v RB Leipzig

Taking this game very seriously, of course; I just wonder if our manager will use this fixture to rest some and re-introduce some.

v RB Leipzig

Etihad Stadium

 

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

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

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

____________________Jesus____________________

 

 

Sterling________________________________Mahrez

___________Foden____________De Bruyne_______

 

____________________Rodri____________________

Zinchenko_____________________________Cancelo

 

____________Ake____________Stones____________

 

 

___________________Ederson___________________

Subs: Carson, Walker, Laporte, Dias, Fernandinho, Gundogan, Palmer, Silva, Grealish, Edozie, Torres, Delap.

For this competition, 5 substitutes are allowed from a whoppin’ 12 and I THINK the Champions League also allows an additional concussion substitution too but please don’t quote me on that…

Ederson continues in net, of course, but also after a fine, 9/10 (from me at least) performance last Saturday.

From this point onwards, I’m really gonna stick my neck out and suggest an almost completely different 11; with just 4 players from our last match starting.

A back 4 of Oleksandr, Nathan, John & Joao.

Rodri continues as our defensive ‘midfield shield’ (I had planned to suggest rotation with Fernandinho too before the Spaniard was then rolled out to joint Pep in the pre-match press conference – usually a sign that they’ll be starting), while Raheem, Phil, Kevin & Riyad provide the attacking creativity. Not a bad ‘second string’ attacking midfield / wing department, hey?

Having been withdrawn with 6 minutes of ‘the 90’ remaining at the weekend (11 minutes in total as it turned out) and appearing not to be too happy about it; I think we’ll see Gabriel start once again but, this time, he might be handed back his old, central-striker role for this one.

Scott is the reserve keeper once more; Kyle, Aymeric & Ruben the defensive replacement options from the side. Fernandinho, Ilkay, Cole, Bernardo, Jack, Samuel, Ferran & Liam, who was shown to be in training in a piece released by the club on 9^th September, make up the vast number of midfielders, wingers and strikers in ‘the 12’.

Notable absences:

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

Obviously, IF I’m correct with ‘the 11’, almost completely changing the back 4 may cause some disruption and, therefore, issues for us. Perhaps I would include at least one of either Dias or Laporte if our manager is looking to rest & rotate rather than both which, of course, he might well do.

But I could understand it if he went with this at home to RB Leipzig simply because even though it’s still early on in the season; we can’t keep asking the same players to start every week ahead of a very long and fixture-packed 8 months.

I’m not going to be suggesting that our manager will be doing anything like this in a few weeks’ time against PSG and so, yeah; I would agree with him should he go with this starting 11; that we have to take every opportunity to rotate some players whenever possible.

Result? I’ve talked about rest & rotation and that’s not to say for one second that we should be looking at this fixture as an easy-home, ‘should win’ game - I’ve seen far too many European matches to know how-very-different to domestic games and tricky these fixtures can be, even against those sides that aren’t necessarily classed as, ‘giants of the game’. We need to have a strong mindset tonight (8:00pm KO BST).

But they’ve not started their league campaign good at all with a record that reads, LWLL F:5 A:6, which includes a 1-4 home defeat to Bayern Munich last weekend, despite tonight’s visitors having slightly more of the possession against such a good side.

However, other than that defeat to Bayern, their other 2 defeats were by just a single goal to nil and they did find the net 4 times whilst keeping a clean sheet in their only league win so far. Put another way, they do sound like a hard-working, organised side.

I don’t think it’s going to be an easy fixture by any stretch; we’re gonna have to work for it and may be grateful of the option of 5 subs in order to ‘mix it up’ if needed. However, all things considered, I do believe that we’ll start our group stage with a win tonight. It’s a home win.

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

Prediction: N/A

Result: N/A

Expected weather conditions during the game: Decent. 14 or 15C is the reasonable evening temperature for mid-September during the game; dry and little or no breeze. Forecasters are predicting temperatures of around 20C (just short of 70F) during the daytime on Thursday & Friday in Greater Manchester, if you’re interested…