…an old school fixture to me. And a 3:00pm Saturday KO too! 😀
Straight to it!
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| Etihad Stadium |
With so many new faces and the return, from niggles / fitness issues, of a regular from last season; this predicted lineup is far more difficult to gauge than our last two outings. I’m going for two changes in total and two of the last three signings to start on the bench.
Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:
Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 10/11.
A fluid 4-1-4-1 / 4-2-3-1 / / 4-3-3:
_____________________Haaland(VC)__________________
__Semenyo_______________________________Ndiaye__
_________________________________Cherki__________
__________O’Reilly________________________________
_____________________Anderson___________________
Gvardiol____________________________________Nunes
___________Guehi(VC)_______________Dias(C)__________
___________________Donnarumma(VC)________________
Subs: Rulli, Lewis, Khusanov, Reis, Bouaddi, Kovacic, Foden, Fernandez and Elias.
Gianluigi in goal.
If I am correct in that Matheus is fit to start and is to be thrust straight back into the starting 11, it’s going to come at the cost of a defensive colleague who has started both games so far. I’m going for Matheus to be joined by Ruben, Marc and Josko.
With our midfield department having its numbers increased in the last week or so, I’m still going for Elliot to start and sit the deepest of our midfielders for now at least. He can play slightly further forward, of course. Ahead of the Whitley Bay born midfielder, I’m going for Nico and Rayan-C in the middle, with Antoine left and new signing Iliman on the right.
Erling, with no natural back-up behind him in the squad now, continues up front.
Geronimo continues to provide goalkeeping insurance; Rico, Abdukodir and Vitor give us three defensive options from the bench, as I’m going for Kushanov to be the defender who loses out to Nunes. Ayyoub, Mateo, Phil and latest signing, Enzo, make up four midfielders on the side, with new boy, Allan, providing a wide-attacking option in ‘the 9’.
Notable absences:
- Marcus Bettinelli – Not selected.
- Rayan Ait-Nouri – Not selected and seemingly no longer part of our new manager’s plans. As an approach was made to loan our Algerian international in the last few hours of the summer transfer window, only for it to fail because we insisted on an obligation to buy clause, I have to assume that he won’t be part of today’s matchday squad. He may have to now settle for a place in the League Cup rounds until the January transfer window at least.
- Jeremy Doku – Still out with a calf injury. Expected return was 2 to 3 weeks from 21st August 2026.
Do I agree with Enzo’s (predicted) line-up?
Yep.
Result?
I simply haven’t had the time to look too deeply into any of their players to comment in a pre-match blog posting but in the three games they have played so far, League Cup 2nd Round included, they’ve deployed a 4-2-3-1 twice and a 4-1-4-1 once. Results? A 3-0 away defeat in the league, a 2-4 away win to lower league oppo in the cup and a 0-1 home defeat in the league also. If there’s anything we can take from those it’s that they concede quite a bit - 6 in total in those 3 matches. They have also only yet to find the net against a side two leagues below them.
As for us, we have a hugely increased and improved squad, virtually everyone is fit and I’m sure the confidence must be high within the camp.
This is a home win for me.
Last season’s, corresponding pre-match prediction and result:
Prediction: N/A
Result: N/A
Expected weather conditions during the game: Decent. 18/19C with some sunshine and just a light, westerly breeze. ⛅😎 🍺⚽
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| Solidarity |
