…a necessary blog announcement at the end of this piece.
v Porto
 |
| Etihad Stadium |
(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 8/11).
Fluid 4-1-4-1 / 3-6-1:
____________________Aguero____________________
Sterling__________________________________Mahrez
__________Gundogan_________Silva_______________
__________________Fernandinho__________________
Ake_____________________________________Cancelo
______________Dias__________Walker_____________
____________________Ederson____________________
Subs: Steffen, Zinchenko, Garcia, Harwood-Bellis, Stones, Rodri, Palmer, Doyle, Bernabe, Foden, Torres, Delap.
Ed, of course, ‘between the sticks’.
A bit of uncertainty here with available & returning players but I’m going for Nathan to continue in a left-sided defensive role with Joao on the opposite flank. It worked last weekend and, so, I’m going for a central defensive pairing of Ruben & Kyle in-between Ake & Cancelo.
I think our new team Captain, Fernandinho, will get the deeper midfield role for this one; tucking back even further at times to act as a 3rd central defender when the shape needs to shift ‘n’ shuffle a little.
Having an out & out striker back does now allow for our left-winger to be put back in place and, therefore, it would be an ideal opportunity to move Phil Foden back in from the left to his far more productive middle. However, ‘my gut’ tells me that the Spanish man in charge will pair Ilkay & Bernardo in the middle for this one…or is that just last night’s evening meal? Flanking those is likely to be Raheem & Riyad.
Sergio should get another start and will be, hopefully, on the end of all that creativity.
Zack is the reserve keeper; Oleksandr, Eric, Taylor & John the defensive replacement options from the side. I could be wrong there – if they’ve been secretly working Zinchenko hard in training to get his fitness levels up he could well be in ‘the 11’ instead of Ake. Rodders, Cole, Tommy, Adrian, Phil, Ferran & Liam are the midfield / wing / attacking change-options from ‘the 12’. That’s right, folks…TWELVE substitutions for this competition this season, with each manager able to bring on 5 over the maximum of 3 occasions. It’s a decision that was made to help ease player fatigue and with the fixture list as it is and will be all season (next season too from what I can tell); I for one welcome it for our players at least.
Notable absences:
- Aymeric Laporte – Injured but, apparently, making good progress and a return is expected, “…in the next few weeks”.
- Benjamin Mendy – Injured and a return of up to 4 weeks is a little longer than Aymeric.
- Kevin De Bruyne – For Kevin, read Aymeric.
- Gabriel Jesus – Not so long ago, we were told that the Brazilian forward would have to be managed very carefully so-as-to not aggravate a muscle problem at the front of one of his legs. Doing so would, apparently, risk us losing him for, “…months”. However, yesterday our manager said in his pre-match press conference that we could now see Gabriel return in a couple of weeks’ time.
Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?
Result? Being honest? In this crazy season so far, I’m finding it hard to predict domestic football so what chance do I have of ‘best guessing’ the outcome against a team I know nothing about, player-wise, and without doing research, which I don’t have the time for at the moment?!
Domestically, our visitors sit 2nd in their table after 4 games that reads, D L W W. Their ‘for & against’ columns suggest that they are an attacking team but one that does get exposed at the back for being so; with a, F12 A6.
A high-scoring game then? Possibly. However, I think we’re getting things together at the back bit by bit and although they might breach us at least the once, I think we’ll score more than them. A home win in our first match of this season’s European campaign.
Last season’s, corresponding pre-match prediction and result…
Prediction: N/A
Result: N/A
Expected weather conditions during the game: Not terrible but pretty "yuk". Drizzly / showery throught the match and with a bit of a south-westerly breeze. Temperature isn't bad though for an October evening, at 12C / 54F. Pitch should be 'well oiled' as it'll have been rained on most of the day too.
Blog announcement
Right…I’m going away for a week but the ‘when from & to’ will dictate if I'll be able to get a pre-match posting out.
· There’s a very good chance I won’t be able to do one prior to our league game against West Ham United but then again, I might be able to. It’s a bit like that about whether I’ll get to watch the match…
· I won’t being doing one prior to our next Champions League game away at Marseille and, if you’re at all interested, I should get to see this one.
· There’s either no chance that I’ll be able to get a posting out ahead of our trip to Sheffield United…or there’ll be a very good chance that I will. Either way – again if you’re bothered 😊 – I’m very much hoping to watch this one, regardless.
Thanks, as always, for taking the time to read.
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