The Carling Cup 2011/12 Thread

[Dingle]

VERY unfortunate penalty for City to concede, even moreso given they didn't get one earlier for the foul on Dzeko, but Gerrard converts and at least we aren't getting penalties!

[Cheeky Hughes]

Very poor, especially after Dzeko was brought down earlier on and it wasn't given.

[MJB]

Crap punch from Hart but he follows it up with another fantastic save, this one from Skrtel.

And another, this time Downing is thwarted.

[Cheeky Hughes]

Can... Can someone explain that yellow card?

[Cheeky Hughes]

Big Ed!

[MJB]

Dzeko scores after a great ball in from Kolarov. 2-1 to City on the night and they now go through on away goals.

But away goals only count after extra time, a weird rule if you ask me but even so.

[Summers]

Away goals are shit, let's be honest. Stupid rule.

[MJB]

May not need them now. Bellamy makes it 2-2 on the night, 3-2 Liverpool overall. Finally someone beats Joe Hart in open play.

[Liam]

I just love all those big teams who were above the Carling Cup a few years ago, leading to the general devaluing of it as a trophy, who now see it as an important part of masking the fact that they haven't won anything of note for years.

[Matt]

Away goals are shit, let's be honest. Stupid rule.

This, surely if you go to Barcelona and keep them to 1-0, that's just as good as keeping them to 5-4?

[Cheeky Hughes]

City played poor. Referee was poor. Liverpool (and especially Bellamy) played good. Might put money on Cardiff though!

[Liam]

Away goals are shit, let's be honest. Stupid rule.

This, surely if you go to Barcelona and keep them to 1-0, that's just as good as keeping them to 5-4?

I see the theory behind away goals, as it means most first legs don't just end up 0-0 through lack of attacking intent....but yeah, the rule is balls.

[The Future]

Joe Hart was great, Mancini gambled persisting with Savic instead of moving Micah Richards inside or something but it's backfired.

[Cheeky Hughes]

Yeah, I hope that first half is a wake up call for Mancini. Don't persist in playing Savic. I think Kompany is back for the next game anyway, so there's a plus I guess.

[METALMAN]

There was a really good article about away goals being shit in the Blizzard or something, in which the writer argued that away goals actually serve to limit attacking play because the home team is far more inclinded to defend than the away team is to take any risks.

I think basically the away goals rule is an archaic thing that once worked - in the days before convenient flights without stopovers, a trip across Europe or whatever would be a real slog, so it helped if the away team got a bit of help to compensate for it. No need now obviously.

[DavidMarrio]

Great game to have gone to last night, team and the crowd were fantastic especially Bellamy (again) who had a blinder. Great response from the team after the shockingly shit performance in the league in the past two games. Joe Hart having yet another amazing game as well for City if it was any other keeper could have easily been a few more goals.

Ref was shit in terms of both teams, there was a stupid incident right in front of me were the ball blatantly hadn't gone out for a throw in and Lescott just picks it up on the pitch and runs to the sideline to take a throw. But then again Phil Dowd has always been a notoriously shite ref.

Just happy we've reached our first final since Athens in 2007 and first time getting to Wembley since 96, hopefully try and get a ticket and experience my first final seen as though there were a few times when I couldn't make it to the Millennium Stadium.

[DavidMarrio]

Quick question.

I've qualified for a ticket now because the FA have given us 2000 more tickets, problem is the seats are meant to be restricted view. I've never been Wembley before and have no clue about what restricted seats in Wembley are like.

Was wondering if anyone had any info cause I'm debating whether it'll be worth going if A) the seat is crap, B) how much the tickets are and getting down and C) If we get to the semis of the FA cup I can just go then.

[Matt]

I can't imagine the restricted views are too bad at Wembley, you might be in the nosebleed section though.

[Adam]

I can't think what would block your view at the new Wembley. It might just mean that you're really high up, which is quite a way up (about 15 escalators if I remember rightly) but it didn't take away from anything for me.

Of course we did win which might have been a factor.

[Matt]

I can't think what would block your view at the new Wembley. It might just mean that you're really high up, which is quite a way up (about 15 escalators if I remember rightly) but it didn't take away from anything for me.

Of course we did win which might have been a factor.

I think if you're really far back the roof blocks off your sight of the fans stood directly opposite you (and I suppose if you were on the very back few rows, you might struggle to see corners and such.