v Arsenal

Early KO tomorrow (12:30pm BST) and, so, straight to it…

v Arsenal

Etihad Stadium

 

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 6/11).

Fluid 4-1-5-0 / 4-1-2-3-0:

_____________________________________________

 

 

Sterling_____________Torres_______________Jesus

 

__________Grealish__________Gundogan_________

____________________Rodri____________________

Cancelo________________________________Walker

 

____________Laporte_________Dias______________

 

 

____________________Ederson__________________

Subs: Steffen, Zinchenko, Ake, Stones, Fernandinho, Doyle, Palmer, Silva, Mahrez.

Even more guess work, these days, than usual…

Ederson is the only one, for league games at least, that is as certain as it gets to start.

I’m going for the same back-4 that started last Saturday; that being Joao & Kyle on the flanks, with Aymeric & Ruben in the middle.

Rodders is ‘the holder’ and then a fluid bank of 5 ahead of the Spaniard, I’m going for, with-perhaps Jack being given a central role with Ilkay; Raheem on the left, Gabriel offered another go on the right after SUCH a productive game last time out and Ferran operating as the more-central attacker.

Zack is the reserve keeper; Oleksandr, Nathan & John are the defensive replacement options from the side. Fernandinho, Tommy, Cole, Bernardo & Riyad are the midfield / wing choices from ‘the 9’.

Notable absences:

-       Benjamin Mendy – Suspended by the club until further notice.

-       Kevin De Bruyne – Making progress from his injury but still not-quite yet ready.

-       Phil Foden – Still out with a foot injury and, once again, there’s no updated news on a likely return date. Update 28.08.2021: We have been told that Phil is likely to be ready to return following the up & coming international break. If that's the case, the England international may be in the squad to face Leicester City away on Saturday 11th September.

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

Sure do. Perhaps Bernardo for Ilkay might be one change-option from that predicted 11 but that looks more than decent to me.

Result? I just can’t work our opponents out – they’ve had a poor start to their league campaign but they gave themselves a boost with a big 0-6, midweek win against a very-much second-string WBA side in the League Cup. Not sure what to expect from them, to be honest.

I think they’ll ‘give us a game’, as the saying goes, and this one could be ‘a bit of a toughie’. It’ll be a close affair, I think, but I think we’ll have too much for them in the end.

It’s a home win for me.

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

Prediction: Win

Result: Won

(Pre-match blog posting from that game)

Expected weather conditions during the game: Beautiful day for a game of footy. 17 to 19C (63 to 66F) with sunny intervals and just a light breeze.

Any comment on the Cristiano Ronaldo ‘fing’?

Well, go on then – I’ll largely-just paste what I posted on a WEB site earlier:

As another poster has already said, what the article writer has written makes a lot of sense and I agree with a lot of it - for one, it does reek a little bit of desperation.

But one of his sentences does really stick out for me - "The Portugal captain has long been an out-and-out striker, a player that waits for the service and does the job". Wow...he sure would get a HELL of a lot of service in a Manchester City shirt and that alone is mouth-watering. As for us-potentially being predictable with Ronaldo in the side, I'm gonna ‘flip that’ and say that if he's simply “hanging around” in the middle waiting for the ball, that means the ‘oppo’ are gonna have to stick a couple of markers on him. Great…more room from the rest of our danger men!

Should this happen, it isn't "ideal" and I do agree with a lot of City fans who have posted on here in that we should have gone for Danny Ings or another proven, short-term'ish striker and then make the Haaland offer next summer. For me, I'm still puzzled as to why we didn't go for a like-for-like replacement for Sergio with Lautaro Martinez but Pep seems to want something different now. However, Ronaldo keeps himself super fit and would definitely add to our team more than he might disrupt it, I believe.

Since then, the scary puppet-faced one has thrown his words into the mix; whether that’s with intent to try ‘n’ convince the Portuguese forward to consider them or is some kind of 'mind games' in an attempt to unsettle us and the situation in general is open for even more debate…

New kits – opinion

Slightly later this week than I intended to publish, here are my views on our 3 new kits for the 2021/22 season.

Starting with the home one…

Decent – I like it.

I didn’t dislike our last home kit at all and, in fact, I gave it a rating of 8/10 in my blog-posting this time last year.

Like many City fans, I’m sure, I was sent an e-mail questionnaire by City and I gave it 4/5 on their rating system, which suggest that I like this home kit just as much as last seasons. Well, in fact, I like it a little better.

I’ve heard that some don’t like the side panels, believing them to be a little old fashioned and plain but I see nothing wrong with them. The only 2 things that dropped it by a point for me and was the reason I didn’t give it a full 5/5, were:

 

 

1.    The collar on the top would have looked nicer with a white trim.

2.    The shorts should be white.

I don’t necessarily dislike sky blue shorts with our home kits – I did see our lads play in all-blue kits quite a lot as a season ticket holder in the 80s and, so, I’m sort of used to it.

But I have to admit that I think we look a lot better with white shorts and as my mate pointed out / reminded me the other day; a lot of blues have a theory that we never have a good season when we have an all-blue home strip. We shall, of course, see…

 

 

Away kit

I’ll save myself a little typing time for the next two by pasting what I wrote on City’s survey which they, once again, sent me following the release of our 2^nd & 3^rd kits.

I've always liked predominantly white kits as a third City strip (I’m going back some years) and I’m okay with it as a second – it’s sure better than the majority of the away & 3^rd-choice abominations that City and their kit partners have produced in recent years, including last seasons.

And although I think it’s extremely noble that our club is supporting such an important venture as global safe water, it’s just a shame that the aqua-trim colours represent Xylem rather than City’s traditional colours; something that’s been lost over time for the most part over the last decade or so.

 

 

Still, I think it’s quite nice and should look dead smart on the pitch.

The only thing to add to that pre-written part is that it does come with alternative aqua-coloured shorts whenever needed. Oh…and I gave this 4/5 on their rating system too.

 

3^rd kit

Well...I never thought I'd like a Manchester City football shirt top that didn't have our badge - in its original colour by the way - on the chest; it never even entered my thoughts that this would ever be tried. And while I first looked at it with some scepticism and while it does still look a little bit like a training top in some ways; I have to admit that it works.

I’ve never been a fan of our past all-navy blue 2^nd or 3^rd kits – for me, navy blue isn’t necessarily traditional to Manchester City but is, instead, something that trickled in over the last couple of decades. However, I do like the tone of this blue and it does look smart when seen as a whole strip.

I also think what’s helped with regards to the “no badge” thing and the all-navy blue choice is the many woven badges within the shirt itself – I think that’s sort of been the ‘get out clause’ with regards to replacing the main badge with MAN CITY and that too, for me at least, works. I say well done.

Other than that fact that I've got my own, personal opinions on us-wearing more traditional Manchester City colours in our 2nd & 3rd strips, I would say that there's nothing that I dislike about this one really.

Once again, I also gave this 4/5.

Thanks, as always, for taking the time and if you do want to share any opinions on any or all of the above kits then I always welcome comments.

I’ll be back very soon with a pre-match blog-posting before our early KO tomorrow (12:30pm BST).