Match Thread Everton Vs Manchester City - Capital One Cup - Semi Final 1st Leg - Wednesday 6th January - 20:00 KO

[evertony]

Of course another result of them having two thirds of the Bullens is that the only vocal support you'll hear on TV will be City's. Remember the cup game against Chelsea a few years back when GP was a cauldron of Everton support but literally all you heard on the TV coverage all game was Chelsea chants and songs?

What does it matter what's heard on TV....it's what's in the ground that matters

 

[evertony]

Whatever team City put out tomorrow, I very much doubt they'll be as garbage as Stoke were tonight.

Stoke absolutely crapped themselves.....small club mentality definitely on show. Their so-called noisy blerts were like church mice too.

 

[mrb85]

What does it matter what's heard on TV....it's what's in the ground that matters

i agree but it sticks in the craw when the Everton support is derided by tv viewers as a consequence.

 

[Aar_the_Toffees]

To all at the game, sing your hearts out and get behind the players every step of the way. We've gotten this far and we will win this trophy. Goodison will be rocking tomorrow, for the first time in a very long time.

COYB Make us proud.

 

[ilikecheese]

Please win Everton...pretty please.

 

[Stanley Parker]

From BBC Sport;

Everton goalkeeper Joel Robles will replace first choice Tim Howard for Wednesday's League Cup semi-final first leg against Manchester City.

Captain Phil Jagielka (knee) and midfielder Steven Pienaar (hamstring) are unlikely to be risked.

Sergio Aguero is set to start for Manchester City but fellow striker Wilfried Bony is injured.

 

[TheFinnFan]

FINNERS PROPHECY

WE WILL LOSE FIRST LEG 0-2 BUT WILL WIN THE SECOND LEG 0-3 WITH ONE LEGGED BESIČ
EVERY BADGER IN THE COUNTRY WILL DIE IN HAPPINESS

 

[Barca Blue]

 

[bicycleheader]

FINNERS PROPHECY

WE WILL LOSE FIRST LEG 0-2 BUT WILL WIN THE SECOND LEG 0-3 WITH ONE LEGGED BESIČ
EVERY BADGER IN THE COUNTRY WILL DIE IN HAPPINESS

ha..

im a FinnFan fan

COYB!!!!

 

[TippEverton]

With Bony out I wouldn't mind Aguero doing one of them getting injured things early on, he's quite good at em.

 

[bicycleheader]

http://www.theguardian.com/football...dison-wembley-capital-one-cup-manchester-city

Only two players have more Premier League experience than Gareth Barry and, in his qualified opinion, there is no tougher venue to visit than a floodlit Goodison Park. The 34-year-old needs Manchester City to discover what he means on Wednesdayas the old place is proving more problematic to Everton this season than most of its guests. “There are definitely two sides to Goodison and we have got to use it to our advantage,” the veteran insists.

It can be a mark of the underdog to talk up a crowd’s influence before an important cup tie, as Barry and Roberto Martínez have done before the Capital One Cup semi-final first leg, but there are more significant reasons for the current focus on the mood at Goodison.

Wednesday’s semi-final represents a test of Everton’s emerging talents and supporters’ faith in the long-term approach Martínez espouses as the club’s best way of delivering silverware and top-four finishes. There have been signs of erosion recently with Everton’s lauded attacking style yielding just one win in six matches and three wins from 11 Premier League home games all season. City were among the eight to depart with points after a 2-0 win in August and Martínez’s team, keen to maintain the initiative on home soil even at the expense of closing out games, have conceded 20 league goals at Goodison this term compared with nine away.

Tim Howard has reacted to sarcastic cheers from the Gwladys Street after collecting routine crosses in the last two games. John Stones urged the Park End to get off his back having performed three Cruyff turns in his penalty area during the final stages of Sunday’s draw against Tottenham Hotspur– successfully, it should be said – when groans followed Everton throughout the contest. The longing for a first trophy since 1995, in a competition Everton have never won, heightens the anxiety surrounding City’s visit.

Barry admits: “You will feel that tension in the air. This club is waiting to make the step to Wembley. The players are aware of that. I am. It is down to us to get on the pitch and achieve the performance that will set us up to get through. We never seem to make things easy for ourselves atEverton and at City it was the same, having to come from behind to get ahead in the big games. But we have to be confident that we can beat them.

“For me, Goodison is the toughest away ground to come to. I have experienced it. At the minute we are not using that to our advantage for some reason. That is what we need to set up on Wednesday. If you are an opposition player and you want to take a touch but the crowd is on your back, it is a difficult place to play. Under the lights here, the atmosphere is that much stronger. We need to use that to our advantage.”

The midfielder, a Premier League and FA Cup winner during his four seasons at City, cites a 1-0 defeat against David Moyes’s Everton in January 2012 as evidence of Goodison’s ability to intimidate both sides. Barry recalls: “The one when Gibbo [Darron Gibson] scored stands out because I saw both sides of Goodison that night. We were on top in the first half and I remember the home crowd getting on the Everton players’ backs. I thought to myself: ‘We’ve got them here because they are feeling the pressure.’ Then, all of a sudden, a couple of challenges turned it around. We started feeling it then. There are definitely two sides to Goodison and we have got to use it to our advantage. Any crowd that gets on your back makes it difficult but you are going to get that if things aren’t going well. The fans have got their right to give their opinion.”

Opinion on Barry has been universally positive at Everton this season. Without the demands of European football, which took a toll last season, the midfielder’s control and composure continue to impress and prompted Martínez to proclaim recently that the former England international could continue until the age of 40. Ryan Giggs and Frank Lampard are the two players to have made more Premier League appearances than Barry, who is now 27 games behind Lampard’s 609.

“I feel good for my age,” he admits. “There are not too many players my age playing regularly in the Premier League. It’s a good feeling and it’s great to hear from the manager because that gives you confidence. I just take it a season at a time because I know in football things can change so quickly.”

Barry has 18 months remaining on his Everton contract and one clear ambition. His old club present a formidable obstacle to achieving it. “I’ve played against Manchester City three times since I left and have lost them all!” he reflects, ominously from a royal blue perspective.

“People have been on their backs, saying they wait until they need to turn it on, but the quality is obviously there. When it comes to the business end they will produce and, for me, they are the favourites to win the league.

“It’s just another game, though. Manchester City are just another team that needs to be beaten and standing in our way of achieving the ambition of lifting a trophy for Everton. The last two years of my career at Everton, I want to win a trophy. I managed to do it at City, being part of a group that ended a long wait for a trophy, and to do it here would be fantastic.”

 

[bicycleheader]

With Bony out I wouldn't mind Aguero doing one of them getting injured things early on, he's quite good at em.

I think Stones could cruyff turn him inside out in the box until Agueros hamstring goes

@Khalekan @MACCA75

 

[Khalekan]

I think Stones could cruyff turn him inside out in the box until Agueros hamstring goes

@Khalekan @MACCA75

Splendid idea.

You would be having a coronary or yelling blue murder at Stones before Aquerro's hamstring went but what the heck.....gotta love those Cruyff turns in the six yard box, eh wot......they are the icing on the cake that is our watertight defence

 

[bicycleheader]

Splendid idea.

You would be having a coronary or yelling blue murder at Stones before Aquerro's hamstring went but what the heck.....gotta love those Cruyff turns in the six yard box, eh wot......they are the icing on the cake that is our watertight defence

I knew you'd come around eventually.

 

[Khalekan]

I knew you'd come around eventually.

Yip......it's all good