The Jorginho & Mahrez “IF” factor…

So, as it appears and without wishing to ‘jump the gun’, we might have signed both defensive midfielder Jorginho form S.S.C. Napoli and attacking winger / forward Riyad Mahrez from Leicester City by the end of next week.

 

And it has already, quite understandably, had fans both City and non-City alike asking just where do all of our midfielders fit in; what stars are more likely to see more bench time and will ‘the kids’ get a ‘look in’? 

 

So, I thought I’d have a look at some likely formations from the midfield upwards and try to reason why the possible signing of both players isn’t such an over indulgence as it may first seem.

First of all, the list…

Kevin De Bruyne                    -           Midfielder / Winger – Left / Right / Centre

Fabian Delph                          -           Defender / Midfielder – Left / Centre

Brahim Diaz                            -           Midfielder – Centre

Fernandinho                            -           Midfielder – Centre

Jorginho                                  -           Midfielder – Centre

Phil Foden                               -           Midfielder – Centre

Ilkay Gundogan                       -           Midfielder – Centre

Riyad Mahrez                          -           Winger / Forward – Left / Right / Centre

Leroy Sane                             -           Winger / Forward – Left / Right / Centre

Bernardo Silva                        -           Midfielder / Winger – Left / Right / Centre

David Silva                              -           Midfielder – Centre

Raheem Sterling                     -           Winger / Forward – Left / Right / Centre

Oleksandr Zinchenko             -           Def / Mid / Wing – Left / Centre

Quite some list, hey?

And who are the other midfielders / wingers who have been on the fringes of the first team radar in recent years or who have been purchased by the club whilst either Manuel Pellegrini or Pep Guardiola have been in charge?

Luke Bratton                         -           Midfielder – Centre

Anthony Caceres                  -           Midfielder – Centre

Bersant Celina                      -           Midfielder/ Winger – Left / Right / Centre

Aleix Garcia                           -           Midfielder – Centre

Manu Garcia Alonso             -           Midfielder – Centre

Yangel Herrera                      -           Midfielder – Centre

Douglas Luiz                         -           Midfielder – Centre

Patrick Roberts                     -           Winger / Forward – Right / Centre

I wouldn’t blame you at all if you didn’t know most of those and if you click on their hyperlinks then you can get to know ‘em; where they came from, where they’ve been on loan and how they’ve been doing.

The formations

(Just from the midfield ‘up’, don’t forget, and assuming all are fit & otherwise available)

One where we have to be more mindful of the oppo’s attack.

Likely 1^st line-up (a fluid 4-1-4-1):

____________________Aguero____________________

___________________(or Jesus)___________________

Sane____________________________________Sterling

_____________D. Silva______De Bruyne_____________

__________________Fernandinho___________________

Secondary possibility (a fluid 4-1-4-1):

____________________Aguero____________________

___________________(or Jesus)___________________

Sane____________________________________B. Silva

___________Gundogan______De Bruyne____________

____________________Jorginho____________________

One where we really want to ‘have a go’ at the oppo – a chance to stick a few goals past someone.

Likely 1^st line-up (a fluid 4-4-1-1 / 4-5-1):

____________________Aguero____________________

___________________(or Jesus)___________________

____________________Sterling____________________

Sane____________________________________Mahrez

_____________D. Silva______De Bruyne_____________

Secondary possibility (a fluid 4-4-1-1 / 4-5-1):

____________________Aguero____________________

___________________(or Jesus)___________________

____________________Mahrez____________________

Sane____________________________________B. Silva

_____________D. Silva______De Bruyne_____________

Winners? Those who get to play most games?

I don’t think Leroy has much to worry about, despite the fact that others can play & perform well on the left flank. Kevin is an almost certainty until it comes time for a rest, of course, and the same goes for David; although he might get some MORE welcome relief / extra games out next season. Sergio & Gabriel have no worries at all (will likely rotate with each other), especially as I think the signing of two in the ‘midfield department’ will signal Pep’s intend to ‘go again’ with attacking flare from deep rather than bringing-in an additional striker (despite paper-talk of Kylian Mbappe).

Rotated?

I think we’ll see Riyad, Raheem & Bernardo all dipping in & out of the team; most playing on the right flank with some getting a crack more centres, whether that be in the middle of the park or ‘just behind’ one of the strikers. I think Ilkay will come into that attacking/creative rotation too but, perhaps, to a lesser degree. Fernandinho & Jorginho will swap over from time to time and I’m sure we’ll always have one of those on the bench.

Losers?

Well, unless they’re going to be used as left-back / left wing-back cover for Benjamin Mendy (and don’t forget that we have Danilo) then I can see Oleksandr & Fabian getting twitchy. I think we’ll see Zinchenko go out on loan and press speculation aplenty about Delph (and I bet a certain ex-City Manager who is now at West Ham United might be keeping an eye on that one). And as for the youngsters; if we DO get both of these players and despite us fighting in 4 competitions, then I can’t see Phil getting many more games than last season, which I expected him to and I bet he thought so too. I think we’ll see Brahim go out on loan.

Any more signings likely further back?

I think if Pep doesn’t believe that Angus Gunn is ready to be 1^st-choice back-up to Ederson then we’ll see another keeper come in. I don’t expect to see Claudio Bravo here for another season.

And I think likewise in the centre of defence – if Guardiola doesn’t believe any of the EDS lads are progressing enough to ‘step up’ if / when needed then I can see an additional purchase there too; one who would be ready to step in if needed but young enough to be patient and wait for his opportunity, which is likely to come in the form of how long Vincent Kompany has left. I think Nicholas Otamendi & Aymeric Laporte won’t have too much to worry about should another talented central defender come in but I’m sure more raised eyebrows will be show whenever John Stones’ name is mentioned.

Thanks, as always, for taking the time to visit / read. I'm going away for a week on Saturday and so if there are any updates, I won't be able to Blog / comment.

Empty seats results - 2017/18

Why would I do a piece on the number of empty seats at the Etihad and, even worse, bother to include also the same calculations for Scaffold Trafford? 

 

I’ll explain…

Meaningless quibbles

As posted roughly this time last year, I don't like to mention "them" if at all possible on my blog postings - I'm just not flippin’ bothered about 'em at all, really. However, regular readers might recall that I chuck this one in after the season has finished and the reason for that is quite simple.

As we have become more & more successful in recent years, filling our cabinets with an F.A. Cup, 3 League Cups, 3 Premier League title trophies as well as a Community Shield, there has been less and less for fans of a certain team from Trafford to beat us over the head with, as they try to find a crack in our armour to ‘have a pop’ at any opportunity.

Not that I’m bothered about them too much at ALL but, a few seasons back, I began to wonder just what was the gap between the number of empty seats per match / per season between us & them? And do you know what…it’s laughably not that much at all and, in fact, they have had, in previous seasons, more red seats showing than we have had blue ones!

To be honest, I wasn’t even going to bother posting this piece but, for some strange reason, even a Blue in my local has started to have a dig at Manchester City in recent weeks; accusing them of falsifying attendance figures to make our ground appear fuller than it actually was/is. And when he also stated that he believed GMP’s figure for our Southampton Premier League match over what was published both by the club and the BBC as being around 38,000 and not the official figure of 53,407 (yeah…I think I would have noticed around 17,000 empty seats, don’t you?) then I thought, what the ‘eck; I’d already collected most of the attendance figures over the season anyway…

So, here’s last season’s results ‘hot off the press’ and as I type those very words, I’ve not even yet worked out the final figures and, so, I don’t even know if we will have-had more empty seats in all competitions in 2017/18 or, once again, whether the difference is SO little it makes ‘that lot’ seem even MORE petty for-even bringing up the subject. We will see…

Manchester City capacities:

Domestic: 55,097

European: 53,000

Total number of empty seats in all competitions for 2017/18: 67,147

Most number of empty seats during a single match: 11,671 against Bristol City in the 1^st leg of the League Cup semi-final.

Least number of empty seats during a single match: Is actually zero, as we exceeded our supposed legal capacity for European games with an attendance against Liverpool of 53,461.

Manyoo capacity:

75,643 for both domestic and European games.

Total number of empty seats in all competitions for 2017/18: 41,915

Most number of empty seats during a single match: 21,387 against Burton Albion in the League Cup.

Least number of empty seats during a single match: 525 against Crystal Palace in the Premier League.

SO…

Manyoo had the least number of empty seats overall last season but with a mere difference of just 25,232. Is that worth 9 months of babbling over? Well if it makes ‘em happy…

However, the MOST number of empty seats in a single game go to Manyoo, with a whopping 21,387 as opposed to our +461 over capacity match.

Thanks, as always, for taking the time to read. Of course, we’re on ‘transfer watch’ now until the 19^th August for incoming players (outgoing players can still leave until the end of August) and, for those with interest, the World Cup starts soon too.

The league fixtures are out on the 14^th June as well and, so, depending on what’s happening I might stick something on about one or more of those in the coming weeks. We’ve got 2 more kits to unveil before too long also.

For now, though…take care!