Manchester City face Newport in the FA Cup this evening with many supporters of other clubs tuning in hoping for a famous cup giant killing.
Before the game, the League Two club’s manager Michael Flynn talked up the magnitude of such a victory if the Welsh club come out on top:
“If we win this, whether it’s extra time or penalties and I don’t care how we do it, it will be the biggest shock in FA Cup history. I say that with the biggest respect to other big giant-killings.”
“My reasons for that are because of the sheer gulf in finances, the quality of the players Man City have, the level they are playing at, and that they have the best manager in the world (Pep Guardiola) right now.”
“So for those reasons it will be the biggest shock the FA Cup has ever seen.”
City fans on Twitter admire Flynn’s optimism but many expect Pep Guardiola’s side to put Newport to the sword:
And we go live as Manchester city make it 11-0 trough the goalkeeper Ederson: pic.twitter.com/VbL4gQETMc
— Ii (@EDCTEE) 15 February 2019
They might be a small team, but I am a little bit nervous on this game, the pitch is not up to standard, we might get caught up, but we are a big team, we should go to any pitch in Europe and come back with a win
— Sinethemba Funani (@SinethembaFuna1) 15 February 2019
Dont think you should have to worry about the pitch. We are still much better than them. Also our players are professionals and not “primadonas” that must to play on the perfect pitch
— RandomFan (@PeleHedgehog) 15 February 2019
I genuinely think this will be harder than the schalke and Chelsea games
— Stephen Jordan (@flashcity69) 15 February 2019
@burtonalbionfc please advise @NewportCounty
— Dami ?????? (@Dami1190) 15 February 2019
More nervous about the players well being on that pitch. We cant survive anymore injuries this season
— Sean (@theBB1985) 15 February 2019
Newport the great English medias hope!
— KOmat (@komatsola) 15 February 2019
I think we should win only 5 nil so at least they can say we held better than Chelsea ?
— Faisal AlKetbi (@Faisal_AlKetbi) 15 February 2019
Whether it will be as comfortable as some of these supporters suggest, I’m not so sure.
The pitch at Rodney Parade is one of the worst in the whole Football League, and it could prove somewhat of a leveller if City don’t adapt their game.
Guardiola has stated that they are aware of the difficulties of playing on a poor surface, and will use the experience of playing at Wembley against Tottenham earlier this season after the pitch had been cut up by an NFL game.