TEAM NEWS Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini will name a much-changed team to the one that drew with Fulham on Sunday. Owen Hargreaves is expected to make his first appearance for the club, while Stefan Savic and Costel Pantilimon are set to make their full debuts. Carling Cup holders Birmingham may rest key players given the fixture congestion caused by their participation in the Europa League. Striker Adam Rooney is expected to replace Marlon King in attack. MATCH PREVIEW This tale of two City's finds both clubs on very different trajectories. Since the highs of winning the Carling Cup in February, Birmingham's fortunes have taken a dramatic turn for the worst. Relegated from the Premier League, they lost their manager to their local rivals, are embroiled in financial difficulties despite selling the spine of their team and sit 14th in the Championship after just two wins from six matches so far. The last thing, then, that they need as they take their first step to retaining the Carling Cup is a visit to Manchester City. A club that is very much on the up, the richest club in the world are scoring goals for fun and have a team that look set to push their local rivals United all the way for the Premier League title. So Birmingham boss Chris Hughton must have afforded himself a wry smile when Roberto Mancini moaned about having a "lack of players" following the 2-2 draw with Fulham, given that one look at the City bench revealed the likes of Carlos Tevez, Mario Balotelli and Adam Johnson sitting in reserve. MATCH FACTS Head-to-head They have met twice before in the League Cup, with each side bizarrely enjoying one 6-0 victory apiece. Birmingham claimed a a fifth-round victory in 1962 and Manchester City won at this stage in 2001. This is the 146th meeting between the sides. Manchester City have won 66 times, Birmingham 55 and there have been 24 draws. In the Premier League last season both games were drawn - 0-0 at the Eithad Stadium and 2-2 at St Andrews. Manchester City They have scored 17 goals in just five league matches. They are unbeaten in in their last 10 competitive matches in all competitions. They have have failed to make the fourth round in five of the last seven years. On the two exceptions, they went on to reach the last eight in 2007/08, and the semi-finals in 2009/10. Birmingham The Blues won the League Cup for their second time in their history when they beat Arsenal 2-1 in a dramatic final in February. Last season was the first time in four years that Birmingham had got past the third round.
I expect RM to play his strongest posible team for tonight. This is a trophy which we have to do our best to win. if all results go to plan there will be only 11 pem teams left in this comp after tonight. Just imagine the headlines should we lose tonight, Big Spenders Lose to Birmingham. The papers would have a field day if we were to lose this game tonight. We have just got to field our strongest possible squad for tonight and try and score as many as possible, even if it means that Birmingham get humiliated by the score. Remember last season when RM didn't take this comp. seriously we got beat by W.B.A., the papers had a field day the club dosesn't need a repeat of this episode.
Looks like according to the M.E.N. there will be quite a few from the development squad getting some game time tonight. As long as there is not to many of them starting I will be happy. We need to give this competition the respect it deserves, after all it is another competition that gives you a way into Europe if it is won.
PANTILIMON, ONUOHA, KOLO, SAVIC, KOLAROV, RAZAK, HARGREAVES, BRIDGE, ZABALETA, TEVEZ, BALOTELLI subs : TAYLOR, REKIK, MILNER, CLICHY, SUAREZ, AGUERO, SCAPUZZI .
Hope Owen regains his stature as a great player at your club, I think SAF was short-sighted to not keep him on a play and pay basis like M.O. His free kicks are sublime.
I'm pleased for Owen too and hope he goes on to take the title with City so he can prove that the drunk from Govan ****ed up.
Yes because clearly Sir Alex was wrong to get rid of a player who had played for 20 minutes in 3 years
Maybe he only played that long because the drunk from Govan didn't have the same belief Hargreaves did? He was forced to leave plastic town to resume his career.
his knees are dodgy, same as keane used to be only its more chronic. its not an ideal injury for someone with his talents to have, hes always been about great crossing, shots and pace (of course its not an ideal injury for any player, but his style leaves him even more prone). time will tell whether this was a good or bad move by city, but as a utd fan, i wouldve preferred if we had kept him.
Thanks for the info, i guess its a no lose situation for us as he is on a low wage (for us) and pay per play.
Getting back to the Birmingham game that was really good cure for puttting someone to sleep. Birmingham came with the idea to play all 11 back and to try and take it to pens. I am glad that that didn't happen because I would have defenetly gone home at full time. Now let me have my say on Owen Hargreaves as long as we do not push him to hard by trying to get him to play in to many matches we should be able to get a full season out of him. maybe this might mean that he only plays 1 game in every 3 that will be fine by me.
