Well, that's that for the first half. Raise your hands if you were expecting 0-0 at half time. What, everyone? Alright. How about Manchester City having most of the chances but being unable to convert thanks to suffocating pressure from the Stoke defence? Oh. Well then. You just about predicted the shape of the match so far.
Manchester City Vs. Stoke City, 2011 FA Cup Final: 0-0 At Halftime
It's not that the game has been boring, because it hasn't, but it's been utterly predictable. Manchester City are much better than Stoke, but Tony Pulis' side are defending well and making vaguely threatening noises towards Joe Hart's goal (i.e Kenwyne Jones had a shot blocked and Rory Delap threw the ball a few times).
City have had several great chances to score, with Ryan Shawcross nearly putting into his own net and excellent shots from Mario Balotelli and Yaya Toure coming very close as well. Their best chance, however, came to David Silva, and was uncharacteristically wasted by the Spaniard.
The half ended after two minutes of injury time that was mostly taken up by an apparently serious ankle injury to Stoke winger Jermaine Pennant suffered during an attempted tackle of Silva. After some treatment, he’s able to limp off the field, but it’s unclear whether he’ll be out for the second half. Anyway, 0-0 at the interval. Shocker.
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