‘Job all-but done’ would be words I’d love to both hear and read after tonight’s game.
With us-playing our second leg at home just short of 3-½ days after our away game at Norwich City and just over 4-½ before a certain Manchester v Trafford derby; it would be nice not-to-have-to ‘go hell for leather’ in the second of our 2 games against Dynamo Kyiv in order to progress to the quarter finals of the Champions League.
RESTED v rested
Most of our ‘first teamers’ will not have
played a competitive match for just over 10 days when the referee blows his
whistle to indicate the start of the match tonight. At this stage of the season
that sounds like an amazing statistic…and one brought about by a much needed and bold decision
from our Engineer, Manuel Pellegrini.
It was a decision that has sparked furore amongst some – so much
so, in fact, it appears to have-now completely overshadowed any level of criticism
a certain Manyoo Football Club got for completely removing their team from the F.A. Cup in 2000 (sanctioned / approved by the Football Association) for, instead, a FIFA World Club Championship tournament…a glorified friendly competition.
Mr Shearer, representing the so-called impartial BBC,
was very forthright indeed in his opinion about the fact that we had included,
in our squad for our F.A. Cup clash with Chelsea
at Stamford Bridge last Sunday afternoon, 7 EDS players.
We HAD, he
blustered, disrespected the competition.
He did this
with absolutely no mention whatsoever that we had Eliaquim Mangala, Bacary Sagna, Kevin De Bruyne, Fabian Delph, Samir Nasri, Jesus Navas and Wilfried Bony all out injured. Where was the balanced viewpoint?
Where, if neutrals had tuned in all over the world not-knowing those facts
about our football club, was the information in order to give a true and whole picture
of our situation? All of those players
apart from Eliaquim Mangala, by the way Mr failed, ex-manager of Newcastle United,
are STILL out for tonight’s game…
So…with the F.A. having it within their power
to grant us a Saturday fixture and, therefore, allowing us more rest, travel
and preparation time for our trip to the Ukraine but chose not to; does that same failed, ex-manager of
Newcastle United that he-helped to relegate - and failed job applicant for the manager’s job at Cardiff City – not believe that our manager had to-then ‘pick
his battles’ and make a very shrewd decision by resting our star players who
WEREN’T actually out injured? Clearly not…and he continued, unabated, to be outraged
that we had dared to start 5 promising young players from our academy (so that’s
6 first-team players who
started last Sunday) against last season’s Premier League Champions…and who managed to hold them on their own
ground at half time 1-1 [in an eventual 5-1 defeat].
And if you wanted the BBC to add more insult
to injury then, on the pitch, was ex-Chelsea man Graeme Le Saux.
Now I have heard that within the world of football players the Jersey-born
man was considered to be very intelligent. Perhaps so…and intelligence doesn’t,
I suppose, include being “wise”
enough to realise that you are, like Alan
sat in the studio, representing the BBC and are, therefore, supposed to at least TRY to be a little impartial. He couldn’t
have been less so as he tried to hide his Chelsea shirt under his more-formal,
outer wear…
Utterly pathetic…both!
Seething? Yeah you could say that – enough for
me to not-only comment several times about the pair on the WEB pages of the Manchester Evening News but also lodge an official complaint on-line to the BBC
and Tweet
Mr Shearer himself.
I’m (mostly) over it now…and I digress too.
So…where was I? Oh yeah, RESTED v rested. Our lads
have had a good ol’ break and lots of preparation time for this important
fixture in our club’s history-making venture…but so have Kyiv. In fact, the
home side haven’t played a competitive match since 9th December 2015! Instead they started a series of
friendly matches in their winter-break period – a whopping 13 in fact (where’s “the
break”?) - as they attempt to warm themselves up for
the second part of their season; starting with us.
Will that have helped them? Will the rest
period and gap to allow injured players to return go in their favour tonight?
Will they come back / start a little rusty? To be honest…I’ve no idea.
But what I DO know is that, for whatever
reason, our top starts who HAVEN’T been seeing more of the physio room than the
training pitch in recent weeks (and months) have-themselves looked a little
jaded and, some have commented, nowhere near fit enough. That being the case – and although it’s hardly been a winter break
as such – those 10 days without a game should
energise them ahead of tonight’s game, followed by a trip to a League Cup final
on Sunday and then a Premier League game at Anfield in
7-days’ time.
v Dynamo
Kyiv
Predicted line-up, subs and outcome…
4-5-1:
____________________Aguero____________________
_____________________Toure_____________________
___________________________Fernandinho_________
_____________Fernando__________________________
______________________Hart_____________________
Hart back in net (thank God)!
Joe + Gael, Vinny, Nicholas and ‘go again’
Pablo is probably about the strongest defence we can muster and, so, apart from Zaba having to play again
following 90+ minutes on Sunday; we have a fully rested and robust (on paper at
least) rear-guard thanks to our manager’s forced choices (take note Mr
Shearer).
It’s probably ‘go again’ also for Fernando
in-protected that back-line and just ahead of him in a ‘duel role’ that should
include lots of attacking support, is Fernandinho. Yaya should play in a similar
role to the latter-named Brazilian and out on the flanks both pace & craft
from two in-need of their recent respite (Raheem & David).
Serge to surge forward with the support of
his attacking colleagues.
Willy back on the bench (thank God). Aleks,
the returning Eliaquim and Martin make up the defensive insurance, although
Martin could be used in a defensive midfield role at some point. Manu Garcia
& Brandon Barker likely to make up the more-attacking midfield replacement
options (at the risk of more Alan Shearer wrath
for daring to disrespect THIS competition by possibly selecting 2 youth players) and
Kelechi our back-up striker.
Notable absences: Already covered in this
piece.
Do I agree with Pellegrini’s (predicted) line-up?
It’s a shame both
Zaba & Fernando have to play again after a ‘full 90’ and 78-minutes played on
Sunday respectively (no Bacary or Fabian) but yes; I’d go with that too.
Result?
Perhaps not the 3-goal cushion I have in mind as a minimum ‘perfect result’ but
I can see us-taking a lead into the home leg on 15th March.
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