Who arrrre we?! Where arrrre they?!

-      A list of this summer’s signings

-      Who’s gone where on loan

-      Pep’s staff - a list of ‘who’s who’

Signings this summer.

Aaron Mooy

Age: 25

Position: Midfielder - Central

Cost: Undisclosed

Season plans: Loaned to Huddersfield Town for the rest of the season

Benjamin Garre

Age: 16

Position: Creative midfielder

Cost: Not sure if there is a fee

Season plans: Academy development

Claudio Bravo

Age: 33

Position: Goalkeeper

Cost: £15.3M

Season plans: Straight into contention for 1^st team

Gabriel Jesus

Age: 19

Position: Forward – Left / Centre

Cost: £27M+

Season plans: Staying at his selling club, Palmeiras, until December 2016 before joining City

Ilkay Gundogan

Age: 25

Position: Midfielder - Centre

Cost: £19.3M

Season plans: Straight into contention for 1^st team

John Stones

Age: 22

Position: Defender - Centre

Cost: £47.5M

Season plans: Straight into contention for 1^st team

Leroy Sane

Age: 20

Position: Winger / Forward – Left / Right / Centre

Cost: £42.5M

Season plans: Straight into contention for 1^st team

Lorenzo Gonzalez

Age: 16

Position: Striker

Cost: Not sure if there is a fee

Season plans: Academy development

Marlos Moreno

Age: 19

Position: Winger / Forward – Left / Right / Centre

Cost: £4.68M+

Season plans: Loaned to Deportivo La Coruna for the rest of the season

Nolito

Age: 29

Position: Midfielder / Winger / Forward – Left / Centre

Cost: £15.3M

Season plans: Straight into contention for 1^st team

Oleksandr Zinchenko

Age: 19

Position: Midfielder / Winger / Forward – Left / Right / Centre

Cost: £1.7M

Season plans: Loaned to PSV Eindhoven for the rest of the season

Pablo Mari

Age: 22

Position: Defender - Centre

Cost: Unknown

Season plans: Straight out on loan for the season to Girona

Total amount of money spent: £173.28M+

Average age of incoming players: 22.1 years of age

Who’s gone where on loan?

Joe Hart                     - To Torino for the rest of the season.

Jason Denayer          - To Sunderland for the rest of the season.

Eliaquim Mangala     - To Valencia for the rest of the season.

Pablo Mari                 - To Girona for the rest of the season.

Luke Bratton             - To Melbourne City for the rest of the season.

Anthony Caceres      - To Melbourne City for the rest of the season.

Manu Garcia              - To Alaves for the rest of the season.

Aaron Mooy               - To Huddersfield Town for the rest of the season.

Samir Nasri                - To Sevilla for the rest of the season.

Patrick Roberts         - Started 2^nd season at Celtic for the rest of the season.

Oleksandr Zinchenko – To PSV Eindhoven for the rest of the season.

Wilfried Bony            - To Stoke City for the rest of the season.

David Faupala           - To NAC Breda for the rest of the season.

Gabriel Jesus            - To Palmeiras until December 2016.

Marlos Moreno          - To Deportivo La Coruna for the rest of the season.

Enes Unal                  - To FC Twente for the rest of the season…

…along with a whole host of youngsters to various clubs.

12 signed, 16 loaned out (including some of those signed in the summer but not including any youth players loaned out).

And who are Pep Guardiola’s backroom staff?

Brian Kidd                               - Co-Assistant Coach

Charles Planchart                   - Video Analysist

Domenec Torrent                    - Assistant Manager

Jason Wilcox                          - Under 18s Manager

Lorenzo Buenaventura           - Fitness Coach

Manuel Estiarte                       - Personal Assistant

Mikel Arteta                             - Coach

Rodolfo Borrell                        - Youth Development

Simon Davies                         - EDS Manager

Xabier Mancisidor                   - Goalkeeping Coach

Apologies to those not mentioned, such as other assistant coaches, physios, Club Doctor & medical staff, dieticians, kit staff, pitch maintenance personnel etc...but you get the idea and I hope you found it informative.

“Everybody’s fit, everybody’s ready”

That was the surprising & pleasing words used by Pep yesterday when asked if there were any fresh injuries; news injury-plagued West Ham won’t have wanted to hear.

All 30 players trained…

How on earth do I now try to predict, accurately, a starting 11 & subs from that lot?! It’s a nice ‘mini challenge’ to have though and a somewhat exciting one.

v West Ham United

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome.

Fluid 4-5-1 come 4-3-3 come 4-2-4:

____________________Aguero____________________

____Nolito___________________________Sterling____

___________________De Bruyne___________________

____________Silva___________Fernandinho_________

Kolarov______Otamendi______Stones_______Zabaleta

____________________Caballero___________________

Subs: Hart, Clichy, Kompany, Delph, Gundogan, Sane, Iheanacho.

Notable absences: Claudio Bravo (not selected), Bacary Sagna (not selected / just returned from 'a niggle'), Tosin Adarabioyo (not selected), Eliaquim Mangala (not selected and possibly close to a loan move), Fernando (not selected), Samir Nasri (not selected and possibly close to a loan move), Jesus Navas (not selected), Yaya Toure (not selected), Wilfried Bony (not selected and possibly close to a loan move).

Huh…chuck in a few EDS players and that list of ‘notable absences’ would make a pretty decent Premier League team in itself!

Willy to take his place between the sticks once again, following a night off in midweek and before taking his place as ‘Number 2’ to new signing Claudio; who is just settling in following his move on Wednesday / Thursday.

Manager favourite - and improved player - Aleks on the left of defence (when he’s not darting into midfield or wherever else he might be asked to go), Nicholas & John likely to be the centre-back pairing for this one and for now at least and having had 8-days off, we should see ‘Pablo senior’ on the right.

A familiar-looking 'midfield & wing 5' for this one again I think – Nolito & Raheem to provide most of the width; David, Fernandinho & Kevin most of the central passing & thrust.

All of these supporting an in-form Sergio up front.

Now despite previously stating that those players who were recovering from long-term injuries / regaining fitness wouldn’t be available until after the up & coming international break / for the Manyoo game; Guardiola did state yesterday that ‘all were fine’. So…

Likely to be making his last appearance at the Etihad this season at least and as a spectator on the subs bench (or, more accurately, expensive padded seats) is ‘our Joe’. Gael & Bacary to provide the flanking defence / midfield support cover and we could well see ‘our skip’ Vinny as part of ‘the 7’ on the side (and is likely to get a small run out if the situation at the time suits). Delph likely to survive the ‘everyone is fit / available’ scenario as a stable midfield back-up and he could well be joined by two new signings yet to make their debuts; in the form of central & creative midfielder Ilkay and attacking winger Leroy. Finally, in a talent-packed bench, is Kelechi…and that’s despite crashing to the floor in spectacular style on Wednesday night, which saw two Steaua Bucharest players dive towards the young striker before several medical staff rushed to tend to the Nigerian. From where I was sat, I honestly thought it was a ‘defrib moment’ and thank God it wasn’t of course! Midweek reports suggested that it was a muscle issue; one site still has him down as injured with a ‘hammy’ and yet his manager has said that there are no injuries going into this one…and so he gets on the bench as far as I’m concerned.

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

Absolutely – who could argue with that?!

Result? There’s a little bit of ‘beware the wounded animal’ about this one; after tomorrow afernoon's visitors were booed off the pitch by their own fans at the London Stadium last Thursday for being both beaten on the night and knocked out of the Europa League at such an early stage.

However, as I previous alluded to The Hammers have the joint-highest injury list in the Premier League at the moment (although robust midfielder Mark Noble might be fit to take part) and some of those absent are big, ‘sure starters’ & 'game changers' too.

That…the fact that they've only had 2-1/2 days to rest & prepare for their trip to Manchester; that our players have 'hit the ground running' / look to have quickly taken on Pep’s ethos & playing style AND, in complete contrast to West Ham, have everyone available to select from; I couldn’t be going into this home game with more confidence of a home win.

There’s not even any sign of that ‘old City feeling’. If you are of a certain era you’ll know the one - “This is the sort of game, then, where we’ll muck it up / shoot ourselves in the foot; a missed opportunity of 3 points and a good goal difference".

Instead, this one could even be a crackin’ day at the office / big win…

Expected weather conditions during the game: No need to water the pitch after a forecasted 26 hours of constant rain; some very heavy (with occasional sunshine) which is supposed to end sometime around kick off.

From that point on – and in sharp contract – the sun is supposed to be making more of a permanent appearance (so take those sunglasses with you!) with temperatures a reasonably-warm 66F with a light, North Westerly breeze. 

You might FEEL like taking a coat for your ‘journey to’ but might then regret it as the game starts…

UPDATE ON THE WEATHER - 28th August 2016: What a rubbish weather forecast from the BBC that was...

A chance for others to start

Sorry, slightly late posting / reduced time – it’s a fairly brief one…

v Steaua Bucharest

Difficult to predict a starting 11 & subs (but not so much the overall outcome) – at 5-0 up after the first leg there’s an opportunity for Pep to start players who have not begun a competitive game this season.

Fluid 4-5-1 come 4-3-3 come 4-2-4:

____________________Iheanacho____________________

___Nolito_______________________________Sterling___

______________________Toure______________________

______________Delph______________________________

______________________________Fernando___________

Clichy_______Adarabioyo______Stones________Zabaleta

________________________Hart______________________

Subs: Caballero, Angelino, Maffeo, Otamendi, Silva, Navas, Aguero.

Suggestions are that Joe MIGHT start between the sticks tonight and, so, that’s what I’m going with. At 5-0 up from our 1^st leg visit to Romania last week, I can’t help feeling that it’s a token, farewell (for now at least) gesture and a bit of an embarrassing / insulting one for the keeper himself. It’ll be good to see him and the crowd reaction though…

An unused sub at the weekend; I think Gael will start tonight. However, on the opposite flank I think it’ll be Pablo to 'start again' as Bacary’s recent ‘little issue’ is more of an official 'injury' now and will be out until after the international break. If I’m correct, it’ll be a young central defence with John continuing to learn under Pep and for his new team partnered, I think, by Tosin.

There’s an opportunity to play a very different midfield and to rest a few regulars and, so, I’m going for the defensive Fernando; slightly ahead of him in a duel role is Fabian and slightly ahead of HIM we might see a new, trim Yaya. Having only played 26 minutes against Stoke at the weekend, I think we’ll see Nolito start tonight. In contrast - and despite a 'full 95' in the same game - ‘work in progress’ Raheem might get another go by Pep tonight.

Surely we’ll see Sergio step aside for Kelechi tonight.

‘Depending’…I would expect to see Pablo Maffeo come on at half time or not long afterwards and perhaps Angelino with 25 or so to go.

Notable absences: Vincent Kompany (in training / recovering from injury), Aleks Kolarov (not selected / rested), Bacary Sagna (injured), Ilkay Gundogan (in training / recovering from injury), Fernandinho (not selected / rested), Kevin De Bruyne (not selected / rested), Samir Nasri (not selected), Leroy Sane (in training / recovering from injury),

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

Yep…5-0 at 'half time' and at home I’d go with that / give those players a start. Good enough back-up on the bench if needed.

Result? A win on the night and through to the group stages where we should be.

Expected weather conditions during the game: After a warm & sunny day, it’ll be overcast for the match but a pleasantly warm evening nonetheless at 62F to 66F with a slight, North Westerly breeze.