FA CUP

Manager Roberto Mancini insists he will not pick Carlos Tevez in his starting line-up for this awkward fourth round tie, but his omission is not a disciplinary matter after his recent comments about Manchester United's Gary Neville.

Tevez, who scored both of City's goals in their victory over Neville's Manchester United side in their Carling Cup tie on Tuesday night, labelled the United veteran a "moron" on Argentinean radio on Thursday.

His comments came after Neville had insisted his club had been right to let Tevez join City in the summer because he was not worth the £25m fee that the player's advisers were demanding.

Yet, despite Tevez's reaction, Mancini is keen to move on from the incident and revealed that the only reason he will not start here because he is tired.

"It is finished now," Mancini said. "It is important that the players now think of the next game.He won't play because he is very tired and he has a muscle problem. I will speak with him to decide if he stays at home or goes on the bench."

Mancini is determined to take this tie seriously, pointing at Reading's shock win at Liverpool and Leeds United's victory over Manchester United as proof that his side cannot afford to be complacent in this season's competition.

He added: "I don't know very much about Scunthorpe. I know that we played against them in the Carling Cup at home but at Scunthorpe it will be a different game.

"But that is ok and I hope that we can play well and win this game. "The FA Cup is most important and we want to be in it until the end. We must remember Liverpool against Reading and United against Leeds if we think it is going to be easy though."

Mark Hughes may have been the City manager back in October but City still dominated and easily won 5-1. City could do with another result like that because the last thing they need is a replay. After this encounter, City face seven games in the space of one month so their players will be tired enough without being forced to play an additional 90 minutes to seal this tie.

Against Middlesbrough in the last round, Mancini played the likes of Javier Garrido, Sylvinho and Benjani in order to give his first choice players a rest and he is likely to do the same against Scunthorpe.

City will still be without Roque Santa Cruz, Patrick Vieira and Nedum Onouha who all have calf problems while Michael Johnson, Joleon Lescott and Wayne Bridge are still months away from being available with all three struggling to overcome knee injuries. Tevez will also be rested.

Manager Nigel Adkins face a tough task in trying to stop the City bandwagon, but believes home advantage could work in his favour.

Glanford Park will provide an unfamiliar environment for Mancini's pampered stars and Adkins is hoping this could prove a bit of a leveller.

Adkins said: "Manchester City should be able to turn up and perform no matter what the arena, but we've got an advantage because it's a smaller stadium than they are used to. There will be 9,000 fans crammed in and it's tight and compact. It's great that we can host a side like Manchester City and who knows what can happen in a one off game

"On paper they should win, but as we all know, the game isn't played on paper."

City are a ebst priced 2/5, with The Iron 8s and the draw 4s. The game looks best left alone, especially as City are without the talisman Tevez.

Published 23-01-2010

< return to the home page