar Berbatov with one defender to beat, and he passed across the box to Rooney for an easy tap-in to make it 3-0.

Fabio scored the fourth in the 87th, taking down a long ball from close range before driving home the score.

It was another impressive victory for the Red Devils, who appear to be heading into their best form of the season as we speak. Things may well have been different had McCarthy or Moses been more clinical in the first half, but United settled in nicely after the first goal and took complete control of the match.

The first half may have been a little dicey, but Man U got exactly what they wanted after the break. Ferfuson's side controlled possession and pressed on until the pressure was simply too much to handle for Wigan.

United fans also have to be thrilled to see Wayne Rooney coming on strong. The frontman was heavily involved in three of the four goals. You could see the Wigan defense was beginning to scramble when he had possession in the second half, unsure of whether he was going to run at the back four and take a defender on, or distribute to United's more dangerous offensive players (i.e. Nani, Berbatov, Hernandez). When Rooney is rolling like that, he's as good as anyone in the world, and United will hope the performance at the DW is one of many to come over the rest of the year.

Madman Mancini

The bizarre season at Eastlands continued on Sunday, as Man City turned in a lackluster 1-1 draw against Fulham.

Mario Balotelli opened up the scoring for City in the 26th, notching a fantastic long shot that came against the run of play.

The Whites came out of the break strong and quickly equalized through Damien Duff.

The home side looked poor as they tried to take the lead back, creating very little and playing at a slow and listless pace. The poor result saw City get booed off the pitch by the home fans. Considering the draw came at home against a team that has a dreadful away record, they probably deserved it.

City just a frustrating team to watch at this point. All of that quality is yet to translate into a truly great run of form.

I have to wonder whether the tactics of Roberto Mancini match the personnel within the squad. We're talking about a team that has spent big bucks on the likes of Carlos Tevez, David Silva, Balottelli, Edin Dzeko and James Milner, yet hired a manager that wants his teams to defend first and foremost.

If you ask me, Mancini is not a bad manager. In fact, I'd say he's a borderline excellent tactician and his success in Italy speaks volumes. But this club is not a good fit for him. Yesterday, he strangely substituted Patrick Viera for Dzeko 15 minutes into the half, shoring up the center of midfield and defense in a deadlocked match where his team needed the three points. Did Mancini really think a 1-1 draw against average Fulham was an acceptable result?

In the end, City will find themselves in yet another dogfight for a Champions League spot. In my opinion, Mancini should be shown the door even if they do qualify. Not so much because they have greatly underachived this season, but because they need an increasingly attacking minded manager who gives Sheik Mansour's lucrative signings more freedom on the pitch.

Germany and Spain Wrapped Up?

What do Borussia Dortmund and Barcelona have in common? Well, both look to have already wrapped up silverware in their domestic leagues after massive results over the weekend.

Young Dortmund has been a bit sloppy recently, as their double-digit point lead in the league may have left them overconfident. But they reminded everyone how they jumped out to that lead in the first place with a master class performance against defending champions Bayern Munich. The 3-1 victory upped the gap to 16 points over Bayern, and 12 over second place Bayer Leverkusen, who drew 2-2 on Sunday.

If you haven't watched Dortmund yet, you're missing out. They have a fantastic young lineup with rising stars such as Nuri Sahin, Kevin Grosskreutz and more Shinji Kagawa.

Sahin is my favorite of the bunch. He's a versatile center midfielder that does all the dirty work. But he's also a major threat going forward with a dynamite long range shot (just look at this cracker he scored against Bayern), coupled with a deft touch and great vision/clever distribution. Trust me, this guy is going to be doing big things in the years to come, and I wouldn't be surprised at all to see one of the big boys from England make a move for the young Turk.

In La Liga, Barcelona cruised to another "routine" 3-0 win in Spain. Meantime, Real Madrid were poor in a scoreless draw with Deportivo La CORUNA. They trail the Catalan Giants by seven points. In a league where dropped points are few and far between for the top two clubs, one must think that Barca are very close to wrapping up this race for good.

Mid week review: Liverpool Splash Cash, Chelsea Back, City Finished?

Liverpool Spending Spree

I was singing the praises of Liverpool on Sunday. They had just signed a budding superstar in Luis Suarez and finally had the financial backing to continue improving in the summer. However, I only briefly mentioned the situation with Fernando Torres. And Chelsea threw the transfer market for a loop Monday when they bought "El Niño" for a cool £50M (more on that later).

'Pool's reaction to the Torres sale was immediate, as they grossly overreacted by purchasing Andy Carroll from Newcastle for a shocking amount of ₤35M, making the promising but unproven striker the seventh most expensive player in football history.

So let me get this straight, the Reds in 24 hours somehow decided they were going to throw the bulk of the money from the Torres deal on a player that is yet to complete a full EPL season? Why overspend in January on a player that would probably be far cheaper in the summer? And most importantly, why not wait until the offseason to find the perfect fit for the team? It's a mystery to me.

It's hard to believe, but this type of irresponsible spending has been commonplace at Anfield for some time now.

I just don't get it. Liverpool aren't getting back in the race for a top four spot this season and Carroll can't even play for a month with an ankle injury. Buying him at that kind of price was not only a huge risk, but also a mistimed maneuver considering he won't even star until well past the halfway point.

The Suarez buy was a good one. But the reaction to the Torres sale was unbelievably over the top. Methinks that the braintrust over here in the U.S. need to learn a thing or two about the transfer market before they get themselves into the same mess that the last ownership group did (who were also Americans, ironically).

On the bright side, the Reds are starting to round into form. They've won three straight and capped it off with a 2-0 win today over Stoke City at Anfield.

Rau Miereles' run of good form continued when he opened up the scoring with a ferocious right footed strike after the ball fell to him inside the box.

Suarez made his debut for the club in the 63rd. And he quickly impressed with a beautiful flick to Dirk Kuyt inside the box that forced Begovic off his line to make a play on the ball.

Then he finished off the Potters in minute 79. A nice through pass from Kuyt saw him in behind the defense, he calmly touched the ball around the goalkeeper, and a backtracking Andy Wilkinson couldn't keep the ball out of the net.

So despite the poor decision on Carroll, things do seem to be looking up for Liverpool. They've taken wins from their last three games, and Suarez looked like he may well be ready to contribute immediately. Meanwhile, Miereles is finally giving them a reliable attacking midfielder. Plus the defense looks better, too.

If they can add a few more pieces over the summer and the Carroll buy pays some dividends, they could be right back in the Champions League in 2012. But surely they have dug too deep of a hole to reach that level this year.

Are Manchester City Done?

With Chelsea, Arsenal, and Man U all winning on Tuesday, Manchester City went to Birmingham hoping to keep pace with the three title contenders. Instead they left with a disappointing 2-2 draw that saw them blow two leads, and potentially end their title chances in the process.

It was a gorgeous City opener. Tevez' one-touch out wide to Silva, who did well to streak into the box and play the ball right back to the Argentinean, who exhibited a great bit of ball control to create space before placing a slow roller between the legs of a defender and into the corner.

But while the brilliance of Tevez and Silva was showing the best of City, their defending of set pieces continued to show off their worst.

In the 23rd minute, the Blues won a free kick from the left side, and City failed to properly deal with it as it caroomed off the knee of Nikola Zigic and into the net.

Aleksandar Kolarov's sweet left foot helped the visitors to a halftime lead. His curling shot from a free kick wrong-footed Ben Foster and sailed into the left corner.

Birmingham were certainly the stronger of the two teams in the second half. Their pressure paid off in the 71st when Patrick Viera pulled down Kevin Phillips in the box, and Craig Gardner was up to the task from the spot.

Another tough result for Roberto Mancini and company, and this may have been the final blow for a team that continues to lag behind the rest of the contenders.

It all looked so promising initially. The goal was a brilliant piece of play from Tevez and Silva and you'd think that they would be better at defend their lead(s) against the lowest scoring team in the premiership. Even though they're a side that makes defense a huge priority, City have lacked discipline in that area over the last month.

The defending, especially on set pieces, has been diabolical. And it really came to bite them today on the first goal. The marking was poor, and they inexplicably allowed the ball to bounce once before it deflected off of an opportunistic Vidic.

When City played for a scoreless draw at the Emirates in early January, I found it hard to take them seriously as true title contenders. For a team needing to rattle off a perfect month or so just to get back in the race, the players' failure to completely gel coupled with Mancini's conservative style have made it difficult for them to really put a scare into Man U. If you ask me, they're done with regards to the title chase.

Chelsea Surge

The Blues unquestionably have a ways to go in terms of getting back into the the title race. But they can at least be proud of getting three straight wins after things appeared ready to burst apart at the seams.

They scored a big result on Tuesday, winning a wild match 4-2 at Sunderland.

Chelsea fell behind on goals from Phil Bardsley and then gave up a shock equalizer to Kieran Richardson in the first half, but responded well on both occasions.

The game featured a host of chances for both sides.

Steve Bruce's team gave it a good go. But Chelsea showed they may be turning a corner by snatching control of the match and showing great flair and creativity. They were rewarded for it with goals from John Terry and Nicolas Anelka in the second half to clinch the three points.

Now we wait for the Fernando Torres debut in the much-discussed match against Liverpool.

The Torres transaction actually lost some of its luster amidst all the drama on Monday's transfer deadline. But the mere thought of him playing next to Drogba has me salivating. Both of them appear to be heading into their best form after struggling with consistency and fitness for much of this season.

Trouble in Blackpool?

It's hard not to root for the Tangerines. They insist on playing an attractive style and have been relatively successful in doing so. Meantime, they have one of the world's best interviews managing them in Ian Holloway. But while they were flirting with the half top of the table close to a month ago, they have been rapidly falling down the standings since.

It might end up being a similar story to Burnley last year. They started off well before falling apart in the second half of the year. Even if Blackpool do stay up, they will surely be in a battle next year with Charlie Adam likely out the door.

As for West Ham, they showed again that they do have the attacking quality to make some noise. Victor Obinna has been fantastic of late, scoring five times in his last two games. He scored twice in what was a completely wide-open match at Bloomfield Road on Wednesday (including one stunning strike to put Blackpool away). Enjoy the highlights.

News and Notes

There could be another injury crisis at Arsenal. Defensinve midfielder Alex Song (a player that the team boasts no reliable replacement for) and leading scorer Samir Nasri all picked up knocks this week. The Gunners have been quite strong on the road this season, but a visit to St. James' Park to face Newcastle this weekend will be a dangerous one without several key cogs in the lineup.

We'll be treated to a bonus edition of the "Superclásico" in April. Real Madrid and Barcelona both advanced to the finals of the Copa del Rey. The match will come just days after their final regular season meeting, and it should be fun to watch as always.