An F.A. Cup fixture just might be what the Doctor ordered after treating our collective, damaged foot; a foot we shot ourselves in the other night, which led to a defeat in London and allowing the celebrations to start on Merseyside…whether that was in the form of not social distancing / risking the spread of Covid-19, lighting flares & fireworks and setting fire to landmark buildings in the city.
Same ol’ problems.
I missed watching the Chelsea game, as I thought I might, and didn’t even listen to the live commentary on the radio. But having since read two reports, watched some highlights and received a match summary from a friend who watched it; it wasn’t hard to see that, not for the first time, we failed in the same areas of the field after dominating so much of the game.
11 shots in the game and only 2 of ‘em on target tells an old story of creativity aplenty…but wasted chances; whereas awful, AWFUL errors in defence tells the other old, very tiresome tale.
The midfield / wing department, for the most part, must be tearing their collective, lockdown hair out!
And that, for me, has contributed to a picture so much so this season that the league stats read, played 31 league games, lost 8. Put another way, virtually 1 in every 4 of our league games have been losses so far. Wow.
Vast improvement next season is an absolute must, of course, and without banging on about it too much again, as I have done in recent weeks, that vast improvement won’t come without bringing in top-quality at both left & centre back (quite possibly right-back too if we lose personnel in that position); whilst at the same time adding another serious goal-threat in any form, in my opinion, to our ranks by October 5th.
We have undoubted quality in…reasonably-good depth in our squad and with some quality kids coming through also.
However, we fell behind in key areas in the transfer market last summer and we need to make up some of that lost time & opportunity to-both keep up with - and stay ahead of - the many Joneses around us in our very competitive league; although I say that understanding the difficulties whilst waiting for a decision on-whether we'll be banned from Europe.
So…that’s the league sorted then – a genuine “well done” to Liverpool.
And before anyone even thinks about suggesting that it’s our weak challenge that has gifted The Reds their first title in 30 years, then I point out to them not-only the many, many outstanding performances from Klopp’s men this season but a very different-looking statistic of, played 31, lost just 1, which was a very freaky, one-off 3-0 away defeat to Watford (they happen).
Yeah, they appeared to get some considerable luck along the way and scraped some games by just one goal…but that’s what a lot of champions do, don’t they?
The 1st 'guard of honour' comes from us, then, this-coming Thursday night…
But while I might sound a little dour as I start to type this the morning after we effectively beat ourselves at Stamford Bridge; I genuinely look forward to this cup clash and with pride in that, once again, we have a chance of putting ourselves in close reach of yet-another cup final. That’s becoming a very good habit indeed…
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| St. James' Park |
Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:
(Number correct from starting line-up in the last game: 8/11).
As is often the case anyway - but even more so now - it’s hard when-trying to get into our manager’s head with regards to team selection. Cup games in particular can see personnel changes in normal circumstances; where there might still be a league title to fight for and with, at this stage of the season, Champions League fixtures to consider too. But these aren’t normal circumstances.
Pep most certainly wants to win this competition (why wouldn’t he?!) and, before the Chelsea fixture, he said as much [that he already had one eye on today’s clash]. But he’ll also be mindful of how many games players are having to endure in a quick-turnaround period of time, which is already seeing his injury list steadily grow…and he’ll also most-definitely want as many key personnel ‘fit & firing’ for the visit for a certain team in red this-coming Thursday.
So with all that in mind…
Fluid 4-1-4-1 / 3-6-1 / 4-3-3
_____________________Jesus____________________
Sane____________________________________B. Silva
___________De Bruyne_______D. Silva_____________
_____________________Rodri_____________________
Mendy___________________________________Walker
_____________Laporte________Garcia_____________
____________________Ederson___________________
Subs: Carson, Zinchenko, Dionkou, Otamendi, Harwood-Bellis, Gundogan, Foden, Sterling, Mahrez.
Ederson between the sticks.
Having been withdrawn with over half an hour to go last Thursday, Benjamin should see another start at left-wing back this evening and with no obvious choice otherwise; Kyle will have to put another shift in on the opposite flank, despite playing the full 90+ just 3 days earlier. Aymeric is a must, I would suggest, and unless there is something they’re just not telling us beyond the 6-day concussion guidlines and after we were told that he was fine; I’m going for Eric to, once again, partner the Frenchman in the middle of the defence, despite the fact that the young Spaniard has been missing and hardly spoken of since his nasty clash with Ederson during the Arsenal win.
Rodders saw only 10 minutes of the second half before being subbed in the last match and, so, I’m going for him to be our deeper-lying midfielder.
Leroy to start on the left of the attack? I’ve just got a feeling that could well be the case. I’m going for Bernardo on the right and a strong double act in-between of Kevin & David…although I can see Kevin being withdrawn / rested as soon as is possible in this fixture.
Gabriel to get a starting run-out 'up top', I would think.
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| Alpha Dionkou |
Scott is, once again, the reserve stopper; Oleksandr, Alpha, Nicolas & Taylor could make up the defensive replacement choices from ‘the 9’. I’m going for the young, Spanish / Senegalese, right-sided defender to be included simply because we have no natural back-up for Kyle; although it’s probably more likely that Pep will have another plan and will include someone like Tommy Doyle on the bench instead. And I’m putting Nicolas on the side too but if I’m wrong about Garcia, then I think the Argentine will likely be in ‘the 11’. Ilkay, the likely-recovered (from a dead-leg) Phil, Raheem & Riyad make up the more creative / attacking options from the side.
Notable absences:
- Claudio Bravo – Still working his way back from a hamstring problem picked up in restart preparation.
- Joao Cancelo – Could be out for this game after apparently suffering a knock at some stage.
- John Stones – Has still not recovered from an ankle problem sustained around the same time as Bravo.
- Fernandinho – Suspended for the 1st of 3 domestic games.
- Sergio Aguero – Has had surgery on his knee and begins his road to recovery. Don’t expect to see him before August’s mini Champions League tournament; if-indeed at all this season.
Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?
I think I will always have doubts about the defensive qualities of our left-wing back, Mendy, and I am slightly concerned about using De Bruyne too much. But I’m more than happy with the look of that starting 11 otherwise.
Result? Whilst looking forward to this match, as I’ve said, I can’t deny that I also have some, very small trepidations.
It’s a ground where we’ve wobbled recently and not only have they all-but secured top-flight league status for this season - leaving them licking their lips at-getting stuck into this cup tie - but also go into the match with a decent-looking, L D W W D league form.
And with the potential of HUGE investment coming into the club next season with new, joint-owners, including those from Saudi Arabia; Steve Bruce will desperately want to show those prospective new bosses that HE can be the man to be the first recipient of those massive wads of cash. An F.A. Cup final win would certainly go a long way to convince any new owners that they should keep the North-East-born manager at the club for the start of next season at least.
But before any of that potential influx of cash, they are a fairly poor side at the moment in my opinion.
Having already just looked-over 2 team’s league records so far this season, I feel I have to-then point out that our hosts on Sunday evening have only won 10 of 31 league games played; drawing 9 and losing 12. They also haven’t even managed a goal per game in the Prem, at least, and those last-4 unbeaten games that I’ve mentioned come with a 3-0 home win to an out of sorts-looking Sheffield United, since the restart, and a home draw to a very poor Aston Villa. In fairness though, for where they sit in the table and in-comparison to those teams around them; their defence reads better than their attack.
As for us, although a look at our season-long results in all competition shows a fair amount of losses dotted between better results; we’ve only ever lost 2-in-a-row on one occasion this season. Even then, one of those negative results was in the semi-final of the League Cup that didn’t even matter over the 2-legs against Manyoo, which was then followed by an away defeat to Spurs in the league.
Our hosts certainly have increased confidence going into this fixture and if their attack was a far more potent one; I’d definitely have concerns against a defence that can implode at any given second! And to add to that, they might be a little stubborn to break down this evening.
But after last Thursday’s issues at both ends of the pitch and with a strong desire to add more silverware to an otherwise below-par league campaign; I can’t see us losing this one. It’s an away win for me…and I hope it’s one we can ‘put to bed’ in ‘the 90’ and, where, we can also rest key players as soon as is possible.
Last season’s, corresponding pre-match prediction and result…
Prediction: N/A
Result: N/A
Expected weather conditions during the game: What a contrasting country we live in weather wise! Absolutely sweltering in the high 20Cs just 48-hours ago; 14C, a decent chance of some rain and strong winds for the game. The VERY strong, almost storm-forcewinds are set to drop just before KO though and I’m not sure they would have been much of an issue anyway in such a generally-high-sided stadium. Conditions shouldn’t be a factor here.
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