A selection dilemma looms for Pep

To ditch his League Cup regulars or not? Decisions that come with being in ‘the big chair’.

v Arsenal

Wembley Stadium

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game which, for me blog wise, was our frustrating draw at West Ham United: 10/11.

There are so many possibilities for error with my conjectures here with our manager perhaps caught between wanting to continue to give some fringe players this cup competition whilst, at the same time, recognising the huge threat this opposition carries. ⚠️

There’s also the theory that with both sides vying for the league title, the winners of this will get a enormous psychological boost. 🚀

Plus the fact that it is a chance for a piece of silverware after all; the first of the season no less. 🙌🍾🏆

Here goes…

A very fluid 4-1-4-1 / 4-5-1 / 4-3-3 / 4-6-0 (occasional 3-6-1):

______________________________________________

__________________Marmoush___________________

 

__Samenyo_____________________________Cherki__

 

_________O’Reilly_______________Silva(C)__________

 

___________________Gonzalez____________________

Ake______________________________________Nunes

_________Khusanov____________Dias(VC)___________

 

 

____________________Trafford____________________

Subs: Donnarumma, Ait-Nouri, Stones, Rodri, Foden, Reijnders, Doku, Savinho and Haaland.

Having played for Bolton Wanderers in the 2023 EFL Trophy final on 2^nd April and having been on the bench as England faced Belgium just 11 months later; this will be the Cumbrian born keeper’s first appearance at Wembley in a City shirt.

I’m going with a back-4 choice of Nathan, Abdukodir, Ruben and Matheus.

Nico-G takes over the Rodri role, with a 4 come 5 ahead of the defensive midfielder in the shape of Antoine, Nico-O-, Bernardo, Rayan-C- and Omar, who may ‘lead the line’ but possibly in a fluid, slightly deeper position [than Haaland would most of the time].

Gigi takes a rare seat on the side as reserve stopper, while Rayan-A- and John make up just two defenders next to him, if I am correct that is of course. Midfield back-ups come in the form of Rodders, Phil and Tijjani; wide options are Jeremy and Savinho, with Erling as a change of striker option.

I’ve not even stuck any EDS players on the subs bench, such is my uncertainty on this occasion.

In the second leg of the semi-final, not only did Max Alleyne make the bench but Ryan McAidoo and Sverre Nypan too; a player who had only just returned from loan at Middlesbrough. Only Max got to see any minutes that night when he replaced Nathan Ake at half time.

I mean, Rico Lewis is fit once again following a brief ankle issue – he could be on the bench or Pep may even decide to start the rarely used 21-year-old instead of Matheus Nunes. Phil Foden and Tijjani Reijnders start most games on the bench these days, so perhaps they’ll both get a blessing from their manager. However, that would likely mean no place for Pep’s favourite, Bernardo Silva, at least.

The way I see it, I have put five non-regular starters in ‘the 11’ and three of those have full-international caps, so I don’t think I’ll be far off with that.

It's definitely a tough one to call though but I’ve done my best to mix it up when considering all of the above.

Notable absences:

-       Marcus Bettinelli – Not selected.

-       Rico Lewis – Not selected.

-       Josko Gvardiol – Out with a fractured tibia, for which he has had surgery. On 23^rd January, we were informed that it will be at least 2 more months before the Croatian international might be ready to return, which takes him up to the end of March.

-       Marc Guehi – Ineligible.

-       Max Alleyne – Not selected.

-       Mateo Kovacic – Not selected.

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

Mmmmm…against Arsenal in a final? I think I’d swap Gonzalez for Rodders, as much as I like the Spanish Under-21 international, and perhaps choose a more-natural, pacier left-wing back than Nathan but I would understand this line-up, should our manager choose to do so.

Result?

Looking at both side’s form, in the league The Gunners have a last 6 of, D D W W W W and for us it’s the reverse, W W W W D D. Throw into the mix their Champions League results against ours and it makes it even clearer who goes into this game with the best form.

League goals for: Arsenal 61 (from 31 games), Manchester City 60 (from 30 games).

League goals against: Arsenal 22 (from 31 games), Manchester City 28 (from 30 games).

I had a quick look at our opponents line-up in their two-legged semi final and apart from a couple of youth / fringe players they didn’t appear to “weaken” their side all that much against Chelsea, especially in the second leg I noticed. Perhaps we should take heed.

It could be close, it could be a really tight and tense affair.

This is a clash of two sides with the first and second best defensive record in the division and it’s clear that both sides have goals in ‘em too; again, first and second best. However, whereas it’s been noted just how many Arsenal goals have come from set pieces this season, the shear number of goals we have scored could and should have been a lot, lot higher had we converted more of the many chances we often create in open play. Who is going to blink first and will one blink be all that is needed this afternoon?

Both sides have very few injury concerns with us just having one long-term absentee in Josko Gvardiol, so whichever side Pep decides to go with he’ll have plenty of decent options on the bench to pull from.

I’m straining against matchday / pre-match optimism here when I say…I really, really, really, really, really want to say that we’ll win this and I really, really, really, really, really hope that I am wrong when I say that I don’t think we will. 🙁 When I look at the general consistency of both sides and individual players, I have to give this one to side from North London. Sorry Blues… 🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞

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

Prediction: N/A

Result: N/A

Expected weather conditions during the game: Nice. Not quite as warm nor as sunny as was earlier in the week but I don’t think you’ll find too many fans complaining at 12C with sunny intervals on 22^nd March. ⛅😎🥧🌭🍔🍟💷🍺⚽

Solidariry

Oh dear…

I bet I’m not the only City fan who is starting to sound like a stuck record but, once again, chance after chance after chance and nothing but wasted opportunities galore.

But it’s even worse than that…

The words from many different Blues exiting the London Stadium last night: “So slow”. “No Creativity”. “No one wanted to go for it”. “Should have been doing what we were doing in the last 20 minutes from minute one”. “It all changed when Cherki came on”. “We played an hour and did nothing”. “Flat”. “Unimaginative”. “Safe”. “Ultra safe”. “Laking in confidence”.

There was also criticism from a number of fans directed at two big men at either end of the pitch for very different reasons. I’ll let you simply use your imagination about what may have been said about two blokes whose combined height totals 12’ 10”.

Pep Guardiola post match: “This season, the fact that we didn’t score goals for the amount of chances we created…we played shit”.

Honest words from our manager there and not long after that, Guardiola switched rooms and cameras and admitted that by not selecting Rayan Cherki to start, he got it wrong yesterday.

So slow, no creativity, playing for an hour and doing nothing; flat and unimaginative. Are we seriously talking about a side managed by two Peps which contains the likes of Rayan Ait-Nouri, Rodri, Bernardo Silva, the much lauded Nico O’Reilly, Antoine Semenyo, Omar Marmoush and, later on, Jeremy Doku, Rayan Cherki and Tijjani Reijnders? REALLY?!

I’ve used this phrase before in my blog postings, it’s one for the oldies, seriously…answers on a postcard please (or in my comments section below is fine too, of course).

Well done to Bernardo Silva, by the way, for a sublime finish yesterday to put us 0-1 up.

Do we give any credit to West Ham United? A team that has found slightly better form (L W D D L W in the league before yesterday’s draw)? They closed us down well in midfield, had numbers in the box and made multiple blocks in their penalty area. I suppose we should considering their position in the table and the fact that they’re scraping for every point they can get. Well done them.

But it still doesn’t detract from the ongoing high numbers of baffling performances from our team where we appear to plod our way through so many games, or half games.

We often give the opposition a sense that they can stop us from obtaining all-three points; grabbin’ something from games for themselves as we waste so many chances and leave ourselves open to counter attacks. This, unfortunately, is the general pattern of play that we all watch now and have been for the last couple of seasons, if we’re being completely honest.

For the most part, aside form perhaps a few top sides, the opposition just isn’t going to change from a ‘low block’, a packed midfield and with the intent on springing a fast break or two, so what then? We have to change, right? Or, at the very least, improve a LOT on what we are capable of doing with the personnel that I’ve just listed…but with a nod to me longing for a young Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva.

Hands up…

1.    …if you think we’ll progress in the Champions League on Tuesday night.

2.    …if you think we’ll beat Arsenal in the League Cup final next Sunday?

Following those two little fixtures, it’s then Liverpool at home in the F.A. Cup, Chelsea away in the league followed by Arsenal once again, this time at home in the league also.

I’m not going to ask for more hands up on those last three matches but I bet I’m not alone in feeling, for the time being at least, rather unsettled by that particular fixture list between 17^th March and 19^th April.

Sort it out Blues and quickly before this season - one where we’re somehow just about surviving in all FOUR competitions - suddenly dissolves like a couple of Alka-Seltzer in a glass of water (other medicines are available).

Plink, plink…

They took their chances and…

…we didn’t. The overwhelming message from a good number of travelling Blues in Madrid after our 3-0 defeat last Wednesday.

We played quite well at the very start, at least, but there’s that same ‘ol theme once again of not taking our chances when they continue to arrive by the bucket load; despite, on this occasion, fielding a very attacking starting-11 that contained three attacking wingers / forwards and a striker – Doku, Savinho, Semenyo and Haaland.

Questions

It was a team selection that had some scratching their heads, with others directly questioning our manager and I personally believe that it left us easy to counter attack through far too many times. We often looked a little slow and lightweight in the middle.

We remain slightly inconsistent and a side that is certainly going through a transitional season. For one travelling fan to reluctantly declare that he thought we were outclassed in every department in midweek – a Real Madrid team that’s not fully ‘on it’ by their high standards this season – simply underlines that fact. “Outclassed”. Ouch… 😧

Oh well, back to a very important domestic league game tonight (8:00pm KO GMT).

v West Ham United

London Stadium

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game which for me, blog wise, was our away win at Newcastle United: A woeful 3/11, as I completely misread the situation as well as Pep Guardiola on that particular occasion.

A very fluid 4-1-4-1 / 4-1-3-2 / 4-3-3 (occasional 3-6-1):

____________________Haaland____________________

 

 

__Marmoush__________________________Samenyo__

 

__________O’Reilly______________Silva(C)___________

 

_____________________Rodri_____________________

Ait-Nouri__________________________________Nunes

___________Dias(VC)______________Guehi___________

 

 

__________________Donnarumma__________________

Subs: Trafford, Khusanov, Stones, Gonzalez, Cherki, Foden, Reijnders, Doku and Savinho.

Gigi continues in goals.

I’m going for a back-4, occasional 3, of Rayan-A-, Ruben, Marc and Matheus.

Rodders is the deepest of the midfielders with Nico-O- and Bernardo ahead of the 29-year-old.

I think Omar and Antoine will provide most of the width, all in support of Erling who is front and centre.

James continues in his role of reserve keeper and there’s possibly just two defenders on the bench tonight in the form of Abdukodir and John. Nico-G-, Rayan-C-, Phil and Tijjani make up four midfielders on the side and completing ‘the 9’ are wingers Jeremy and Savinho.

Notable absences:

-       Marcus Bettinelli – Not selected.

-       Rico Lewis – Injured with a slight problem in his ankle. When asked for an update on 13^th March, Pep said that he is still suffering with a little bit of soreness. Still unavailable.

-       Josko Gvardiol – Out with a fractured tibia, for which he has had surgery. On 23^rd January, we were informed that it will be at least 2 more months before the Croatian international might be ready to return, which takes him up to the end of March.

-       Max Alleyne – Not selected.

-       Nathan Ake – Not selected.

-       Mateo Kovacic – Continues to train as he attempts to put nine months of injury / rehabilitation behind him. In an update on 13^th March, we learnt that Mateo’s condition is getting better every day. I can’t see it being too much longer before we start to see the soon-to-be 32-year-old included in a matchday squad.

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

It looks good but I’d like to see us to try and find a starting place for Rayan Cherki more often if possible.

Result?

I am a little concerned about a Manchester City hangover from midweek, whether that be physically after a demanding game plus international travel and / or mentally. Added to the fact that we will be facing a home side who are scrapping for their very Premier League lives, this won’t be easy.

Following on from that, I’ve just got a feeling that we might start off looking a little shaky and having the home fans behind them, no matter how far they might be away from the pitch; if The Hammers smell blood early on then they might just take the lead.

However, if we do start off a little cold and jittery, I expect us to shake it off and start to move through the gears at some stage.

I do see goals at both ends but I’m going for us to score more. This is a very much needed City win for me.

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 stormy and cold couple of days, particularly in the north and west of the British Isles, it’s calm and quite sunny down south for the match. Unbroken afternoon sunshine turns to dark, clear skies so the match temperature is just 6 or 7C. 🧥🧣🧤🍵🥧🍺⚽

Solidarity