Before the start of the match against Crystal Palace last Saturday I had us down for a draw. After 21 minutes I’d have gladly taken one, as the somewhat surprise starting line-up appeared to blow up in our faces; in a game where we could easily have been 0-4 down in the first 30 minutes or there abouts.
What a comeback! It was swashbuckling at times in the second half, plus far more pace and hard work / pressing without the ball. City of old.
Although I would have expected some kind of response to Palace’s opening salvo, the way we are at the moment I didn’t think we’d have it in us to go that far past drawing level with The Eagles AND not concede at least a third.
That could just be the morale-boosting victory our players very much needed to take ‘em into the final few, very tough weeks of the season…🤞
v Everton
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| Goodison Park - our last ever visit to this 132-year-old stadium |
Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:
(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 6/11).
A very fluid 4-2-3-1 / 3-6-1 / 4-6-0:
_________________________________________________
____________________Marmoush____________________
_______Gundogan____De Bruyne______Silva__________
______________Kovacic_______Gonzalez_____________
O’Reilly_____________________________________Lewis
__________Gvardiol_______________Dias_____________
______________________Ortega_____________________
Subs: Carson, Khusanov, Reis, Foden, McAtee, Nunes, Doku, Grealish and Savinho.
Stefan is handed the gloves for the time being.
A largely forced / settled back-4 of Nico O’Reilly, Josko, Ruben and Rico.
Mateo and Nico Gonzalez to operate in front of those, with Ilkay, Kevin and Bernardo given more licence to attack.
Omar largely ‘up top’ but likely to roam out wide on occasions in this fluid system.
Scott comes in as reserve stopper (we could see a youth keeper join him on the bench I suppose); Abdukadir and Vitor are two defenders on the side. Phil, James and Matheus make up three midfielders in ‘the 9’, while Jeremy, Jack and Savinho give us a variety of wing options from the bench.
Notable absences:
- Ederson – Out with a groin / pelvic / hip injury. Unknown return date.
- John Stones – Out with a thigh injury for anything up to 2-½ weeks, going off the initial assessment and timescale information given. His manager said on 18th April that he was getting better.
- Manuel Akanji – Was apparently being assessed yesterday about the possibility of being involved in today’s matchday squad but, for now at least, I’m going to assume he’s not quite ready. Could be though…
- Nathan Ake – Recovering from a fractured foot, for which he has had surgery and, just like John, his manager said on 18th April that Nathan was getting better also.
- Rodri – Continues to train as he maintains his long journey back to fitness following an ACL injury last September.
- Oscar Bobb – Not selected.
- Erling Haaland – Back in the gym doing light training as he recovers from an ankle injury he received on 30th March. He appears to be a little ahead of schedule in terms of a possible return date… 👍
Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?
Yep…and there’s always plenty of width options on the bench should we need to completely change the formation.
Result?
I’ve used the word “galvanised” to describe our weekend hosts and since their change of manager on 11th January, they really have been transferred into a far-more-solid and consistent unit.
Amazingly, for their fairly low position of 13th, The Toffees have “only” lost 10 of their 32-league games played (we’ve lost 9 from 32 and we stand 8 places above them in the table). The reason is that they are the league’s draw specialist, with 14 from those same 32 matches.
And with limited losses, especially under their latest manager, I think you can say that they, just like Palace were, are in good form going into this match; with a last 6 that reads, D D D L D W. It’s important to note also, that last win was away at Forest!
Once again, I find myself having to use the words, “This is a tough game…”.
As with many an Everton side over the last few seasons, they don’t score many so perhaps even OUR still-fragile defence might hold steady. Miracles sometimes happen! 🙏
We’re getting better, for the most part, and despite that long list of absentees, we’re actually in a position where at least one player is left unselected because there’s no room in the matchday squad.
Morale appears to be on the up amongst the players and there is, apparently, a ‘good feel’ around the camp and club generally. If we can grab and use those good vibes; add some defensive concentration and work our socks off to pressure the home side then this is winnable.
I’m going for a City win.
Last season’s, corresponding pre-match prediction and result:
Prediction: Win
Result: Won
(Pre-match blog posting from that game)
Expected weather conditions during the game: When I looked at the forecast earlier in the week for the region on match day, it was going to be a report of bright sunshine, dry and, away from the breeze and shade, quite warm for travelling fans. How things have changed. Morning drizzle makes way for dryer conditions but grey skies in time for the 3:00pm KO. With no sun to bask in, the brisk easterly breeze will make 15C feel closer to just 13 Celsius. 🧥🧣🥧☕🍺⚽
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| Solidarity |
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