Off-colour City limping badly through…

…a packed fixture list.

 

When you’re firing, the games can’t come quick enough for players and managers. When you’re completely out of sorts, as we are ‘big time’ at the moment, there’s a tendency to want to hide, lock the training ground doors and have a long look inside yourselves; regroup and attempt to re-emerge roaring back to form.

 

Sadly, for us, there are no hiding places as the games come thick & fast and we travel next to the exposed, South coast of Southampton for a live, televised game against a somewhat rejuvenated side under their new boss. 

 

With 4 days rest and time to reflect following our latest defeat – 3 losses in the last 4 and only 1 straight win the last 5 games in normal time – I can only hope our players and management team have got to the root cause of just what is wrong with us at the moment.

v Southampton

With a still-busy-time of it over the festive period, I won’t waffle on any longer and will, instead, get straight on to the pre-match posting.

St. Mary's Stadium

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

(Number correct from starting line-up in the last game which, for me blog-wise, was the League Cup game against Leicester City: 7/11).

Fluid 4-1-4-1 / 4-5-1 / 4-3-3:

____________________Aguero____________________

Sane____________________________________Mahrez

___________D. Silva_________De Bruyne___________

__________________Gundogan___________________

Zinchenko________________________________Walker

_____________Laporte________Stones_____________

____________________Ederson___________________

Subs: Muric, Danilo, Otamendi, Foden, B. Silva, Sterling, Jesus.

Steady Ed attempts, once again, to be a calming influence at the back.

I think we’re gonna see a start for Oleksandr for this one in the left-wing back position, with Kyle returning on the right and a continuing partnership of Aymeric & John in between those.

Not much choice to cover the deep-lying midfield role so Ilkay is likely to sit deeper than he would naturally. Ahead of him, are we gonna see ‘The A Team’? I’m guessing so and although Kevin might be a little ahead of David in the recovery status, both should be fit enough to put in a 65-minute+ shift. Either side of those I think Leroy will be asked to go again and Riyad to get the nod over Raheem for this fixture and after a very poor game in midweek.

Sergio to attempt to get his first, away Premier League goal in over 13 months - a statistic I was made aware of last Wednesday that blew my mind!

Aro is the back-up to Ederson; Danilo & Nicholas provide defensive replacement options. Phil, Bernardo, Raheem & Gabriel (if he too gets over a slight knock) are the more attacking options from ‘the 7’ which most Premier League clubs would love sitting on their bench, if not in their starting 11.

Notable absences:

-       Claudio Bravo – Injured long-term and possibly for the rest of the season.

-       Benjamin Mendy – Injured for around another 8 weeks.

-       Vincent Kompany – Not selected.

-       Fernandinho – Still not recovered from a niggly thigh injury.

-       Fabian Delph – Serving the first of a 3-match ban after being sent off late in the game at Leicester which, in my opinion, wasn’t a red even in this day ‘n’ age of getting booked for the slightest thing.

-       Brahim Diaz – Not selected and rumours surfacing again that he might be moving to Real Madrid as early as next week.

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

Well, I’ve touched on this in a recent piece about the fact that we’re sticking square pegs in round holes trying to cover the left-wing back slot; suggesting that we should, perhaps, stick 3 central defenders in there to fill out / help that area. Add into the mix that we’ve not got our midfield guardian, Fernandinho, in place too and the situation screams even louder for us to beware and possibly change something.

I’d definitely be tempted – I really like Laporte and, for the most part, Stones too. And Ederson I’m dead happy with! But there’s something not quite right with Walker at the moment; it’s just not Zinchenko’s favoured position and neither is Gundogan a natural defensive midfielder. So…I might be tempted to go with...

Fluid 3-6-1 / 5-4-1:

____________________Aguero____________________

____Sane____________________________Mahrez____

____________D. Silva________De Bruyne___________

Zinchenko________________________________Walker

__________Laporte____Stones____Otamendi_________

____________________Ederson_____________________

But it’s highly likely that Pep knows more than I do and I doubt he’d think about deploying 3 central defenders – effectively meaning we’d have 5 defenders on the pitch, albeit with 2 very attacking & overlapping wing-backs – even away in the Premier League.

Otherwise, I’m fine with that predicted selection.

Result? We've well & truly lost our mojo.

There’s not nearly as much intensity in our play, which is giving teams far too much time to recover, regroup and implement, with greater effect, their OWN attacking strategies.

Our passing radar seems off too, meaning we’re giving the ball away far too much and can’t, therefore, control games to the same effect as when we were swiping teams aside with relative ease & grace.

And our shot aim is off as well, increasing the risk of missed opportunities coming back to bite us, which is exactly what’s been happening recently.

There are other issues too, of course, with individual players seemingly fatigued and generally out of sorts; whilst having both [key] injured personnel and other important players trying to find their swagger again following time in the treatment room, all of which isn’t helping.

If we don’t find our 'zing' before tomorrow’s game then we could then be looking at losing 4 out of the last 5 games!

Surely not…and if we can resolve at least 2 of those concerns I’ve raised in this result-prediction summary, then we’ll give ourselves a good chance of turning it around.

However, I think we’re bound to look a little jittery at times tomorrow; possibly looking low on confidence at both ends of the pitch at times. I think we'll see a better performance from City than we have of late though…even if, at times, it might have some Blues clutching onto / half-hiding behind anything they can grab.

Originally having this down, as I did, as an away win at the start of the season; I was then, following our recent stumbles, going to change it to a hard-fought draw. It may well be a tough ‘n’ close game but I’m going for Pep and the boys to turn this bad run around with a narrow victory.

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

Prediction: Win

Result: Win (and broke records by achieving 100 points with a late winner from Gabriel Jesus).

Expected weather conditions during the game: Well it might not be quite shorts, shades, buckets & spades on the South coast of England but it’ll be flippin’ mild as we approach the crossing from December into January! 12C, overcast with little breeze and no rain.

Addition:

Rumors are circulating this morning that Chelsea's Cesc Fabregas is itching for a move away from the London club and not only have we been "linked" with the 31-year old ex-Barcelona & Arsenal midfielder, one source at least suggests that we're already in talks about a possible loan, at least.

However, reasons for his apparent wish to move are that not only does he want more 'game time' but he is alleged to want greater involvement in an attacking role. So, that leaves me with two rather obvious questions:

1. Would he see more game time should he come to City? I would very much doubt it.

2. How would his-apparent desire to play as an attacking midfielder help us in our pursuit for assistance for Fernandinho? The answer is, it wouldn't.

'Pinch of salt' at the moment, I would suggest...