…keep rollin’ in!
Some doubts about the availability of a couple of our defenders ahead of this one; exacerbated by a suspension of another…
…v Real Madrid
 |
| Etihad Stadium |
Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:
(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 7/11).
Fluid 4-1-5-0 / 4-6-0 / 4-3-3:
______________________________________________
Foden__________________________________Mahrez
_______De Bruyne___Gundogan____Silva__________
_____________________Rodri____________________
Ake__________________________________Zinchenko
___________Laporte_____________Dias____________
____________________Ederson___________________
Subs: Steffen, Carson, Egan-Riley, Wilson-Esbrand, Mbete, Fernandinho, Lavia, Grealish, Palmer, Sterling, Jesus, Delap.
Ed in net.
It's taking some guess work, of course, but it could be the case that left-sided, attacking midfielder / winger / converted left-wing back will be in the right-wing back position tonight. Yikes. If that's the case, he's likely to be joined by Nathan on the opposite flank, with Aymeric & Ruben in the middle of the defence. If not, your guess is as good as mine…
Rodders ‘sits deep’; Phil, Kevin, Ilkay, Bernardo & Riyad likely to make up the fluid, interchangeable ‘attacking 5’.
There are defensive alternatives / players who both can & have played in different positions:
- Josh Egan-Riley is a specialist left back
- Aymeric Laporte can & has played in the left-wing back slot too
- Conrad Egan-Riley is a player who can both play as a central defender or as a right back
- Luke Mbete is an outright central defender and…
- …of course, our skipper, Fernandinho, was used for a sustained period of time as a central defender a few seasons back during one particular defensive injury-hit “crisis”.
Of course, any tinkering and / or introduction of young players would be against very experienced and dangerous opposition but those players do give us formation options too.
Scott & Zack are the reserve stoppers; Conrad, Josh & Luke are the rather young, defensive replacement options in ‘the 12’ (5 subs allowed from that dozen). Fernandinho, Romeo, Jack, Cole, Raheem, Gabriel & Liam make up the midfield / wing / striking options from the side.
Notable absences:
- Benjamin Mendy – Suspended by the club until further notice.
- Joao Cancelo – Suspended for this fixture.
- Kyle Walker – Unlikely to have recovered from an ankle injury for this one, by the sounds of it, but the England defender will be assessed up to the last possible moment today.
- John Stones – I did initially believe that there was a better chance [than Kyle] of John making it to tonight’s game and I, initially, stuck him at right-wing back. However, I’ve since then read a report from Monday afternoon that, like Kyle, the England central defender wasn’t seen training. Unless he was being kept inside and being worked on, on a more one-to-one basis; then it doesn’t look good for him either.
Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?
Result? Our visitors have all but wrapped up their league title with 5 games to go; a ‘cup-focusing position’ I’d love us to be in but that’s another matter.
They have other dangerous players in their side, I’m sure, but a certain Karim Benzema is having a truly terrific season in La Liga; with 25 goals and 11 assists in 29-league games played. The veteran, French striker also has 12 goals and 1 assist from 9-games played in their current Champions League campaign. Wow.
Despite all of those defensive questions, I'm feeling quite confident. I think they’ll score and I very rarely stick and actually scoreline on my predicted results but I can see a 2-1; possibly a 3-2 but also a 3-1 to us. Although we have those concerns at the back; we have some very dangerous, recently-rested players of our own and I think they’ll cause the Spanish side a lot of issues.
It’s a City win for me ahead of our second leg in Madrid on Wednesday 4th May.
Last season’s, corresponding pre-match prediction and result…
Prediction: N/A
Result: N/A
Expected weather conditions during the game: Our third home game ‘on the trot’ sees dry conditions with just a light, north-easterly breeze taking the edge off a forecasted temperature of 9 or 10C. It’s gonna be boiling hot action-wise on the pitch, I’m sure, but the fans might want to consider a decent coat for this April, night-time kick off (8:00pm BST).
 |
| Solidarity |
No comments:
Post a Comment