…having a Champions League fixture to think about just 3 days later.
Firstly, looking back at the Brentford clash
(A game I just about managed to mostly watch despite having a terrible cold)
·
I thought, once again, that Ederson was brilliant in contributing to
us-gaining another 3 points, whilst at the same time securing another clean
sheet for himself! I occasionally speak to a red who stops short of saying that
our Brazilian stopper is no good but often questions his ‘basic goalkeeping
skills’. Of course, when speaking to him about this, I have none of it. I do
admit to this fella that Ed has a few ‘balloon moments’ each season where he
does something really, really silly but that aside; he’s far, far more than
just a modern-day keeper who’s good excellent with his
feet – he’s a bloody good ‘shot stopper’ and so very, VERY brave!
· I was surprised to see Kyle Walker on the bench and John Stones at right back and my initial feeling was that Pep wanted more ‘height options’ on the pitch – perhaps he’d spotted something either in our opponent’s attack or the way we can attack them, I thought to myself as I blew my nose for the 100th+ time. In the cold light of day and with my cold a mere 10% better the morning after the match; I wondered whether it was a rehearsal / experiment ahead of Kyle being unavailable for three, up & coming Champions League games due to suspension for what has been deemed violent conduct in our last European outing. John has played in that position on at least three occasions, if memory serves correctly, and he’s always done okay. On Wednesday night against The Bees, I thought he did…okay again. But aside from his slip after trying to control a ball which appeared, to me at least, to hit his midriff; I thought he looked like a central defender trying to do an impression of a right-back and it’s left me feeling a little uneasy should that be the plan against better, European opposition. But, as I say, perhaps it’s just an experiment at this stage – there’s still the option of putting Joao Cancelo on his more-natural right side and installing Oleksandr Zinchenko or “A.N. Other” on the left.
· Speaking of which, I thought Joao had another very, very good game. It’s a shame, though, that his shooting was a little off on the night, as he got himself into 2 or 3 really good positions to hit the back of the net. Man of the Match though.
· Riyad Mahrez continues his good form – his international break and early exit from the AFCON has not interrupted the improvement in performances that we saw from the Algerian before he flew off.
· The Manchester Evening News gave Raheem Sterling 8/10 and I have to disagree. The England man, who got himself into some good form up until the Southampton fixture, did have a decent game and his work rate was excellent. But my word, he continues to frustrate the hell out of me and so many other Blues; largely whenever he’s in the opposition’s box. He’s got the tricks and can draw fouls but for someone with his ability, which we’ve seen so-very often, and who operates under the guidance of one of the best coaches in the world; he’s so generally inconsistent and dithery in his decision making at times. I just about gave him a decent 7 on Wednesday night. Said with gritted teeth – he’s capable of so much more!
· Jack Grealish: On the pitch for the last 27 minutes (including 3 minutes of added-on time) - another 27 minutes of absolutely nothing of any note from the 26-½ year-old England international. I know that sounds a little blunt / harsh and I truly, truly hope that the pattern follows that of Joao Cancelo & Rodri who improved SO much after their first seasons. But for the moment, at least, and this season so far…jeeeeeze.
· I thought there were a few ‘alarm moments’ at the back when we looked a little slack but managed to get away with it – I remember thinking that better sides with more quality up front would have punished us for the sloppiness we lapsed into at times. I hate it when we look like we’re going to undo all our hard work like that…
· Overall, I thought it was one of those performances where no one player REALLY stood out and it was collective organisation, determination and work rate – along with errors from the opposition – that won it for us in the end; one of those where the points were far more important than the performance. I think that was summed up perfectly in Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne & Phil Foden’s performances – decent, hard graft but without necessarily being spectacular. One article I stumbled across described our performance, at times, as being “passive”. I think that’s a good descriptive word to use on this occasion.
v Norwich City
 |
| Carrow Road |
Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:
(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 9/11).
Fluid 4-1-5-0 / 4-6-0 / 4-3-3:
______________________________________________
Foden______________De Bruyne____________Mahrez
_________Gundogan______________Silva__________
______________________Rodri____________________
Zinchenko________________________________Walker
___________Laporte______________Dias___________
_____________________Ederson__________________
Subs: Steffen, Cancelo, Ake, Stones, Fernandinho, Grealish, McAtee, Sterling, Delap.
Ederson, despite a bruising moment in our last game, continues in net.
‘To Walker’ or not ‘to Walker’? ‘To Cancelo’ or not…
With the experiment of using John Stones at right-back having taken place last Wednesday night, I’m going with my ‘gut feeling’ that Pep will want to protect his makeshift right-back and install the much-rested Kyle on the right-side of our defence this evening. Similarly, and ahead of Tuesday night’s Champions League game, I’m guessing that our Spanish boss will want to keep safe his vital chess piece, Joao Cancelo. Therefore, I’m suggesting that we’ll see a back-4 of Oleksandr, Aymeric, Ruben & Kyle later today.
Rodders “sits” just ahead of those and ahead of him is our usual, fluid, interchangeable 5 and I think that’ll come in the form of Phil, Ilkay, Kevin, Bernardo & very much in-form Riyad; resisting, as I have, a small voice in my head that’s telling me Guardiola might be tempted to start Jack; with-there-perhaps-being some extra motivation for the England man facing, as he would, his former boss.
Zack continues to be reserve stopper; Joao, Nathan & John provide defensive back up. Fernandinho, Jack, James, Raheem & Liam are the midfield / wing / striking options in ‘the 9’.
Notable absences:
- Benjamin Mendy – Suspended by the club until further notice.
- Cole Palmer – Still out injured and there’s STILL no update from our manager about a possible return date. Sounds like it could be a little more serious than, perhaps, initially thought following the Swindon game, which he excelled in…
- Gabriel Jesus – We’re still being told that he’s ‘close to a return’ – not sure if they’re just being cautious or whether he’s being ‘primed’ for a midweek return in the Champions League and beyond in a heavy fixture list…
Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?
Result? Without looking back too far, I recall our history against The Canaries largely being in our favour; to the point, in fact, where I considered us to be their bogey side. Every game against the team from Norfolk I would go into it feeling very confident…well, as confident as you can be as a lifelong Manchester City fan.
That mostly continued into our ‘post takeover’ era, I’ll call it, but then the odd, “shock” result would come to ‘bite us on the behind’ on ‘their patch’ (and one on ours, I think I recall?). And, once again from memory, it wasn’t just the result that went the way of yellow & greens; it was how unrecognisable we were as they tore at us and took all-3 points.
Having been undefeated in our opening 4 games of the season - scoring 14 goals in that time - the last time we met at Carrow Road in the league was in mid-September of the 2019/20 season and we were trailing 3-1 on 50 minutes. Only an 88th minute Rodri screamer made the result look a little less shocking. What I remember of that game was that for the first 15 minutes, we looked in complete control but then started doing ‘that thing’ we are sometimes guilty of, which is haphazardly slapping the ball around as though we don’t have to try too hard to come away with a win; before rediscovering the hard way that there are no ‘easy wins’ in the Premier League.
I hope we’ll be having none of that this evening…
Following on from that, we face a side today who are not only still fighting for their Premier League lives but who have also found some league form; with 2 wins followed by a draw.
This is another game our players have to take seriously in terms of not-assuming that we can just ‘turn up’.
Aside from rare, momentary lapses from us that I’ve already alluded to, I don’t see that happening later on today to be honest. This is an away win for me.
Last season’s, corresponding pre-match prediction and result…
Prediction: N/A
Result: N/A
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