FA Cup: Dem's no gem, Man

FA Cup: Dem's no gem, Man

QUARTER-FINAL

MAN CITY 1 (Samir Nasri 68)

WIGAN 2 (Jordi Gomez 27-pen, James Perch 47)

Martin Demichelis and Manuel Pellegrini share a long, professional history.

But so do Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels in Dumb and Dumber.

At the moment, Manchester City might be better off with those two.

At least Carrey and Daniels got it together long enough for a happy Hollywood ending. City could be heading for a disaster.

Only the intervention of a Uefa ban sidesteps another potentially embarrassing sideshow against Barcelona in the Champions League clash against Barcelona on Thursday morning (Singapore time).

Demichelis' suspension denies his inexplicably loyal manager the option of selecting him for the second leg.

When he fills in his weekly team-sheets, Pellegrini appears to suffer footballer Tourettes, screaming out "Demichelis" whenever he picks up a pen. The 33-year-old Argentina centre back is fast becoming a swear word around the blue half of Manchester.

The red half of Manchester must be considering adopting Demichelis as a lucky mascot.

City's much maligned defender has proven to be a perennial source of punchlines, particularly in recent months, but his regular appearance in the starting 11 is a growing cause for consternation around the Etihad.

STRENGTH

Pellegrini favours calm, assured, ball-playing centre backs and Demichelis ticked all the right boxes for his principled coach at both River Plate and Malaga.

The only drawback is the defender is no longer particularly adept at defending, at least in the Premier League... and the Champions League... and now the FA Cup against Championship opposition.

In an interview last week, Barcelona great Xavi Hernandez praised Pellegrini's positive philosophy, stressing Demichelis' qualities in being able to "bring the ball out well from the back".

That's all rather commendable in possession.

When the ball is turned over, however, Demichelis spins with the grace of a hippo dancing Gangnam style.

Container ships dotting the East Coast shoreline turn quicker than the defender's slow-motion effort against Wigan's Marc-Antoine Fortune on Monday morning (Singapore time).

He stood on the striker's foot for good measure, adding an unnecessary coup de grace and handing an initiative to the Championship side that they never handed back.

He was hardly blameless for James Perch's strike either; his positioning woefully awry as Wigan marched past a wobbling Gael Clichy to earn another day at Wembley in consecutive seasons.

Pellegrini's persistence with a loyal servant clearly struggling with the rigours and relentless pace of English football is troubling for a club who were being considered for a Quadruple a month ago and may now end up with the least wanted - and most expensive - old pot of the lot (with a billion-dollar squad, that is one pricey League Cup).

There were mitigating factors behind the statuesque turn that led to Demichelis chopping down Lionel Messi with all the finesse of a blindfolded lumberjack in the first leg of the last-16 clash with Barcelona.

DOZING

Half the City side were in a daze and dozing during the build-up.

Until his red card, Demichelis had manfully marked his compatriot in one of his better performances.

But the Wigan blunder made it three in three pivotal, season-defining fixtures; the other coming in City's 1-0 defeat by Chelsea last month.

Pellegrini placed his loyal lieutenant in midfield ahead of Jack Rodwell, Javi Garcia and James Milner. The move backfired and Chelsea laughed all the way to the summit.

Demichelis was at fault in all three games. Hindsight might yet suggest that those three games effectively ended City's Quadruple hopes.

Wigan manager Uwe Rosler pulled a rabbit from the hat with his unorthodox line-up, switching to three at the back to neuter City's striking duo and adding an extra man in midfield to clamp shackles on Yaya Toure. His gamble paid off handsomely.

Pellegrini was outfoxed in the dugout and left the men on the bench who could've won him a cup double.

Vincent Kompany might be suitably rested for Barcelona, but there's nothing quite like an FA Cup winner's medal to add a spring to the step.

The Belgian powerhouse will bring backbone to that brittle defence and not a moment too soon. City's exasperating inconsistency is slowly becoming indefensible.


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