Nottingham Forest away has seen…

…a very mixed bag of results over the last few seasons.

v Nottingham Forest

City Ground

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 defeat against Brighton & Hove Albion: 9/11.

A fluid 4-2-3-1 / 4-5-1 / 4-3-3:

_____________________Haaland(VC)_________________

 

 

__Doku_________________________________Ndiaye__

______________________Cherki____________________

 

__________Fernandez____________________________

_______________________________Anderson________

Gvardiol___________________________________Nunes

___________Guehi(VC)_______________Dias(C)_________

 

 

___________________Donnarumma(VC)_______________

Subs: Rulli, Lewis, O’Reilly, Khusanov, Reis, Bouaddi, Kovacic, Foden and Elias.

I expect Gianluigi to start between the sticks but, once again, he was most definitely at fault for another goal conceded last Wednesday - his positioning was more than questionable at his near post for their first goal. It was a gaping hole that he left between himself and the post for the attacker to get a shot through. To his credit, he pulled off a really good fingertip save at the top left of his goal just before that. He will continue to hope, I’m sure, to be much better this evening but Geronimo Rulli must be watching with increased interest to see if there’s a chance of seeing some league action of his own at some point of the season. That, of course, is a decision for our manager but, through his performances, it’s a decision which can also be influenced by the player who currently holds the ‘Number 1’ spot.

Ahead of Gigi in the defensive unit, I’m going for a back-4 of Josko, Marc, Ruben and Matheus.

Elliot is our deepest midfielder; Enzo slightly more advanced and Rayan-C- further forward still in central midfield.

Jeremy left, Iliman right and Erling up top.

Geronimo is reserve stopper; Rico, Nico, Abdukodir and Vitor make up four defenders on the side. Midfielders and wingers come in the shape of Ayyoub, Mateo, Phil and Allan.

Notable absences:

-       Marcus Bettinelli – Not selected.

-       Rayan Ait-Nouri – Not selected and linked, once again, with a January move to a side who currently sit one place above the relegation zone on goal difference alone after a quarter of the season played.

-       Antoine Semenyo – Out for 2 months from 17^th October with a knee injury.

Do I agree with Enzo’s (predicted) line-up?

If they’ve got their act together from Anderson backwards then, yeah.

Alternatives would include extra pace a positional awareness in the shape of Khusanov and Reis in defence and / or the introduction of Bouaddi.

Result?

Our host’s main issue this season so far has been finding the back of their opponents net; with just 6 goals in their opening 9 league fixtures. In fact, they are the division’s lowest scorers. Perhaps, then, this isn’t the time to be tinkering with our defence; one that’s been so very leaky of late.

However, I just thought I’d throw up a possible alternative change of direction, should our manager be thinking of such a thing.

It’s just a little thought on the matter – it’s never gonna happen but what the ‘eck… 🤷‍♂️🤪

The 5-4-1 / 3-6-1:

_____________________Haaland(VC)_________________

 

 

__Doku_________________________________Ndiaye__

______________________Cherki____________________

 

_____________________Anderson___________________

__O’Reilly________________________________Nunes__

 

________Gvardiol_______Dias(C)_______Khusanov____

 

 

___________________Donnarumma(VC)_______________

A slight alternative to that if that centre of our midfield looks a little thin there…

The 3-7-0…with no Erling / lead striker! WHAT?! 🫢:

________________________________________________

 

 

__Doku_________________________________Ndiaye__

____________Cherki______________Foden___________

 

_____________________Anderson__________________

__O’Reilly_______________________________Nunes__

 

________Gvardiol_______Dias(C)_______Khusanov____

 

 

___________________Donnarumma(VC)_______________

Just having a little play and to ‘throw it out there’ while we work out how to stop the flippin’ constant drip-drip-drip of goals conceded in the last month or so.

Back to reality…🌀

Forest are in terrible league form (W L L L D L) and sit second-bottom on 6 points from a possible 27. However, this is a ground where silly mistakes have cost us…and that’s something we’re currently specialising in. Something has to be done.

This is a weird one in some ways - it’s the exact opposite of ‘irresistible force meets immovable object’. Their attack, far from being irresistible, meets our defence; very amenable at the moment when pressured.

Do I believe that we’ll finally keep a clean sheet today? I think it’s our best chance in weeks, yes.

However, I think there’ll be so much doubt as well as some nervousness in the rearguard department of our starting 11 that we’ll managed to conceded yet another goal.

That being said, I do believe also that we’ll score more than the home side and, therefore, this’ll be a Manchester 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: Calm, grey, dry and cool (8C). 🧥☕🥧🍺⚽

Solidarity

 

A quick look back at yesterday and…

…a blog announcement.

Errors, and bad decision making generally, cost us…again.

It was so Aston Villa like from the previous weekend, so I thought.

·         Plenty of attacking will and creativity.

·         Another bad individual error at the back, which cost us another leaked goal.

·         SO much hesitancy and poor decision making up front – so much so that I did what I don’t normally do the following morning and was pausing, rewinding and then frame-forwarding a lot of the action slowly; often asking after the 2^nd or 3^rd viewing, “WHY?!”. 😮

The outcome wasn’t helped by the officials either – and of course I include the V.A.R. Team – by denying us a clear penalty at one end and then a clear free kick from inside the 6-yard box at the other in the second half.

I was almost kicking the ground in frustration at full time. Last Wednesday night against the same / slightly changed team I thought they were the better side over the whole 90+, as I said in my last posting. Result? We scraped a win via a penalty shootout after ending normal time 2-2.

Yesterday, I thought we were MUCH the better side and came away with absolutely nothing; not even a goal to our name. 😠

It is slightly concerning just how it’s going for us of late:

-       That’s now 17 goals conceded in 14 games, all competitions included.

-       In our last 6 outings alone since the 14^th October (just 18 days), we’ve conceded in every match and a whopping total of 11 goals in those half-dozen matches. That’s poor.

-       We’ve failed to win our last three games in normal time. What a contrast from August and September.

I’ll skip the missed chances count in that same timeframe, if you don’t mind…

Okay, there may be no blog posting ahead of our fixture away at RB Leipzig on Wednesday night. We’ll see but I may have too much on and if that’s the case, I’d rather concentrate on a pre-match blog posting ahead of our next league fixture on Saturday.

Thanks, as always, for taking the time to read.

 

 

Last Wednesday’s mock test was…

…everything I expected in terms of how tough it would be. Despite several changes that Brighton made on the night, they impressed me a lot.

And I expect today’s real test to be much harder.

v Brighton & Hove Albion

Etihad Stadium

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 9/11.

A fluid 4-2-3-1 / 4-5-1 / 4-3-3:

_____________________Haaland(VC)_________________

 

 

__Doku_________________________________Ndiaye__

 

______________________Cherki____________________

 

__________Fernandez____________Anderson_________

Gvardiol___________________________________Nunes

___________Guehi(VC)_______________Dias(C)_________

 

 

___________________Donnarumma(VC)_______________

Subs: Rulli, Ait-Nouri, Lewis, O’Reilly, Reis, Bouaddi, Kovacic, Foden and Elias.

Gianluigi returns in goal following domestic cup action; something his manager insisted would be ‘the norm’ for league games when pressed and pressed again by reporters looking for some controversy surrounding the Italian keeper.

I see a back-4 consisting of Josko, Marc, Ruben and a returning Matheus. I think we’ve missed the 28-year-old Portuguese international.

I can envisage a ‘twin pivot’ this afternoon made up of Enzo and Elliot, with Rayan-C- ahead of the pair in a free-attacking role.

Jeremy left and Iliman right, along with Cherki, will hopefully be enough to peg our opponents back a little and reduce the number of high pressing attacks.

Erling up front should help to give The Seagulls something else to think about at their end too although, should he be marked out of the game by the third-best defensive in the division, then I would hope his supporting attackers step up and contribute with on-target shots to test their keeper.

Midweek hero, Geronimo, steps back to the bench, while defensive replacement options come in the shape of wing-backs Rayan-A-, Nico and Rico and central defender, Vitor. Midfielders and wingers in ‘the 9’ are made up of Ayyoub, Mateo, Phil and Allan.

Notable absences:

-       Marcus Bettinelli – Not selected.

-       Abdukodir Khusanov – Not selected.

-       Antoine Semenyo – Out for 2 months from 17^th October with a knee injury. All being well, he could be back just in time for the busy festive period of fixtures.

Do I agree with Enzo’s (predicted) line-up?

Yes.

Result?

As I’ve mentioned, our visitors made changes in midweek and were still very impressive indeed. In fact, I thought they were the better side.

However, we made a lot of changes ourselves and although I thought that they were more dominant over the ‘90+’, we matched them in terms of goals scored and, of course as it played out, we then nudged past them on pens. Well done indeed, Geronimo Rulli, and not just for the penalty shootout but for a brilliant fingertip save before that. Good keeper.

I expect another high pace, frantic, end-to-end game today and I think there’s little doubt that there’ll be goals at both ends once again; although I expect us to be a little tighter at the back than we have been of late. Conceding 16 goals in 13 games (all competitions) is just not good enough with the personnel at our disposal and when you take into consideration also that we only leaked 2 goals in our first 6 games of the season; that level of defensive collapse since is somewhat of a concern to say the least.

However, as I say, I’m reasonably confident that my predicted set-up will be a little more solid from the midfield backwards this afternoon (3:00pm KO GMT). 🤞

Result? Most things point to a draw for me so I’m going for a points shared.

Last season’s, corresponding pre-match prediction and result:

Prediction: Win

Result: Draw

I don’t appear to have done a pre-match blog posting for that game and I made no announcement as to why. Weird… 🤷‍♂️

Expected weather conditions during the game: No breeze, no rain and sunny intervals. This is most definitely the calm after the storm(s). 13C definitely calls for a warmish coat but this is a nice Saturday afternoon for a game of footy. 🧥☕🥧🍺⚽

Solidarity

 

An opportunity and time for a little reset?

Yet another Villa Park defeat last weekend and that was largely down to deficiencies at both ends of the pitch; most notably in our defence once again. ☹️

It came against an in-form Villa side and, tonight, we face yet another team with their ‘tails up’; despite losing their last outing at the weekend.

v Brighton & Hove Albion

Etihad Stadium

With five players (Gianluigi Donnarumma, Josko Gvardiol, Ruben Dias, Elliot Anderson and Erling Haaland) being given a 3-day break following the Villa defeat, presumably from Sunday to Tuesday; there’s no way of telling if some or all of those players will appear on the bench tonight.

Following yesterday’s pre-match press conference, there was also little understanding as to whether Matheus Nunes had recovered from his recent knock / possible groin issue…unless I missed a mumbled question / answer.

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 11/11.

A fluid 4-2-4-0 / 4-5-1-0:

_______________________________________________

_____________________Samba____________________

__Ait-Nouri_______________________________Elias__

 

_____________________Foden____________________

___________Kovacic_____________________________

_____________________________Bouaddi___________

 

O’Reilly___________________________________Lewis

______________Reis_____________Khusanov_______

 

 

______________________Rulli_____________________

Subs: Bettinelli, Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, Fernandez, Cherki, Ndiaye, Doku and Haaland.

Geronimo steps in as keeper for this domestic cup competition.

I’m going for a back-4 of Nico, Vitor, Abdukodir and Rico.

Ayyoub and Mateo sit the deeper of a ‘midfield 3’ with Phil given licence to attack down the middle.

On the wings I think it’ll be Rayan-A- and Allan and we could see 17-year-old Floyd slightly advanced / working with Phil up front in a fluid 2 format.

34-year-old, Marcus, could find himself as the reserve stopper tonight; back-up defenders may come in the shape of, possibly Matheus, Ruben and Josko. Enzo and Rayan-C- are two midfielders on the bench; Iliman and Jeremy give us two wide options in ‘the 9’ and Erling might get a spot on the side as striker reinforcement.

This is a hard one to call, personnel wise, and we may well see more players brought in from our EDS than just Floyd Samba.

Notable absences:

-       Gianluigi Donnarumma – Not selected.

-       Marc Guehi - Not selected.

-       Elliot Anderson - Not selected.

-       Antoine Semenyo – Out for 2 months from 17^th October with a knee injury.

Do I agree with Enzo’s (predicted) line-up?

If fit, I would much prefer the experience and defensive competency of Nunes on the right but other than that, for this ‘Last 16’ domestic cup tie, yes.

Result?

I’ve mentioned needing a little reset and following on from that…what on earth has happened to Marc Guehi?! A player I have had so much confidence in during his time at Manchester City so far, as well as previous respect and praise for prior to his signing in January 2026.

At the moment he looks to have so many errors in him for both club and country. Of course, I’m not suggesting for one second that he’s suddenly turned into a bad player. However, there’s definitely some kind of confidence issue happening with the 26-year-old from my observations.

I also think that he’s starting to look a little exposed when up against a really pacy attacker. Is he carrying an underlying injury niggle? This was particularly noticeable against Ipswich Town, when Marc was beaten for pace twice and chose to go to ground to challenge the attacker; one time leading to a goal from open play and the other a penalty as a direct result of his desperate tackle. Last Saturday, he grabbed an attacking player whilst going to ground once again and got a yellow for his troubles; almost giving away a 32-minute penalty in the process. 🤔😕

As for Gigi Donnarumma, I’m starting to go a little cold on the 6’ 5” Italian International keeper after a decent’ish, 7/10 debut season from the 27-year-old. 🫣 For the moment at least, he’s certainly far from his often-used description as being one of the best keepers in the world.

On a final note about last weekend’s game and result I have to say, “Well done” to their keeper…and to the Aston Villa woodwork around him as well. We absolutely had our chances despite our various failings on the day.

So this Wednesday night fixture is the League Cup – often a chance for teams to rotate their squads to varying degrees and I think, in some ways after an largely excellent start to our season, we need that alternation at this moment in time.

There just happens to be a big “however”…however.

We’re facing a well-drilled and dangerous side in Brighton so I’m left with the question…can we afford too many changes if we want to attempt to win this competition whilst, at the same time, prevent our first defeat of the season turning into two, back-to-back losses?

Well, I believe that we have to give chances to the talents that are Khusanov [in his natural position], Reis and Bouaddi tonight – three players I think can step up to this challenge with the right supporting experience around them.

Step forward also 34-year-old, Argentine international, Geronimo Rulli. Bags of top-level experience there.

I’ve mentioned that our visitors are in good form but also, looking back at last season and just as was the case with Aston Villa; we also failed to beat the South Coast side both home and away last season, with a 2-1 away loss followed by a 1-1’er at our place. This is gonna be another tough one for sure.

How does our manager react following a defeat? Simply put, I don’t know because last Saturday was his first loss as Manchester City Manager and that makes it quite compelling for me.

Another important factor when deciding how this clash might play out is whether – and how much – their manager makes changes to his team. That’s something I just can’t answer.

On the one hand, he would be the first manager ever to bring a major trophy to Brighton & Hove Albion, should they progress all the way to the final and then win that 90+ minute contest. On the other hand, they’re going so well in the Premier League with 5 wins, 1 draw and 2 defeats (one of those losses being just last Sunday) that he might decide to wrap his players in cotton wool ahead of league clashes against us, once again at our place on Saturday, Brentford at home, Hull City away and a Europa Conference League trip away to Getafe in between all of those. In what order, if any, does Fabian Hurzeler place those three trophies?

Additionally, when considering tonight’s game, The Seagulls are the league’s top goalscorers (3 more than we have) and, probably a little less surprising after our defensive performances of late, have concede fewer goals too. In fact, from 8 leagues games, last Sunday saw them concede only their 6^th and 7^th league goals. 🧱

Throwing all of that up into the air to see how it lands? It’s landed on a hard-fought, perhaps narrow City win and progression to the Quarter Final stage in the third week of December…providing our visitors do make considerable changes themselves, I‘m keen to add.

Some of our fringe players need this competition to roll on a bit longer. 🤞 for both them and us.

Last season’s, corresponding pre-match prediction and result:

Prediction: N/A

Result: N/A

Expected weather conditions during the game: Finally some calm! Like so many parts of the country, many areas way worse than East Manchester, we’ve been battered by nature for a good number of days recently. After the seemingly endless storms, named or otherwise, Wednesday was a day of gentle breeze, sunny intervals and occasional showers. For the fans in the stands for the 7:30pm KO (GMT), it’ll be still, dry but a little chilly (it is a night match in October). 11C is your temperature. 🧥🧣☕🥧🍺⚽

Solidarity