Last Monday’s game against Burnley was, whilst taking nothing whatsoever away from ourselves and some very good teamplay as well as fantastic individual performances, little more than a training session against a depleted side and in the cool-night, Manchester air.
Tomorrow night is going to be VERY much different…
Firstly, positives & negatives v The Clarets
Positives…
- Wonderful performance by Phil Foden! We’ve now seen him play, effectively, on the left, right (v Aston Villa in the League Cup final) and centre of midfield. And while central is where he is FAR most effective, in my opinion, and will no doubt have the greater chance of playing regularly once David Silva leaves us in a few weeks’ time; at least we know the young man can ‘do a job’ on the flanks if needs-be. And with Pep suggesting recently that he is likely not to replace Leroy Sane via the transfer market in the summer, that can only be a (very) helpful thing…
- A reassuring (for me at least) performance also from Riyad Mahrez. And although I thought he took time to get into the game the other evening, where he could barely control the ball at times; he BURST into the match with a terrific bit of skill and goal! Crucially and form there-on-in, he maintained a very high level of performance until he was rested on 61 minutes. The MEN gave him 9/10 and rightly so, and although I’d love to see that score next to his name every week; I’d more than settle for regular 7.5 or 8s every match rather than what we’ve seen a lot of from the Algerian since his arrival, which has been inconsistent and below-par displays dotted between very good ones. More of the latter please Mr Riyad sir…
- David looked fresh for 60 minutes and was making us ‘tick’ for large parts of the game. If he is managed well, he’ll be priceless at times and when we need him most for the remainder of his time as a Manchester City player.
- Similarly – and despite the fact that our visitors threatened little – Fernandinho is a model of calmness at the back. He stood out in the back-4 for me on Monday night. And what an assist for Riyad’s goal!
- Ederson‘s passing is getting better and better…and that’s from an already very good starting point!
- Good to see Leroy back playing in a City shirt for now at least…and it was noticeable that he drifting right across the front line in addition to his left-sided work.
Any negatives? Apart from a really obvious one, it does seem slightly harsh of me following a 5-0 drubbing of our opponents. But I’m just saying what I see…
- Huffff…Sergio’s injury. I’m not just saying this now in hindsight but as he was walking onto the pitch to line-up before the game, it looked like he was struggling to walk with ease. I know, similar to how Yaya Toure use to have a painful-looking gait, he does often walk like that…but something just didn’t look right to me. Then, when he got that knock to his foot but was-then clutching the back of his knee, I just feared the worse. As it turns out, our main striker was soon shipped to Barcelona for assessment and the outcome is that he needs surgery. I would imagine that’s him out for the remainder, unless there’s a miraculous recovery in time for the mini-Champions League tournament in August. How many times have so many City fans, myself included, said that…despite the goals that can & do come from the midfield; a club of our stature that fights for all-4 trophies needs an additional, quality striker in the squad; with Sergio’s aging knees and fairly regular break-downs.
- Zinchenko – Decent again without necessarily being any better than that, against opposition that offered little in the way of quality threat. Could he be used more as a left-winger (rotating with Raheem, of course) next season once Leroy has departed and if we’re not going to bring in a like-for-like replacement? Perhaps…and that certainly would be a more-favoured position for the 23-year old. But either way, we still desperately need to strengthen our left-wing back department in the summer (right-back too if Cancelo still wants to leave / doesn't start to show us why we effectively spent £60 on him). PLEASE!
- Nicolas Otamendi still looks the weak link in the middle of the defence. Although we weren’t in any real danger last Monday night, I still found myself gripping the arm of the chair and sucking in breath as he nervously tried to deal with the occasional, brief tight spot we found ourselves in. Another position I think we definitely need to strengthen in the summer, despite Fernandinho staying for one more season and Garcia coming into first team reckoning (with a nod also to Taylor Harwood-Bellis of course).
And to finish? Gabriel has long needed a flippin’ good run in the team and he’s both young & fit enough, I would suggest, to cope with most of the quick-fire fixtures ahead of us. I just hope he finds some momentum and makes this position his own, for now at least, or else there’ll be even MORE reasons for fans to call for a striker addition by the October 5th cut-off date.
v Chelsea
 |
| Stamford Bridge |
Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:
(Number correct from starting line-up in the last game: 7/11).
Fluid 4-1-4-1 / 3-6-1 / 4-6-0:
______________________________________________
_____________________Jesus____________________
Sterling_________________________________Mahrez
___________De Bruyne_______Foden______________
___________________Gundogan___________________
Mendy___________________________________Walker
_____________Laporte________Garcia______________
____________________Ederson____________________
Subs: Carson, Cancelo, Zinchenko, Otamendi, Fernandinho, Rodri, Nmecha, D. Silva, Sane.
I could be well wrong here, as our manager has
suggested other alternatives to Jesus ‘up front’ and in light of the heavy
fixture list…with a rare admission also that he does have one eye on
Sunday; labelling it as a "cup final".
Ederson in-between the sticks.
Benjamin very likely to come back into the starting 11, as is-likely the case with Kyle & Aymeric. Should he be deemed medically okay following his concussion-clash with his own keeper, I’m going for Eric to come back in too in, what would be, a completely different back-4 line-up to out last outing.
Ilkay to rotate with Rodders, I’m going for in the deeper-lying midfield slot; Raheem, Kevin, Phil & Riyad make up the attacking 4 midfielders / wingers, despite Sunday's approaching game.
I am going for Gabriel to start.
Scott likely to sit on the side for the 3rd game running as back-up stopper; Joao, Oleksandr, Nicolas make up 3 defensive change-options from the side…with Fernandinho an option also, of course. Rodders is in ‘the 9’; a bench place for Felix, I’m going for, alongside David & Leroy. So hard to predict, really…
Notable absences:
- Claudio Bravo – Possibly close to a
return but likely not in the match-day squad tomorrow. And it's my understanding that he may be about to be offered a new contract! That, I'm sure, comes after a plethora of Injuries to out-on-loan Zack Steffen, who was lined up to re-join us in the summer but may now not be doing so.
- John Stones – Getting better, by all accounts, but not yet, I'm guessing.
- Sergio Aguero – Injured.
Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?
I think I’d go again with Rodri as our 'anchoring midfielder' instead of Ilkay, especially away at Chelsea. Otherwise, that looks very good to me.
Result? I think this is all gonna be about game management from Pep Guardiola. I suggested at the start of this posting that this was going to be a totally different scenario to Monday’s night’s clash and I meant it for 2 reasons.
Firstly, the temperature. It’s gonna be very hot, still sunny and the humidity is going to be high too. I can see more than one drinks break being allowed each half and it’s certainly going to sap energies.
Secondly – and as my mate pointed out to me the other night – this is a really, REALLY important league fixture to our hosts and although we need to maintain our 2nd-place spot; our more important fixture comes less than 72-hours later away at Newcastle United in the F.A. Cup quarter final (Chelsea too play in the same round on the same day but I agree with my mate that they’ll want 3rd or 4th more than silverware in the cabinet this season I’m sure).
Besides, do we REALLY want to help Manyoo out by taking points off Chelsea?
Seriously though, I can see Pep giving his players instructions to play in a way that conserves energy as much as possible – likely to be bursts of 5 or 10 minutes to try ‘n’ get a goal, followed by 20 minutes of neat ball possession and soaking up home pressure. With Jesus almost sure to start, I can see him drifting deep and sometimes wide; interchanging with Raheem on occasions meaning that we may, at times, play with 6 across the middle and no obvious front man. If so, that’ll help control the game. I think we’ll also see all-5 subs used and, quite possibly, earlier-on than we’ve seen in our opening 2 games to rest key players as much as possible ahead of the weekend fixture.
Result? I’m really stuck between a draw and an away win.
They did eventually beat Villa the other day and were, apparently, the deserved winners. But they did fall behind to a very poor team and although credit to them for coming away with the 1-2 win; that still speaks of some vulnerabilities in Frank’s side.
League form’s decent - L W D W W - and they have a good balance of experience & youth. In the heat and with perhaps (now confirmed) half an’ eye on Sunday’s cup game / Pep-not-wanting-to overstretch his players; I’m gonna go for a draw.
It’s a game I might not actually get to watch, for one reason or another… ☹
Last season’s, corresponding pre-match prediction and result…
Prediction: Draw
Result: Lost
(There was no pre-match blog-posting from me ahead of this fixture)
Expected weather conditions during the game: Flippin’ boilin’! KO starts at a temperature of 26C / 79F but with humidity levels at 46%; apparently that’s gonna feel more like 29C / 84F…and that’s standing still! It’s not going to drop much at all as the game progresses and in an enclosed stadium, you can bet those temperatures will be even higher than generally forecasted. It would’ve been a barmy night for the fans, had there had been any, but I can’t see the players enjoying that too much.
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