A real opportunity for us to shake off a little rustiness; gather some momentum once again and start ‘motoring on’.
I think it’s gonna be a difficult, highly-emotional stadium-atmosphere for us to shake that rust off, however…
v Manyoo
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| Scaffold Trafford |
Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:
(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game which, for me blog-wise, was our home game against Brighton: 8/11).
A very fluid 4-1-4-1 / 4-5-1 / 4-3-3 (occasional 3-2-4-1):
____________________Haaland____________________
Grealish___________________________________Doku
______________________________Foden___________
___________Silva_______________________________
_____________________Rodri_____________________
Gvardiol__________________________________Walker
____________Dias_______________Stones__________
____________________Ederson____________________
Subs: Ortega, Gomez, Lewis, Ake, Phillips, Kovacic, Nunes, Bobb & Alvarez.
Ederson keeps the gloves for this Premier League clash.
A back-4, occasional 3 whenever it’s possible for Stones to join Rodri in midfield if I’m right with my prediction, of Josko, Ruben, John & Kyle.
Rodders to ‘sit & protect’; an attacking / creative quartet of Jack, Bernardo, Phil & Jeremy ahead of the Spaniard.
Erling heads the lot.
Stefan is the reserve stopper; Sergio, Rico & Nathan are the defenders on the side. Kalvin, Mateo, Matheus & Oscar are the midfielders / wingers in ‘the 9’, while Julian might have to be content with a place on the bench as reserve striker for this encounter.
Notable absences:
- Manuel Akanji – Suspended for this game following 2 yellows in our last league outing.
- Kevin De Bruyne – Continues to train alone whilst being assessed by physios after each & every session. December / January hopes of a return could be closer to November / December.
Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?
I believe, with that set-up, if our lads all perform well, we can stretch the home side wide and then, perhaps, allow John Stones to ‘dip in’ to thinned-out midfield in order to exploit a sure-to-be-packed, otherwise, Manyoo centre.
Result? Despite some positive thoughts about our potential 11, I have to say that I go into the game with a little less optimism than I would like. Pre-derby nerves? Well, I shouldn’t have – we’re facing a side who, if you present your ‘A’ game’ in front of them, can crumble like a Crumbly Lancashire cheese at the moment.
Our hosts from M16 are a side who are struggling to steady the ship and find a true course so far this season – one minute seemingly getting to grips with each wave that comes along then, in the next moment, being knocked off balance as they struggle to engage the ship’s stabilisers.
However, we’re not exactly ‘firing on all cylinders’ ourselves right at this moment in time…and that’s despite winning 10 of our 13 games played in all competitions so far this season. We’ve also won the last two, thankfully, but those two victories come in a run of 6 games that look like this: L L W L W W.
I think that puts our 10 victories from 13 games into perspective, when-looking at our more-recent form.
Even our last two wins were tarnished in some ways – how we went from dominating Brighton in the first half to taking our foot off the peddle so much in the second - conceding a goal in that time - was a little concerning to see at the time and on the back of, what was then, 3 defeats from 4 in all competitions.
As for last Wednesday in Sweeden, it was a good win on a surface that we’re not used to playing on; while our hosts are very much used to it. However, although we had 14 shots on target from 26 efforts, we were still quite wasteful at times despite dominating for the most part; letting the home side back in to level at 1-1. Perhaps this is just new-found higher standards swirling around my head, I dunno. After all, it was a tricky place to go; we rested so many key players ahead of tomorrow’s fixture; we suffered no injuries, got the win and it’s 9 points from a possible 9 in the Champions League group stage. 👍
So, a side who appear to be taking two steps forward before taking a one back, backed by a sure-to-be-emotional & very vocal crowd following the recent passing of their much-loved Sir Bobby Charlton VS a team who haven’t quite found their full stride nor killer touch. Well, having not registered a single draw in those same-13 games, that’s what I’m going for on Sunday afternoon (3:30pm KO GMT). It’s ‘points shared’ for me.
Last season’s, corresponding pre-match prediction and result:
Prediction: Draw
Result: Lost
(Pre-match blog posting from that game)
Expected weather conditions during the game: Mixed bag. Cool, without being too cold at around 12 / 13C; slightly overcast with some sunshine but also a chance of some wet stuff. Bit of a stiff, southerly breeze too.
For those who should, don’t forget to put your clocks & watches back an hour tonight.
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| Solidarity |
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