FAde out

Intense yet profoundly depressing exit for City in the FA Cup sixth round, falling at home - the second home defeat in three days - to West Ham. It's hard to be surprised, really; Samaras was out and Bradley Wright-Phillips, while a decent player, is not who you want starting at second striker in the biggest game of your season to date (and as City threaten to fade from the European chase, it probably will turn out to have been the biggest game of the year). Vassell can be an excellent scorer but I really think he needs a strong second option to push him. Samaras provided that after Cole's injury, but Wright-Phillips - just 21 last week and looking barely old enough to shave - is too timid a presence and, indeed, Vassell was held in check for most of the game.

Not held as well was Dean Ashton. When one team has the best scoring option on the pitch, that team has pretty good odds of winning, I think. And in fact, Ashton created the first West Ham goal pretty much out of whole cloth, making the City defense look pretty foolish before blasting one past James that you could barely even feel bad about.

The second goal was the result of another defensive breakdown, but this one was a bit more forgivable since it came after a fairly harsh sending off of Sun Jihai. I can see where the ref would say he took a swing; I think it looked like an attempt to yank his hand free except he forgot his hand already was free at that point. Either way I don't know if it was a straight red, but what are you going to do?

City seemed to play with more urgency after going down 1-0, and even more after dropping to ten men. But you do have to wonder where that urgency was earlier. This game was City's focus, so much so that they basically tanked against Wigan to save up for it, and yet aside from a couple of middling chances early on, City practically seemed content to play for a draw (which surely could not have been the case considering their away form this season) before Ashton opened the scoring in the 41st.

I actually put the game on fast-forward after the second goal, but Musampa's strike sucked me back in for the last nine minutes, which were heart-stopping but never quite good enough. Then the recording ran out at 93:49 and I had to run onto the internet just to confirm what I quite naturally suspected. And with that, City were out.

A disappointing end, but it wasn't a bad run for a team that had only gotten this far twice in the last two decades plus. The back-from-the-brink Villa game only has me more attached to this club, and as depressing as their results can be, I usually enjoy watching the way they play, with crisp ball movement throughout the midfield. (Of course, this always manages to stop as they approach the 18-yard box.) I think it's about time to pick up a jersey (though I will need to manage a little more cash first), though I'm not sure what name I'd put on it. I don't feel a real compulsion to put my own name on, but it's even more dangerous in soccer than in other sports to put a player's name on and then watch as he leaves the team. (I bet there were plenty of SWP sky blue jerseys that look pretty silly now.) I wouldn't mind a Barton jersey, honestly, but with the rumors apparently swelling that Arsenal are interested, it's too risky (that's hardly the only reason it's risky, but it's the most presently compelling). Reyna's part of the reason I even started following the club in the first place, but he's been all over; you'd sort of like a homegrown guy if you can get him. We'll see. By the time I actually have the money, half the team might be different. Maybe I'll just get a blank one.