Such is the burden of success, hey? J As we gain
more and more games-in-hand in the Premier League;
we continue our endeavours in yet another domestic cup competition…before ANOTHER cup game in Europe at Barcelona
Quick moan…
I wasn’t happy that we’d been given the Sunday, 4:05pm KO in
the quarter final of the F.A. Cup. No allowance
whatsoever seems to have been made that we’re playing one of best teams in the
world just 3 days later; having to factor-in recovery time, travelling and
training. The culprits? BT Sport – yes one of
our flippin’ main partner-sponsors!
Soon after the date announcement a spokesman for BT Sport
said that all ‘interested parties’ are happy with the date…and this, they said,
included the Manager, Manuel Pellegrini. Indeed,
not long afterwards in a pre-match interview, the Chilean was questioned about
the fixture date and he…said…he was okay
with it. It looked to me more like he was
simply ‘toeing the party line’… He just CAN’T be happy with it when they could
have played it on the Saturday instead.
 |
| BT City Square at the Etihad |
Not that I was ever naïve to the fact; but TV most definitely rules
these days…
v Wigan
Still suffering with severe headaches / now whiplash-like symptoms, I’ll get straight to it if you don’t mind…
Formation: 4-4-2
__________Negredo____Aguero__________
_________Fernandinho__________________
Clichy___Demichelis___Kompany___Zabaleta
_________________Hart_________________
Hart is mostly likely to get his place back despite being,
probably, the one ‘between the sticks’ against Barcelona
I think he’ll go with Clichy Wigan .
Lescott SHOULD get ‘the call’ in Spain
I’m guessing that he’ll go with the 4 'usual suspects' across
the middle; of course he MIGHT give Garcia a start instead of Fernandinho...he might even choose Milner or Navas to start in order to give Yaya a rest ahead of Wednesday's game.
Up front? Well here’s a bit of a poser. Although in his pre-match press conference he doesn’t list
Dzeko as being injured - and nor does he
mention the fact that Negredo is, apparently, still shoulder-sore and not quite
100% - I think he’ll go with his best 2 pairing against the Latics and
stick Edin on the bench. Simply put, Alvaro has had a considerable rest
recently and with regards to Sergio; I’m sure Manuel will look at this game as
another fitness-comeback-game ahead of our trial in Camp Nou
Result? Under Uwe Rosler Wigan are a very tough outfit indeed –
only two defeats in 17 games and 5 wins from 5 in all competitions is testament
to that! Take these lightly – even at home – and we will regret it for sure.
However, address this game seriously, as I’m sure we will, and we should see
these off. ANOTHER trip to Wembley [for the
semi-final] awaits!
I think Lescott will partner Kompany; Richards at RB; Garcia for Fernie, Milner for Nasri are the only differences I have to you, Steve.
ReplyDeleteI agree, we should be wary of Wigan, but, hopefully, home advantage should play a big part in securing a victory. 3-0 City for me.
Hi Colin... You could well be right. It IS a tricky one.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I'm sure Pellegrini won't want to roll over and, worse still of course, be embarrassed at Barca, I think he realises that his best chance of a second cup is in the F.A. Cup. So...does he play a slightly "weakened" side in the HOPE of getting past Wigan - and, therefore, resting his strongest players for Barca - or does he try to blow Wigan away and just hope for a respectable result in Spain?
I too HOPE we'll see Richards start tomorrow and I hope he has a blinder! We need reliable cover/competition there almost as much as the left-back situation. Zabaleta (30 years-old in January) will start to burn out sooner in the coming seasons if we're not careful with him.
And with regards to Richards, retaining an English player (contract talks are on-going apparently) will be a massive bonus; if he can remain relatively injury-free, then a 'fit & firing' Micah is an excellent player to have in the ranks!
3-0...I'll have that! 8- )