Seems like a bit of a strange headline for me to-feel-the-need to write after we’ve received so many plaudits, recently, and not long after a thumping 6-0 home win. But what a difference a very much underwhelming performance makes; leading to some head scratching and a furrowed brow.
There’s a bit of a blog announcement at the end of this piece, by the way…
So yeah, a quick word on that Villa game then.
Sloppy.
A few more words on that encounter? Oh, go on then…
The passing from us, particularly in the first half but not exclusively, was shockingly bad for the most part and although there were culprits who stood out for me; a lot of our players seemed a little ‘off’, in one way or another.
In my piece just before the Forest game, I gave mention to, not exclusively, Joao Cancelo & Kyle Walker; specifically with regards to the rotten starts, generally speaking, I think they’ve had this short season so far. In my comments, I explained that I felt a little sorry for them and that perhaps their performances were being affected by-being asked to perform different roles to previous season, certainly in Kyle’s case; with Joao already having-had some experience of-being an “inverted wing-back”.
However, that had nothing to do with both of their displays last Saturday; as they made bad judgements, errors with the ball and poor, mishit passes both direction and pace-wise. I thought it was really mediocre at best from the pair of ‘em and seeing as I’ve felt that way about them both for majority of the first few weeks of the season; I think their manager really does need to address it before we face far more dangerous opposition, no disrespect to those we have faced so far.
Other than that?
- I thought Ederson had a mixed day with a couple of mistakes / scary moments and brave, decisive ones. That sort of sums up most of his ‘end of season school reports’, thinking about it…
- The centre-back pairing of John Stones & Ruben Dias was largely okay. 👍
- Rodders had quite a good game really but, which, was then spoilt by an error that gave the home side a chance to score and then a poor clearance that did lead to their fine-shot equaliser, sadly.
- Phil - one that I highlighted in that same blog-posting - got little joy and has just NOT rediscovered his superpowers in this short season so far; although I will give credit to those Villa players who were snuffing him out that evening.
- Bernardo, as ever, worked very hard but even HE couldn’t find those ‘killer moments’, which only served to add to a frustrating evening as a Blue.
- Ilkay & Kevin probably came out of it best with 7s; as did goal-scorer, once again, Erling Haaland.
- Riyad Mahrez came on for Bernardo and did a crackin’ impression of…Riyad Mahrez; leaving me with my head in my hands more than once after he’d finished ‘his go’ with the ball. Then, on Monday 5th September whilst sat in front of my PC and drinking from a bottle of water, I read the headline: “Riyad Mahrez tells Pep Guardiola how to get the best out of Bernardo Silva at Man City”. I just about stopped myself from spraying the computer screen with water…
I must finish that rather glum-sounding section by giving credit to Aston Villa – although I felt that WE gave them much-needed confidence and gifted them opportunities; I must also give ‘em credit for the way they didn’t allow us to casually (too flippin’ casually far too many times for my liking) pass it around the back and for their hard work to keep us at bay.
So…a never-easy Champions League fixture next followed by, what some might see as, an early-season ‘6 pointer’ against Spurs at the weekend.
That’ll be where the ‘improvement is a must’ comes in…
v Sevilla
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| Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium |
Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:
(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 9/11).
Fluid 4-1-4-1 / 4-5-1 / 4-3-3:
____________________Haaland____________________
Grealish_________________________________Alvarez
_____________________________De Bruyne_________
_____________Silva_____________________________
_____________________Rodri_____________________
Gomez__________________________________Cancelo
____________Dias______________Akanji____________
____________________Ederson_____________________
Subs: Carson, Ortega, Lewis, Wilson-Esbrand, Ake, Phillips, Gundogan, Foden, Knight, Palmer, Mahrez.
Ederson in net.
Some forced changes for the back 4, with only Ruben & Joao being asked to ‘go again’, I would think. I’m going for Sergio to get his first start for the season on the left flank of our defence and, similarly, Manuel to make his debut in the centre of our back line. Pep could go with Nathan in either of those positions and, perhaps even, change the formation completely and go with three central defenders. But this is what I’m guessing he’ll do.
Rodders is the ever-present defensive midfielder ahead of those.
In attack, I believe we’ll see some changes also, with Jack being given a chance to prove himself on the left (sure to be goaded by the Sevilla players, which could go in our favour), Bernardo, who was withdrawn on 73 minutes last Saturday, Kevin & Julian.
Erling ahead of all of those hoping to receive the ball in the right places and as many times as possible.
Two reserve stoppers on the side in the form of Scott & Stefan; Rico, Josh & Nathan make up just three back-up defenders in ‘the 11’ (from a possible 12). Kalvin has travelled and has been named in the squad so I am ‘sticking him in there’ and he joins Ilkay, Phil, Ben, Cole & Riyad as replacement midfield / wing options.
Notable absences:
- Benjamin Mendy – Suspended by the club until further notice.
- Kyle Walker – Injured with a ‘muscular issue’. Unknown return date at this time…
- John Stones – For John, read Kyle.
- Aymeric Laporte – Recovering from a knee injury / surgery. Expected return early October.
Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?
I’m pleased with the [predicted] prospect of seeing Julian Alvarez on the right with Erling Haaland in the middle; I’m slightly concerned about possible ‘burn out’ with both Bernardo Silva & Kevin De Bruyne ahead of our very important Spurs clash on Saturday evening and I hope there’s scope to withdraw them both ASAP in the second half.
With Phil Foden having yet to ‘exploded’ this season; I agree that it’s possibly time for Jack Grealish to ‘have another go’ and show us why the club chose to pursue him so hard over a year ago. I hope he does just that should he be ‘given the green light’ tonight.
Result? Our hosts certainly haven’t had the best of starts to their domestic season, to say the least. 4 games in and just 1-point leaves them 4th bottom in La Liga. Other than that, I have to be honest and say all I know about them otherwise is what I was told by a fellow Blue yesterday, who said that they were forced, for one reason or another, to sell a lot of their good players in the summer and this is likely to be the reason for their recent struggles.
Pep is, however, not
expecting the home side to sit and defend and has issued a warning about our hosts
pressing and threatening us, which would seem to fit in with my experience of
an away Champions League game; certainly when facing a side in a league such as La Liga. That could go in our favour...
With some forced changes for us and, therefore, some possible-new partnerships to be forged, this could be a close encounter; one that’s been made slightly more interesting for those very reasons.
But I have to go off our general form and where we are in our league against where Sevilla sit in theirs. This is a City win for me.
A rare chance, perhaps, for us to wear our black & red 2nd strip? Maybe – the home side should be kitted out in their 1st strip of white shirts and white short, although, like our 2nd strip, that kit does officially come with black socks, so..”?”
Last season’s, corresponding pre-match prediction and result…
Prediction: N/A
Result: N/A
Expected weather conditions during the game: Well, as the game kicks off 9:00pm local time (8:00pm BST), the sun will have just gone down but the temperature won’t have done much. All those cherry-faced City fans who will have travelled well in advance of the game will find little relief from darkening skies as the temperature remains around 80 to 84F, which might just feel even warmer inside the stadium. There’s a bit of an 8 or 9-MPH breeze coming in from the west but I’m not sure how much of that will get into the stadium - I think this might provide a bigger test for a lot of our players than it will for theirs. I’m not sure if water breaks have been agreed…
 |
| Solidarity |
I am preparing two non-match related posts, one being my annual season predictions piece, but due to the quick turnaround of fixtures; it’s all about ‘getting the time’ at the moment. I’m getting there and they shouldn’t be too much longer…
