Predictions v Plymouth Argyle

Some players rested for this one, some return having been rested in midweek and a couple are likely to ‘come in from the cold’ 🥶 for this F.A. Cup 5^th round clash.

v Plymouth Argyle

Etihad Stadium

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 8/11).

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

___________________Marmoush__________________

 

 

Grealish___________________________________Silva

__________De Bruyne___________Foden___________

 

____________________Gonzalez___________________

Gvardiol___________________________________Lewis

_____________Ake_______________Khusanov_______

 

 

_____________________Ortega____________________

Subs: Ederson, Dias, Reis, Kovacic, Gundogan, McAtee, Nunes, Savinho and Haaland.

Stefan steps in between the posts for this domestic cup game.

I can see Nathan getting a run out here and, if so, fingers crossed that he comes through it unscathed because a fit ‘n’ firing Ake definitely benefits the team, in my opinion. With so many game minutes under his fledgling City career belt already, I can imagine Pep wanting Uzbek international, Abdukodir, to continue his growing momentum and understanding of footballing life in England. Should he start, I can see him getting the first 45 to 60 minutes before, hopefully, being in a position to be rested before our next, very important and difficult league clash. Either side of those I think we’ll see Josko and Rico, although I can imagine the Croatian international would benefit from a bit of respite himself around about now. Perhaps we’ll see an EDS player on the left of defence instead, although they were in action last night against Chelsea. 🤷‍♂️

Gonzalez to ‘go again’ too? I’d say so – he’s clearly a determined [to be involved as much a possible] character, having expressed to his manager just last Wednesday how disappointed he was to have been substituted on 74 minutes in North London.

Ahead of the very keen 23-year-old is our now-‘second string’ midfield (I’m jokin’!) of Jack, Kev, Phil and Bernardo.

Omar up top.

Ederson takes a seat as back-up goalie; Ruben and Vitor, the latter of whom might see some minutes this evening, make up two defenders in ‘the 9’. >>>

Notable absences:

-       John Stones – Out with a thigh injury for 7-½ to 9-½ weeks, going off the initial assessment and information given.

-       Manuel Akanji – Possibly out for the rest of the season after badly damaging his abductor muscle, for which he had surgery on 15^th February. Best case scenario is that he could be back around the end of April / beginning of May.

-       Rodri – Out for the season with an Anterior Cruciate Ligament injury. Surgery was completed months ago and the slow road to recovery continues.

-       Jeremy Doku – I’m thinking…prone to a few injuries (three spells out totalling 2 months) and appears to be coming into some form. I’m guessing that he’ll be rested / protected ahead of our league game next Saturday.

-       Oscar Bobb – Struggling with niggles, mainly in the ankle and metatarsal areas, as he makes his long comeback from a fractured leg that he suffered last August. In an update on 25^th February, his manager informed us that after speaking with the club doctors he was feeling much better. It is hoped that the Norwegian international will be involved in the final part of the season which, of course, isn’t that far away now.

      NOTE: As I get ready to post this, it's being suggested in the media that Jack Grealish may not be 100% fit to start or even take part. This despite the fact that the England international has been on the bench for our last three fixtures, meaning he must have been training in order to be part of the matchday squad.

      Should he be missing, I think we'll see Savinho start over on the left and a place on the bench then becomes available for Jeremy Doku.

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

Yep.

Result?

We faced a Spurs’ side last Wednesday who had discovered some league form and we face similar once again when we host Argyle later today. Since their new manager signed a 3-½ year contract on 10^th January, they’ve managed to drag themselves off the bottom of the Championship and their last six league results shows how they’ve achieved that: D W W L D D.

Oh yeah…and they knocked Liverpool out of the last round in order to set up this interesting tie. In fact, in rounds 3 and 4 they have yet to concede a goal; dispatching both Premier League sides Brentford away and the Merseysiders at home 1-0. Both matches were, in fact, under the watchful eye of their new manager; the first from the stands just after he had arrived and the second from the dugout.

Plymouth Argyle at home? That should be no problem, I’m guessing a lot of Blues thought when the draw was made. My reaction was that I’m glad our ball was pulled out first, so I must have had a small percentage of concern in the back of my mind. Now, having researched their 2025 form, that percentage of apprehension has risen ever so slightly, I have to be honest and say.

As for us? It was a crackin’ win at a tough place for us last Wednesday night but Christ did we make it difficult for ourselves once again in the second half! As Noel Gallagher said when interviewed in the stands at half time, “…we couldn’t finish our dinner at the minute”. That accurate assessment came moments after he said that the first half was probably about one of the best performances of the season. Doesn’t that just sum us up at the moment?

Missed opportunities, players being asked to cover in positions not natural to them; a lack of end product during attacking opportunities and, so I noticed again, some dithering on the ball and bad decisions / passes were ALL evident at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

However, with the aid of some missed chances from the home side in the second half, especially late on, we somehow came away with all-3, very vital points. 😰👍

So…AT home you would think that we’d get past The Pilgrims but we’re only going to do that if we improve our final pass(es) and take our chances because with the silly little midfield and defensive errors that continue to plague us; if we don’t hurt them they will hurt us.

Am I going for a scary Plymouth goal to raise eyebrows and start the City nerves jangling? You bet I am. Am I going to see past that and predict a home win and progression to the quarter finals? Yes I am. It’s a ‘goals-at-both-ends’, City win.

It should be a very good atmosphere with the South-coast side brining around 8,000 Green Army / Janner supporters.

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

Prediction: N/A

Result: N/A

Expected weather conditions during the game: Sunny skies just before the match turns into starry skies as the sun sets for this 5:45pm (GMT) kick-off. 6 or 7C is the match temperature and with the air calm and still, the atmosphere really will have a cool-crips, slight-winter feel to it. Perfect for an English F.A. Cup match. 🧥🧣☕🥧🍺⚽🏆

Solidarity...now more than ever!

A Spurs side away…

 …that appears to have finally found some form is, for us and our record there, a daunting-sounding prospect.

There’s a blog announcement at the end of this piece.

v Tottenham Hotspur

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

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

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

____________________Haaland____________________

 

 

Marmoush_________________________________Doku

___________Grealish____________Foden___________

 

____________________Gonzalez___________________

Gvardiol_______________________________Khusanov

_____________Ake_______________Dias____________

 

 

____________________Ederson____________________

Subs: Ortega, Lewis, Reis, Kovacic, Gundogan, McAtee, Silva, De Bruyne and Savinho.

Ederson retains the gloves.

My predicted back-4 is Josko, Nathan, Ruben and Abdukodir, despite Rico Lewis being selected last time out and had one of his better games in an otherwise below-par season.

Nico just ahead of those and slightly more advanced, I’m actually suggesting that Pep might give Jack a rare go in central midfield alongside Phil. Either side of those I’m going for Omar and Jeremy to ‘get the nod’.

Erling might not even make the bench but although Guardiola wanted to watch one more training session before making any final decisions, he did sound quite optimistic and, therefore, I’m actually sticking him in the starting 11. 🤷‍♂️

Stefan continues to provide keeper insurance; Rico and Vitor are two very young defenders on the side. Mateo, Ilkay, James, Bernardo and Kevin are five back-up midfielders in ‘the 9’ who are all 30+ years of age aside from James, while Savinho provides an attacking wing change-option.

Notable absences:

-       John Stones – Out with a thigh injury for 8 to 10 weeks.

-       Manuel Akanji – Possibly out for the rest of the season after badly damaging his abductor muscle, for which he had surgery on 15^th February. Best case scenario is that he could be back around the end of April / beginning of May.

-       Rodri – Out for the season with an Anterior Cruciate Ligament injury. Surgery was completed months ago and the slow road to recovery continues.

-       Matheus Nunes – Not selected.

-       Oscar Bobb – Struggling with niggles, mainly in the ankle and metatarsal areas, as he makes his long comeback from a fractured leg that he suffered last August. In an update on 25^th February, his manager informed us that after speaking with the club doctors he was feeling much better. It is hoped that the Norwegian international will be involved in the final part of the season which, of course, isn’t that far away now.

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

Should our manager go with it and the introduction of Jack in central midfield works then yeah, why not?

Result?

I’ve said that our hosts have found some form and that’s true in the league, at least. They were knocked out of both domestic cup competitions in the space of three days but it didn’t stop them from winning three, back-to-back Premier League outings and in those three matches they even managed to arrest a season-long problem of conceding too many goals; managing two clean sheets and conceding just one in that little run.

Of course we City fans know what a torrid time we’ve had at the still-new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium but we did manage a win in our last away fixture of the campaign last season; a victory that helped us secure another league title.

And as a certain ‘doom and gloom’ feeling still swirls around in the air from a lot of City fans, do you know what? I don’t know about you, the reader, but I thought we played quite well against Liverpool last Sunday…it’s just that they were – and are – a much better side than we are at the moment.

We all know our problems now – we’ve got a defence that needs an overhaul in the summer; Kevin has lost his powers, Bernardo too in some ways and why Phil continues to be a shadow of himself from last season I think only the player himself knows. That’s basically the whole of our attacking, central midfield I’ve mentioned there!

But I thought Khusanov had a good game, we definitely look better for having Gonzalez in the side and even when they’re not producing ‘end product’; a lively Doku and Savinho definitely keep the opposition very busy. Marmoush too has added extra pace and threat to our attack.

It’s been a short, partial winter rebuild and one that should have started last summer AT LEAST but there are positive signs to grasp a hold of there.

And if you want another slice of midweek positivity before tonight’s game; we may have lost at the weekend but aside from a Newcastle win, there were defeats for Forest, Bournemouth and Chelsea in the pursuit for a top-4 (or 5) finish. Last night was good for us too, with only Chelsea gaining three points while Villa and Bournemouth (again) both lost. We need to take advantage of these priceless gifts…

Of course this one is going to be tough, it always is. I predicted a draw last Sunday and we lost. I’m predicting a draw once more for this game…🤞

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: After a soggy day in the region, the weather dries up for the 7:30pm (GMT) kick-off. With the pitch nicely watered prior to the match, we’re left with a light westerly breeze and a rather chilly temperature of around 6C, which will feel more like 3C so wrapping-up warm would-be good advice. 🧥🧣☕🥧🍺⚽

From around early March to the end of the season, I may not be able to produce the odd pre-match blog posting due to new time constraints. This will be especially so should we have any midweek fixtures (I’ve haven’t looked ahead but, of course, dates can change depending team involvement in cup competitions).

Now that we’re no longer participating in a European competition, we may well only be playing at the weekends and, if so, I should be okay to continue to deliver my words of City wisdom, such as they are 😁.

I just wanted to mention it now just in case.

 

Solidarity