City's Semi-Final - The bits the headlines missed.

Although Yaya's domination, Mancini's Tactics and Balotelli's wink (somehow) made the headlines this week, there were a few other things that were slightly overlooked.

Firstly, as nobody else seems to have mentioned it for more than a paragraph at the end of a 'Balotelli is a loon' article, I will. Tackling has never been the strongest part of Paul Scholes' game. This however does not provide an excuse or any justification for the thigh high lunge at Pablo Zabaleta on Saturday. everything I have read over the weekend seems to come from the same perspective; 'yeah but Paul Scholes can't tackle', neither could Elano or Robinho, you could say the same about Silva in the modern day but not one of those players have ever produced anything of the malice shown by Scholes this weekend. The irony is that Nigel De Jong was stood metres away from the tackle, a guy who has been constantly branded as a thug yet shows more class in a tackle than so many give him credit for. There were certainly similarities between Scholes' 'tackle' and the vicious assault on Alfie Haaland at the hands (and studs) of Roy Keane If Scholes would have caught Zabaleta anywhere near the knee it could have been a career threatening injury. Not for one second have I ever doubted his ability and credentials as a player, but with ten red cards to his name and sickening mindless acts like that I'm starting to doubt his credentials as a man.

Secondly on a much more positive note there were so many stand out performances in the semi final, I normally praise David Silva, Nigel De Jong and Vincent Kompany to the high heavens and whilst there would be every reason to reiterate their class, I have identified two players who usually receive their fair share of criticism. After Joey Barton's harsh words last week, the spotlight has shone a little brighter than usual on Gareth Barry. Typical of his mind-set and work ethic however, he chose the perfect stage to show exactly how important he is to this team. There is a running joke with City fans and others alike that boats have turned quicker than Barry, but his strength, determination of ball retention were exactly what we needed on Saturday he he provided it in abundance. Winning tackle after tackle and apparently covering more ground than any other player on the pitch, Barry was pivotal to the result and together with Nigel De Jong provides the perfect platform for Adam Johnson, David Silva and usually Carlos Tevez to operate, not too mention the freedom Yaya Toure is given knowing that Barry and De Jong are so reliable behind him, the freedom which obviously proved so beneficial once again this weekend.

The second player I want to mention is Alex Kolarov. The player who has received without a doubt the most stick this season from the City fans. Since Kolarov's arrival it has been mentioned time and time again that he could be our weak link defensively. At 25 years old and in only his first season in English football there is no doubt that the best is yet to come from Kolarov although I believe that a glimpse of this was shown over the weekend and many of his doubters were silenced by his competent defending coupled with his effective attacking style. Under Mancini I think his defensive attributes will improve and with a strong pre-season under his belt with the likes of Kompany, Toure and Zabaleta to mentor him he can come on leaps and bounds next season. For the time being, I personally would like to City fans give him a bit of a break, get behind him and encourage him to keep bringing the encouraging aspects of his game into the team.

Another positive we can take out of the game is the mature performance of Mario Balotelli. Not taking into consideration his antics at the end of the game for a second and focusing solely on the 95 minutes that mattered, I was very impressed. As with his performance recently against Sunderland, Mario constantly made dangerous runs, held the ball up, but most importantly he has started to work hard for the team and defend from the front. Showing none of the petulant behaviour he has made infamous, he got on with the game and showed that he can be an important member of the squad. For the first time it seemed to sink in with Mario what it means to wear the shirt. He celebrated at the end of the game exactly how the fans wanted him to and it was genuinely good to see him enjoying himself at last.

More has been made about the 'incident' after the game than I thought was possible. The bottom line is that Mario Balotelli celebrated the win whilst facing United fans, he didn't run towards them or do anything over-provocative, he simply celebrated his team winning with a bit of passion (remember Gary Neville v Liverpool?). Rio Ferdinand and Anderson let their disappointment spill over and in my opinion over-reacted and tried to re-create the scene from Old Trafford with Martin Keown, Ray Parlour and Ruud Van Nistelrooy. How Balotelli came out of that situation as the bad guy is way beyond my understanding and seems to represent a perfect example of some one's reputation going before them.

Finally, whilst not quite worth writing about yet, Carlos Tevez absence in my opinion is not a good sign for his City future, had De Jong, Kompany or any other player on the squad for that matter been in Carlos' situation, I can more or less guarantee that they would have wanted to be at Wembley with the rest of the squad. I don't think his absence can be scrutinised too much, but certainly plants a seed of doubt regarding his summer options.