I can’t speak for you, the reader, but if I was told around about Christmas time when Liverpool were top of the table and 7 points ahead of us, albeit with-us-having 2 games in hand, that come our clash in February we’d be 7 points ahead of THEM and still with a game in hand…I'd have been a little sceptical to say the least about that premonition.
We’d had a reasonable November & December league-results-wise but with a postponed game (Everton away) adding to the congested fixture schedule, a good number of Covid-19 cases in our camp adding to injuries and some still-out-of-form players; I just wouldn’t have envisaged a massive 14-point turnaround between the 2 clubs come early Feb.
I’m not saying for one moment that I didn’t have faith in Pep improving a side which’d had a stuttering September & October in the league but for that to happen AND see a free-scoring Liverpool side dry up so badly; surely no-one could have foreseen that happening. If they did, please post next week's lottery numbers in the comments section below, thank you.
v Liverpool
 |
| Anfield with no morons, flying bottles or flares, which should be the case tomorrow... |
Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:
(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 10/11).
I’ve ummed & ahhed a little over the last few days; plucking players out and slotting others in. I think we’ll see ‘City with a twist’ tomorrow and, so, in the end…
Fluid 4-1-5-0 / 4-6-0:
______________________________________________
__Foden_____________Silva_____________Mahrez__
_________Gundogan____________________________
____________________________Cancelo___________
_____________________Rodri_____________________
Laporte__________________________________Walker
______________Dias__________Stones_____________
____________________Ederson___________________
Subs: Steffen, Mendy, Zinchenko, Garcia, Fernandinho, Nmecha, Sterling, Torres, Jesus.
Ederson wasn’t one I had to think about and, of course, starts in net.
Having been handed a decent amount of far-left-sided defensive minutes in recent weeks; I think Aymeric has been ‘primed’ to have the left-back slot tomorrow late-afternoon. Of course, as we’ve seen of late, his position may-well morph into ‘the left-side of a 3’ as the team’s shape shifts from time to time. Ruben & John make up part of that fluid system with Kyle, I think, in the right-wing back position.
Rodders to patrol in front of those.
Now, here’s ‘the twist’. Having recently ‘weaponised’ Joao, I’ve just got a feeling that we’ll see the versatile, right-wing back start in a central midfield slot on Sunday; just ahead of Rodri and working alongside Ilkay. Slightly advanced of the Portuguese & German and making up the rest of a 5 or 6-man fluid midfield is Phil, Bernardo & Riyad; the latter being one of the players I had in, out and back in again.
Zack is the reserve stopper; Benjamin, Oleksandr, who might feel a little hard done-to sitting on the bench (why do we still call it “a bench” like they’re all [still] sat on a long piece of wood?) & Eric make up the defensive replacement options from ‘the 9’. Fernandinho, Felix, Raheem, Ferran & Gabriel, who I also hovered over for a while after he found the net in each of our last 2 outings, make up the midfield / wing / attacking choices from the side. I think it’s only the formation & personnel that I think Pep will want tomorrow that has kept the Brazilian out of my predicted 11.
Notable absences:
- Nathan Ake – Other than the fact that he’s still not available, there’s no further ‘detail’ on that. I’m not sure if he’s had a setback in his recovery or it’s just taking longer than expected / they’re not risking an earlier return but it does seem to be taking long than I think was expected for the Dutch defender to re-join the match-day squad.
- Kevin De Bruyne – Injured. Going off the initial assessment, we could see the Belgium midfielder back anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks’ time.
- Sergio Aguero – Similar to Nathan, there was no detail put on Sergio’s situation yesterday but going off the previous pre-match press conference; it’s likely that he’s not that far off training with his teammates once again and, after that, a return in about a fortnight.
Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?
Result? Will we face a side hungry to banish a recent set of results that has seen them now-having-not-won 50% of their league games? Can grumpy Jurgen Klopp’s teeth be used as an emergency lighting source? Of course.
And what better team, in some ways, to do that against [your biggest rivals in recent years] and on your home patch too. They’ll come flying at us for sure.
But we’ll be ready for that and this is a new defence and a new, in-form Manchester City side in general. Yes, we’ll have to be ‘on it’ for the full 90+ minutes but as long as both sets of players ‘keep their heads’ and we end up with 11 v 11; I think our 11 - and most certainly form - is better than theirs.
Last season’s, corresponding pre-match prediction and result…
Prediction: Draw
Result: Lost
(Pre-match blog posting from that game)
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