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

A ding-dong, F.A. Cup battle.

Before our game against Nottingham Forest and even before Leeds United when I come to think about it, I kept glancing at tonight’s fixture and couldn’t help thinking that this was going to be a real contest and proper test for us; one where I fully expected Newcastle to be looking for revenge against a City side who gets the better of them so very often.

Since those thoughts, we hit a bump on our title-chasing road last Wednesday on the same night our hosts beat a resurgent Manyoo, despite having 10 men for half the game.

All of that has simply amplified my feeling that this is going to be a proper scrap tonight (8:00pm KO GMT) and one, which, I’m not entirely sure we’ll come out on top in all honesty.

v Newcastle United

St. James' Park

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 Leeds United: 10/11).

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

____________________Haaland____________________

 

 

__Doku_______________________________Samenyo__

 

___________Silva(C)_____________Cherki____________

 

_____________________Rodri_____________________

Ait-Nouri__________________________________Nunes

___________Dias(VC)______________Guehi___________

 

 

____________________Trafford____________________

Subs: Donnarumma, Khusanov, Stones, Gonzalez, Foden, O’Reilly, Reijnders, Savinho and Marmoush.

James takes command of the goal area for this domestic cup game.

A back-4, occasional 3, of Rayan-A-, Ruben, Marc and Matheus.

Rodders just ahead of those.

A returning [to ‘the 11’] Jeremy, Bernardo, Rayan-C- and Antoine is my guess across the middle and on the wings, all in support of Erling who needs to rediscover some consistency soon.

Gigi takes a rare seat on the side as reserve keeper; Abdukodir and John make up just two defenders next to the Italian. Four midfielders come in the shape of Nico-G-, Phil, Nico-O- and Tijjani, while Savinho and Omar make up two wide options, with Omar able to play more central in attack too.

Notable absences:

-       Marcus Bettinelli – Not selected.

-       Rico Lewis – Injured with a slight problem in his ankles. When discussed on 6^th March, it didn’t sound like the England international would be out for too long.

-       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 – Back in training with his teammates as he attempts to put nine months of injury / rehabilitation behind him. An update on 6^th March confirmed that training has continued and the Croatian international is making progress step by step.

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

Yep.

Result?

Our hosts continue to have a fair number of injuries, as was the case the last time we met on 21^st February, and that includes injuries to some key players too.

The last time I wrote about The Magpies a fortnight ago, I groaned about how they’d hit some form with three, back-to-back wins just ahead of their clash with us. Since then, it’s W L W, which includes a Champions League home win. That sort of mirrors their league form of L L W L L W.

They are a strange side - a mix of one that is very beatable whilst at the same time they have it within themselves to beat almost anything that’s put in front of them; although quite often with goals flyin’ in at both ends.

Going back to just the beginning of February, they have scored a whopping 22 goals in 9 games but have also conceded 17! 39 goals and not once did a team not score in those same nine matches. Wow.

After our draw at home to Forest, Pep looked tired, very flat and as sick as a Psittacine.

Not capitalising on plenty of possession and chances created was the main theme of the night once again. Very frustrating indeed. 😠

It was nice to see a much more upbeat Pep in his pre-match press conference yesterday as he underlined his determination to go to the North East with nothing else on his mind but to win and reach the quarter finals; despite Wednesday night’s Champions League tie looming large on the horizon.

I’ve said that I expect a this to be a bit of a ding-donger – a real end-to-end thriller with chances galore at both ends and when I read my own stats about no clean sheets in nine Newcastle games and 39 goals flying in during that time; it only stands to underpin my thoughts.

For once, I’m going to sit on the fence and call this one a draw at full time. Then, in what I expect to be a crazy game, it’s ‘anything goes’ in extra time and penalties. My prediction is a score draw in ‘the 90’ - something like 2-2 or 3-3.

You watch, it’ll be a boring one-nil game now (hopefully to us if it is)…

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

Prediction: N/A

Result: N/A

Expected weather conditions during the game: Bright sunshine all day in the region gives way to clear, starry skies above St James’ Park floodlights. Just 3 or 4C is the “feels like” temperature during the game but it’s dry and there’s little in the way of any breeze to amplify the cold temperature. 🧥🧣🧤🍵🍺⚽🥙🍕

Solidarity