Hojbjerg didn't want to come out. Good games and from Ndombele and Sissoko. I thought Pook's prediction would come true, but here we are in a cup final.
Who do we want in the final? It will be in April btw. Right now City look scary after their demolition of Chelsea, but Ole Gunnar has to be the luckiest manager in football and they always get one pen per game - by April he'll either be in first or sacked...
On pure talent, City have probably the best team in Europe. Maybe Liverpool, RM, Juve, or BMunich are there, too, but that is it. But they are inconsistent. If they had the consistency, they'd be leading the league by 9 points, at least. Man U are a significant drop off in talent, and I think Ole has been a bit lucky. The big thing for Man U is if Pogba shows up to play. When he is on, they are nearly unbeatable. But that is so rare since his transfer from Juve. So, in short, I'd rather Spurs play Manchester Red.
I'll be pulling for United today. The final's so far off it doesn't really matter, but of the two, it's much easier to envision United as being off form, or 'there for the taking', come the time. Plus, while I'm less inclined than most to put every bloody football match down to managerial contests, I do have an easier time seeing Mourinho gaining a significant tactical advantage over Ole than over Pep. In all honesty, though, once their semi is over, I'm not likely to give it any more thought until April.
With Mourinho in charge, here is our record against both Manchester clubs: vs United: played 3, won 1, drawn 1, lost 1, scored 8, conceded 4 vs City: played 2, won 2, scored 4, conceded 0. I would prefer United, but Fernandes is the key for them; they have been wasteful and woeful in the transfer market, but they nailed it when they got the Portuguese.
I was impressed with how Brentford played, they were actually a tougher proposition than Leeds. I thought the way they play out from the back would hand us chances, but they kept the ball really well and you can see why they dispatched some of the weaker PL sides in their run. In fact, they really should have earned automatic promotion, but choked in their final 2 games against Stoke and Barnsley, when 2 wins would have seen them clinch 2nd and automatic promotion.
So it's City. Agree with others I'd have rather faced united, but heck it's a final, anything can happen. Just ask Wigan.
The final will be Sunday April 25 at 11 am ET, which means our April 24 fixture away to Fulham will have to be rearranged.
Woodgate was such a good footballer - remember, Real Madrid had signed him from Boro back in the day - but like Ledley, injuries hampered his career. When they were healthy, we had a world-class CB partnership in him and Ledley King.
Couldn't have been that many, I think Juande Ramos had them wrapped up in cotton wool before wheeling them out for the final...
https://www.transfermarkt.us/ledley...ium=2&wettbewerb=&liga=&verein=&pos=&status=0 The answer is 29, gents. We conceded an average of 1.31 goals in those matches (not necessarily with both on the pitch at the same time). Just as a fun aside, in matches where Toby and Jan both started, we conceded an average of 1.03 goals.
29 is more than I would've thought. I'd've guessed more like 15-20. As to the goal tallies ... hell, just blame the fullbacks. Jan and Toby had Walker and Rose. Ledley and Woody had Chimbonda and Hutton.