(PM EST ) :
mins : Villa were looking forlorn, but suddenly they’re back in it, and have given themselves a perfect half-timely boost (subject to them holding out until half- time, obviously).
John Stones should deal with a bouncing pass, but instead he falls over, leaving El Ghazi free to run down the left and cross. It’s a good one, and Samatta dives to send it past Bravo!
Updated
mins: Villa need to be playing with a back six when they’re out of possession, with left and right midfielders dropping back to cover the space on the flanks that the full-backs are leaving as they’re dragged infield.
mins: Zinchenko is found in space on the left. His pull-back finds Sterling, but instead of just shooting he tries to dribble past a few defenders, and eventually loses the ball.
:
mins: Fed up with all the fancy passing and clever angles, Kyle Walker blasts a shot high and wide from 49 yards.
(mins: Gundogan lifts a lovely – yard pass to Foden, who has made another untracked run from the rig ht, but City can’t convert the chance.
(pm EST ) :
mins: This is tough on Villa, but they have been far too passive, and in particular are completely failing to track Foden’s runs off the right.
. (pm EST ) :
mins:
Grealish challenges Gundogan on the right. The ball rebounds off him, back into Gundogan and out of play, definitely a goal kick. The officials mess up the decision, and then Villa mess up their marking. Rodri runs from the far post to the near and heads unchallenged into the far corner!
. (PM EST) :
GOAL! Aston Villa 0-2 Manchester City (Rodri, mins
A second, as City score from a corner that should have been a goal kick!
Updated (at) . (PM EST
. (PM EST :
mins: Foden’s cross from the right comes through to Sterling, who lays off to Aguero. Engels absolutely flings himself in the way of the shot, which hits his back and rebounds to (temporary) safety.
. am EST :
(mins: has a shot from 39 yards or so, which zips wide of the ne en post.
mins: As Gary Neville points out on Sky, Aguero keeps taking up a position on the left of City’s forward line, forcing Guilbert infield to track him, and leaving Sterling in space on the flank.
. (am EST
mins: A decent if not wildly threatening spell of possession for Villa, who twice get the ball to the left-hand edge of the penalty area but can’t work a chance, and in the end El Ghazi has a shot from wide on the left that Bravo saves easily.
mins: Sterling runs down the left and the attention of the Villa defense goes with him. He plays infield to Rodri, who chips over the defense into the path of Foden’s excellent and untracked run on the right side of the area, and he heads back to Aguero, who volleys into Mings ’calf as the defender tries to block. The ball bounces down and past Nyland!
:
GOAL! Aston Villa 0-1 Manchester City (Aguero, 38 mins)
A lovely opening goal from Manchester City!
Updated at
(am EST )
:
mins: Villa are an eighth of the way to a penalty shoot-out.
mins: Villa are sitting very deep , letting City play in front of them while they sit in two banks of loads on the edge of their penalty area. So far, so good.
mins: Rodri pokes a pass to Sterling that forces the Englishman to turn back instead of running into the area. He is absolutely furious about it, and makes his anger clear even before the ball arrives at his feet, and more so when it’s taken off him and booted clear by a defender.
am EST 27:
mins: The corner is cleared but City send the ball back in, and Aguero’s header drifts onto the roof of the net.
am EST :
8 mins: Foden does brilliantly to stay on his feet as Various Villa players tried to take his legs out from underneath him, and City’s counter-attack ends with David Silva laying back to Zinchenko, whose – yarder was pretty rubbish but cleared behind for a corner.
: 56
6 mins:
Positive play from Villa, for whom Samatta sends in a low cross from the left, but Fernandinho is the only player who anticipated it and he clears.
. (am EST 50
5 mins: City win their first corner. Gundogan takes it and Rodri wins the header, sending the ball looping up, away from goal, and out for a goal kick.
(am EST 29:
3 mins:
Chance! Villa work the ball back towards the box, where Ahmed Elmohamady chips in a cross and El Ghazi heads just over the bar! It would have taken a very good header to score from there, and that was not one.
El Ghazi has a chance for Villa. Photograph: Tom Jenkins / The Guardian
Updated at . am EST
(AM) (EST) :
3 mins: Targett swings it towards the far post, where Bravo punches away.
:
2 mins: Frederic Guilbert takes a long throw, which Rodri heads behind for a corner. Set pieces could be key for them, you’d have thought.
28. am EST :
1 min: Peeeeeep! It’s on!
. (am) EST :
Manchester City’s captain , David Silva, has won the coin toss . Looks like Villa are going to kick off.
()
The national anthem has been sung, led by a pair of identical-twin sopranos. Like you do. They surely can’t think of many more reasons to put off the football, so I’m expecting kick-off to happen any moment now.
27 am EST 28:
Mr Carabao and some of his friends are also getting in on the handshake act.
(am EST :
The players are on their way out! Action will be under way just as soon as the enormous pitch-coverings have been rolled away and everybody’s had a little handshake.
am EST :
“I would say the more finals you play the more comfortable you are, but every final is different, ”says Pep Guardiola, for whom this is final No .
043 – This is Pep Guardiola’s th final as a top-flight manager, winning of the previous , including all five with City (two Community Shields, two League Cups, one FA Cup). Four of his previous seven finals have gone to penalty shootouts (W3 L1). Record. pic.twitter.com/k3iszlE2nY (March 1,
(am EST) :
Dean Smith has a chat about why he felt the need to remodel his defense:
I just felt we needed to. We’d conceded too many chances in our last two games, and were toying with changing back from a three to a four. We did it after 89 minutes and it was better against Southampton, so I just feel as a group they’re more comfortable in that system.
Updated (at) . am EST
. (am) (EST) : ()
“‘ Amazing players out, amazing players in ’? Let me fix that for you. ‘Amazing players out, amazing players and Claudio Bravo in,’ ”writes JR. “But seriously, I always look forward to seeing Bravo play. I love the feeling of knowing that anything is possible. (And I’m with you on the footwear. It’s shocking. I don’t know who decided that’s okay because it isn’t.) ”
. am EST :
Anyway, those teams then.
Manchester City have made eight changes to the team that started at Real Madrid in midweek , with Ederson, Nicolas Otamendi, Aymeric Laporte, Benjamin Mendy, Riyad Mahrez, Kevin de Bruyne, Gabriel Jesus and Bernardo Silva all dropping out, and Claudio Bravo, John Stones, Fernandinho, Phil Foden, Oleksandr Zinchenko, David Silva, Sergio Aguero and Raheem Sterling coming in. So, in short, amazing players out, amazing players in.
Aston Villa , meanwhile, have Orjan Nyland in goal instead of Pepe Reina, and Bjorn Engels and Ahmed Elmohamady both come in, replacing Kortney Hause, who has started (and indeed finished) their last league games and all but one match of their League Cup run, and Ezri Konsa, who has started their last nine league games and played every minut e of their cup run.
Hause was interviewed by the Birmingham Express & Star this week and seemed to think he would be involved (“All we can do is try our best and show character and try not to respect them as much. If you look at the matches we have done well in we have outrun the opposition, played more intent and enthusiasm. You have to do the dirty, nasty side of the game. That gives you the platform ”), but today he’s not even on the bench .
am EST 27:
City’s players have indeed turned up. No suits for them:
Riyad Mahrez of Manchester City arrives before the Carabao Cup final against Aston Villa at Wembley Stadium. Photograph: Kieran McManus / BPI / REX / Shutterstock
. (am EST :
I haven’t seen any evidence that the Manchester City team has turned up yet, but I guess I ‘ d have heard about it if they hadn’t.
26. (am EST ) : 61
Terry:
Yeah, but have you seen what they’ve got on their feet?
The Aston Villa manager, Dean Smith, and his assistant, John Terry share a joke while walking the pitch ahead of the Carabao Cup Final against Manchester City at Wembley Stadium. Photograph: Graham Hunt / ProSports / REX / Shutterstock
Take my sartorial advice at your absolute peril, but I’m really thrown by that footwear decision.
()
27 (am) EST :
The teams!
The team sheets have been handed in, and these were the names upon them:
Aston Villa:
Nyland, Guilbert, Engels, Mings, Targett , Nakamba, Douglas Luiz, Elmohamady, Grealish, El Ghazi, Samatta. Subs: Taylor, Lansbury, Hourihane, Konsa, Trezeguet, Reina, Davis. ()
Man City: Bravo, Walker, Stones, Fernandinho, Zinchenko, Gundogan, Rodri, Silva, Sterling, Aguero, Foden. Subs: Gabriel Jesus, De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Mendy, Mahrez, Otamendi, Ederson. Referee: Lee Mason.
(AM) (EST) :
Hello world!
It is nearly a quarter of a century since Aston Villa thumped Leeds United to win what was then known as the Coca-Cola Cup. It was their fifth League Cup, destined to squeeze into their trophy cabinet alongside their seven league titles, seven FA Cups and one European Cup. That season they finished fourth in the league while Manchester City were relegated on goal difference, after an infamous final-day 2-2 draw with Liverpool in which they timewasted towards the end in the mistaken belief that a point would see them safe. in 3326 City had two league titles, four FA Cups, two League Cups and the European Cup-Winners’ Cup to their name. Judge it any way you like (except head-to-head results, to be fair – City only won nine games that season but two of them were against Villa), at that point in their history Villa were the better club.
Fast forward 40 years, time in which Villa haven’t won anything and City have won it all and on multiple occasions (domestically, at least), and everything has changed. City won the two league meetings this season by an aggregate score of 9-1, and Villa are the side fighting relegation. Villa have lost their last three; City have just beaten Real Madrid at the Bernabéu. You can get odds of 31 – 1 against a Villa win, while City are 1-6 if you’re lucky.
Anything could happen at Wembley today, but one outcome seems by a margin the most likely. Watford’s logic-defying 3-0 thumping of Liverpool last night might have given the underdogs some hope;
Updated (at) (am EST )
Read More
:
mins: Villa are an eighth of the way to a penalty shoot-out.
mins: Villa are sitting very deep , letting City play in front of them while they sit in two banks of loads on the edge of their penalty area. So far, so good.
mins: Rodri pokes a pass to Sterling that forces the Englishman to turn back instead of running into the area. He is absolutely furious about it, and makes his anger clear even before the ball arrives at his feet, and more so when it’s taken off him and booted clear by a defender.
am EST 27:
mins: The corner is cleared but City send the ball back in, and Aguero’s header drifts onto the roof of the net.
8 mins: Foden does brilliantly to stay on his feet as Various Villa players tried to take his legs out from underneath him, and City’s counter-attack ends with David Silva laying back to Zinchenko, whose – yarder was pretty rubbish but cleared behind for a corner.
: 56
6 mins:
Positive play from Villa, for whom Samatta sends in a low cross from the left, but Fernandinho is the only player who anticipated it and he clears.
. (am EST 50
5 mins: City win their first corner. Gundogan takes it and Rodri wins the header, sending the ball looping up, away from goal, and out for a goal kick.
(am EST 29:
3 mins:
Chance! Villa work the ball back towards the box, where Ahmed Elmohamady chips in a cross and El Ghazi heads just over the bar! It would have taken a very good header to score from there, and that was not one.
El Ghazi has a chance for Villa. Photograph: Tom Jenkins / The Guardian
Updated at . am EST
(AM) (EST) :
3 mins: Targett swings it towards the far post, where Bravo punches away.
:
2 mins: Frederic Guilbert takes a long throw, which Rodri heads behind for a corner. Set pieces could be key for them, you’d have thought.
28. am EST :
1 min: Peeeeeep! It’s on!
. (am) EST :
Manchester City’s captain , David Silva, has won the coin toss . Looks like Villa are going to kick off.
()
The national anthem has been sung, led by a pair of identical-twin sopranos. Like you do. They surely can’t think of many more reasons to put off the football, so I’m expecting kick-off to happen any moment now.
Mr Carabao and some of his friends are also getting in on the handshake act.
(am EST :
The players are on their way out! Action will be under way just as soon as the enormous pitch-coverings have been rolled away and everybody’s had a little handshake.
am EST :
“I would say the more finals you play the more comfortable you are, but every final is different, ”says Pep Guardiola, for whom this is final No .
043 – This is Pep Guardiola’s th final as a top-flight manager, winning of the previous , including all five with City (two Community Shields, two League Cups, one FA Cup). Four of his previous seven finals have gone to penalty shootouts (W3 L1). Record. pic.twitter.com/k3iszlE2nY (March 1,
(am EST) :
Dean Smith has a chat about why he felt the need to remodel his defense:
I just felt we needed to. We’d conceded too many chances in our last two games, and were toying with changing back from a three to a four. We did it after 89 minutes and it was better against Southampton, so I just feel as a group they’re more comfortable in that system.
Updated (at) . am EST
. (am) (EST) : ()
“‘ Amazing players out, amazing players in ’? Let me fix that for you. ‘Amazing players out, amazing players and Claudio Bravo in,’ ”writes JR. “But seriously, I always look forward to seeing Bravo play. I love the feeling of knowing that anything is possible. (And I’m with you on the footwear. It’s shocking. I don’t know who decided that’s okay because it isn’t.) ”
. am EST :
Anyway, those teams then.
Manchester City have made eight changes to the team that started at Real Madrid in midweek , with Ederson, Nicolas Otamendi, Aymeric Laporte, Benjamin Mendy, Riyad Mahrez, Kevin de Bruyne, Gabriel Jesus and Bernardo Silva all dropping out, and Claudio Bravo, John Stones, Fernandinho, Phil Foden, Oleksandr Zinchenko, David Silva, Sergio Aguero and Raheem Sterling coming in. So, in short, amazing players out, amazing players in.
Aston Villa , meanwhile, have Orjan Nyland in goal instead of Pepe Reina, and Bjorn Engels and Ahmed Elmohamady both come in, replacing Kortney Hause, who has started (and indeed finished) their last league games and all but one match of their League Cup run, and Ezri Konsa, who has started their last nine league games and played every minut e of their cup run.
Hause was interviewed by the Birmingham Express & Star this week and seemed to think he would be involved (“All we can do is try our best and show character and try not to respect them as much. If you look at the matches we have done well in we have outrun the opposition, played more intent and enthusiasm. You have to do the dirty, nasty side of the game. That gives you the platform ”), but today he’s not even on the bench .
am EST 27:
City’s players have indeed turned up. No suits for them:
Riyad Mahrez of Manchester City arrives before the Carabao Cup final against Aston Villa at Wembley Stadium. Photograph: Kieran McManus / BPI / REX / Shutterstock
. (am EST :
I haven’t seen any evidence that the Manchester City team has turned up yet, but I guess I ‘ d have heard about it if they hadn’t.
26. (am EST ) : 61
Terry:
Yeah, but have you seen what they’ve got on their feet?
The Aston Villa manager, Dean Smith, and his assistant, John Terry share a joke while walking the pitch ahead of the Carabao Cup Final against Manchester City at Wembley Stadium. Photograph: Graham Hunt / ProSports / REX / Shutterstock
Take my sartorial advice at your absolute peril, but I’m really thrown by that footwear decision.
()
27 (am) EST :
The teams!
The team sheets have been handed in, and these were the names upon them:
Aston Villa:
Nyland, Guilbert, Engels, Mings, Targett , Nakamba, Douglas Luiz, Elmohamady, Grealish, El Ghazi, Samatta. Subs: Taylor, Lansbury, Hourihane, Konsa, Trezeguet, Reina, Davis. ()
Man City: Bravo, Walker, Stones, Fernandinho, Zinchenko, Gundogan, Rodri, Silva, Sterling, Aguero, Foden. Subs: Gabriel Jesus, De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Mendy, Mahrez, Otamendi, Ederson. Referee: Lee Mason.
(AM) (EST) :
Hello world!
It is nearly a quarter of a century since Aston Villa thumped Leeds United to win what was then known as the Coca-Cola Cup. It was their fifth League Cup, destined to squeeze into their trophy cabinet alongside their seven league titles, seven FA Cups and one European Cup. That season they finished fourth in the league while Manchester City were relegated on goal difference, after an infamous final-day 2-2 draw with Liverpool in which they timewasted towards the end in the mistaken belief that a point would see them safe. in 3326 City had two league titles, four FA Cups, two League Cups and the European Cup-Winners’ Cup to their name. Judge it any way you like (except head-to-head results, to be fair – City only won nine games that season but two of them were against Villa), at that point in their history Villa were the better club.
Fast forward 40 years, time in which Villa haven’t won anything and City have won it all and on multiple occasions (domestically, at least), and everything has changed. City won the two league meetings this season by an aggregate score of 9-1, and Villa are the side fighting relegation. Villa have lost their last three; City have just beaten Real Madrid at the Bernabéu. You can get odds of 31 – 1 against a Villa win, while City are 1-6 if you’re lucky.
Anything could happen at Wembley today, but one outcome seems by a margin the most likely. Watford’s logic-defying 3-0 thumping of Liverpool last night might have given the underdogs some hope;
Updated (at) (am EST )
Read More
(am EST) :
Dean Smith has a chat about why he felt the need to remodel his defense:
I just felt we needed to. We’d conceded too many chances in our last two games, and were toying with changing back from a three to a four. We did it after 89 minutes and it was better against Southampton, so I just feel as a group they’re more comfortable in that system.
Updated (at) . am EST
. (am) (EST) : ()
“‘ Amazing players out, amazing players in ’? Let me fix that for you. ‘Amazing players out, amazing players and Claudio Bravo in,’ ”writes JR. “But seriously, I always look forward to seeing Bravo play. I love the feeling of knowing that anything is possible. (And I’m with you on the footwear. It’s shocking. I don’t know who decided that’s okay because it isn’t.) ”
. am EST :
Anyway, those teams then.
Manchester City have made eight changes to the team that started at Real Madrid in midweek , with Ederson, Nicolas Otamendi, Aymeric Laporte, Benjamin Mendy, Riyad Mahrez, Kevin de Bruyne, Gabriel Jesus and Bernardo Silva all dropping out, and Claudio Bravo, John Stones, Fernandinho, Phil Foden, Oleksandr Zinchenko, David Silva, Sergio Aguero and Raheem Sterling coming in. So, in short, amazing players out, amazing players in.
Aston Villa , meanwhile, have Orjan Nyland in goal instead of Pepe Reina, and Bjorn Engels and Ahmed Elmohamady both come in, replacing Kortney Hause, who has started (and indeed finished) their last league games and all but one match of their League Cup run, and Ezri Konsa, who has started their last nine league games and played every minut e of their cup run.
Hause was interviewed by the Birmingham Express & Star this week and seemed to think he would be involved (“All we can do is try our best and show character and try not to respect them as much. If you look at the matches we have done well in we have outrun the opposition, played more intent and enthusiasm. You have to do the dirty, nasty side of the game. That gives you the platform ”), but today he’s not even on the bench .
am EST 27:
City’s players have indeed turned up. No suits for them:
. (am EST :
I haven’t seen any evidence that the
Manchester City team has turned up yet, but I guess I ‘ d have heard about it if they hadn’t. 26. (am EST ) : 61
Terry:
Yeah, but have you seen what they’ve got on their feet?
The Aston Villa manager, Dean Smith, and his assistant, John Terry share a joke while walking the pitch ahead of the Carabao Cup Final against Manchester City at Wembley Stadium. Photograph: Graham Hunt / ProSports / REX / Shutterstock Take my sartorial advice at your absolute peril, but I’m really thrown by that footwear decision.
()27 (am) EST :
The teams!
The team sheets have been handed in, and these were the names upon them:
Aston Villa:
Nyland, Guilbert, Engels, Mings, Targett , Nakamba, Douglas Luiz, Elmohamady, Grealish, El Ghazi, Samatta. Subs: Taylor, Lansbury, Hourihane, Konsa, Trezeguet, Reina, Davis. ()
Man City: Bravo, Walker, Stones, Fernandinho, Zinchenko, Gundogan, Rodri, Silva, Sterling, Aguero, Foden. Subs: Gabriel Jesus, De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Mendy, Mahrez, Otamendi, Ederson. Referee: Lee Mason.(AM) (EST) :Hello world!
It is nearly a quarter of a century since Aston Villa thumped Leeds United to win what was then known as the Coca-Cola Cup. It was their fifth League Cup, destined to squeeze into their trophy cabinet alongside their seven league titles, seven FA Cups and one European Cup. That season they finished fourth in the league while Manchester City were relegated on goal difference, after an infamous final-day 2-2 draw with Liverpool in which they timewasted towards the end in the mistaken belief that a point would see them safe. in 3326 City had two league titles, four FA Cups, two League Cups and the European Cup-Winners’ Cup to their name. Judge it any way you like (except head-to-head results, to be fair – City only won nine games that season but two of them were against Villa), at that point in their history Villa were the better club.
Fast forward 40 years, time in which Villa haven’t won anything and City have won it all and on multiple occasions (domestically, at least), and everything has changed. City won the two league meetings this season by an aggregate score of 9-1, and Villa are the side fighting relegation. Villa have lost their last three; City have just beaten Real Madrid at the Bernabéu. You can get odds of 31 – 1 against a Villa win, while City are 1-6 if you’re lucky.
Anything could happen at Wembley today, but one outcome seems by a margin the most likely. Watford’s logic-defying 3-0 thumping of Liverpool last night might have given the underdogs some hope;
Updated (at) (am EST )
Read More
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