And no, I’m not talking about Benjamin Mendy…
I’m someone who loves domestic football – both league & cups alike. In fact, I love Manchester City and ‘all things domestic’ so much, I can often be found bemoaning international breaks on Blue chews-daze, at times; especially when it’s just for friendly matches.
But…WOW, it’s hard to keep up with the rate of games at the moment! 27th December, 29th and 1st January saw 3 Premier League games in those 5 days and just 3 days after that, we had a good ol’, fast-pace tussle in the F.A. Cup 3rd round; albeit a 4-1 win in the end.
And still there’s no rest for the players – another 3 days later and it’s an away-game-derby in the 1st-leg semi final of the League Cup!
Our players might go into shock after that, as they have a WHOLE 5-DAY GAP before our next game!
v Manyoo
 |
| Old Trafford |
Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:
(Number correct
from starting line-up in the last game: 6/11).
Fluid 4-2-3-1 / 4-5-1 / 4-3-3:
____________________Jesus_____________________
__________________De Bruyne___________________
_________________________Gundogan___________
________________Rodri_________________________
Mendy___________________________________Walker
__________Fernandinho_____Otamendi____________
____________________Ederson___________________
I suspect we might see a similar formation deployed
against Arsenal in our away trip there, a
few weeks ago…
Ederson
back in net!
A back-4
of Benjamin, Fernandinho, the recovered-from-illness Nicolas & Kyle.
Rodders
to be the deeper-lying of two ‘protecting midfielders’; Ilkay joining him in
that role(s), I suspect. Higher up from those, I thinking it’ll be ‘a 3’ of Raheem, Kevin
& Bernardo.
Gabriel
to ‘pop back in’ up front I suspect, to give Serg some respite.
Claudio ‘takes
a seat’ as the reserve stopper; Oleksandr, Joao & John provide defensive
cover on the bench. David, Riyad & Sergio are the more creative / attacking
choice-options in ‘the 7’.
Notable
absences:
- Aymeric Laporte – Back in contention, by
all accounts! However, I think he’ll be, understandably, ‘eased back in’ and, so,
not risked for this particular encounter.
-
Leroy Sane – Continues to work on his comeback routine,
following searious, long-term injury. Not quite ready to take full training with his team-mates but not dar off, by all accounts and unless he ‘breaks down’; I can’t see it being too
long before we see him being considered in the match-day squad. I'm thinking the end of January...
Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?
Looks good to me!
Result?
My confidence is high for this one, despite decent attacking threat from our hosts.
I’m quite sure they’ll nick a goal but we’re
a far better side than these and in decent form too. I’ll think we’ll be taking
a win into the second leg.
Last season’s,
corresponding pre-match prediction and result…
Prediction: N/A
Result: N/A
Expected weather conditions during
the game: Very mild indeed, at 13C, but a little blustery & wet. It could lead to a slippy pitch & mistimed tackles / a sending off…
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