Saturday, 30 April 2022

Big decisions to be made v Leeds United

I can’t help feeling that Pep, despite likely denials I’m sure (I’m prepping this piece the day before his pre-match press conference), will have half an’ eye on Wednesday night’s 2nd-leg clash in Madrid – I can see him wanting to rest / protect as many of his players as possible but without compromising this-also extremely important fixture.

It's a very fine balancing act for sure…

…v Leeds United

Elland Road

Very surprisingly, none of the press asked the almost-inevitable question of our manager about him-possibly having some of his thoughts on our midweek game and, therefore, didn’t give him an opportunity to reject the idea outright.

I think he will make changes / rest some key-attacking players (there are less options to do the same defensively) and I’m gonna suggest one possible surprise starter, should he be deemed ready by the medical staff to start a Premier League game, of course.

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:

______________________________________________

 

Grealish_____________Jesus______________Sterling

 

_________Gundogan___________Palmer___________

 

_____________________Rodri____________________

Zinchenko______________________________Cancelo

 

___________Laporte_____________Dias___________

 

 

____________________Ederson___________________

Subs: Steffen, Egan-Riley, Ake, Mbete, Fernandinho, De Bruyne, Foden, Silva, Mahrez.

Ederson keeps the gloves.

Although he’ll be a key player and a welcome return on Wednesday night following his European suspension last Tuesday; I think Joao will come straight back into the starting 11 and slot in at right-wing back. In-form Oleksandr is likely to start on the opposite flank of the defence and although I’m thinking that Nathan could get a start in order to rest / protect either Aymeric or Ruben (or possibly Oleksandr); I’m going for the French & Portuguese pair to start this evening.

Rodders to continue in the defensive midfield role and I’m going for our fluid, interchangeable, attacking 5 to consist of Jack, Ilkay, Gabriel, Cole & Raheem. Of course, Cole is the ‘wildcard’ that I’ve ‘chucked into the mix’ and, if fit enough, I’m confident he’d do a good job and himself proud. If not – and if I’m right with the other 9 outfield players – Pep’s going to have to include either De Bruyne, Foden or Silva in the starting 11 and hope to withdraw them at some stage to reduce fatigue and the chance of injury.

Zack is the reserve keeper; Conrad, Nathan & Luke are the defensive replacement options on the side. Fernandinho, who had a good Champions League run-out at right-wing back just 4 days ago, Kevin, Phil, Bernardo & Riyad make up the midfield / wing / attacking options in ‘the 9’.

Notable absences:

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

-       Kyle Walker – Still out with an ankle injury with an ‘unknown return date’ but the England international will miss our midweek return leg against Real Madrid, at least. What a blow

-       John Stones – Out for this game but our manager did say that the 27-year-old could be available for Wednesday night in Spain.

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

Yep.

Result? What a turnaround their new manager has achieved since his arrival on 28th February 2022. 2 defeats in his opening 2 games, as the American found his Premier League legs, has turned into 5 without loss; a run of results which looks like, L L W W D W D.

However, they were so ‘stuck in the mire’ before he arrived that their fans must still be looking nervously over their shoulder as they sit, as I type this 2 days before the game, just 2 places & 5 points above the ‘drop zone’; having played 1 more game than the team in 18th.

Apparently, Jesse Marsch likes to deploy a 4-2-2-2 formation which, if I understand it correctly, is a narrow, compact setup that’s both defensive in nature whilst still allowing for 2 strikers ‘up top’. It’s designed, primarily, to be hard to break down but having the effectiveness of being good for counter attacking.

Where it can fail, so I believe, is against teams who like high possession and it’s also vulnerable to sides who like to stretch play and use the flanks…so it’ll be interesting to see if their coach might want to tinker with his usual set up against us.

Either way, it’s gonna be another hard game for us. The other week, when we still had 7 league fixtures ahead of us, I had a few ‘red flag’ fixtures in my mind and this was one of them. It still is. This new fella is a motivator and there’s no denying how well he’s turned the fortunes around of a team that was already used to playing ‘high tempo’, energetic-style soccer football. It’ll be packed out too and their home fans can definitely be that ‘12th man’ when needed.

If I’m right – or in some way close – to that starting 11, then we have enough attacking players in there to cause them issues for sure…although I do say that whilst crossing everything that Jack has at least a 7/10 game; the highest score I’ve ever seen him have in a sky-blue shirt on just 3 occasions in his first season so far.

I think it’s gonna be a tough game and we’ll have to ‘huff ‘n’ puff’ a lot to get the 3 points we desperately need to keep ahead of our title rivals. We might even have to call on our ‘bigger guns’ to get the job done; whether that’ll be from the bench or putting them on from the start.

 

I spoke to a Manyoo fan the other day who watched Leeds away at Palace in their last outing. He offered some words of comfort by saying we, “…should have no problem against ‘em”; referring to us winning, of course. However, he did note that the West Yorkshire side were very physical that night and kept kicking at / targeting Wilfried Zaha in particular. Of course, it’s a physical sport but I hope the home side don’t get too silly – we don’t need any more injuries, especially at this crucial time in our campaign.

 

We’re playing well and have hit some form; we’ve also got some players hitting really good personal form too and both of those factors should have a positive effect on the mood & confidence in the dressing room.

It should be a crackin’ game - there might be goals at both ends but looking at all of those factors above; I’m going for a City win.

By the way, this is our last domestic game of football to be played on a Saturday for the remainder of the season; with 3 Sunday afternoons and a Wednesday night to follow.

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

Prediction: Win

Result: Draw

(Pre-match blog posting from that game)

Expected weather conditions during the game: Sunny intervals and dry for the 5:30pm KO (BST). 14 / 15C isn’t too bad at all for our last fixture in April but there will be a brisk, westerly breeze blowing over / in & around the 37,792-capacity stadium.

Solidarity


 

Tuesday, 26 April 2022

1st leg v Real Madrid – The big games just…

…keep rollin’ in!

Some doubts about the availability of a couple of our defenders ahead of this one; exacerbated by a suspension of another…

…v Real Madrid

Etihad Stadium

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 7/11).

Fluid 4-1-5-0 / 4-6-0 / 4-3-3:

______________________________________________

 

Foden__________________________________Mahrez

 

_______De Bruyne___Gundogan____Silva__________

 

_____________________Rodri____________________

Ake__________________________________Zinchenko

 

___________Laporte_____________Dias____________

 

 

____________________Ederson___________________

Subs: Steffen, Carson, Egan-Riley, Wilson-Esbrand, Mbete, Fernandinho, Lavia, Grealish, Palmer, Sterling, Jesus, Delap.

Ed in net.

It's taking some guess work, of course, but it could be the case that left-sided, attacking midfielder / winger / converted left-wing back will be in the right-wing back position tonight. Yikes. If that's the case, he's likely to be joined by Nathan on the opposite flank, with Aymeric & Ruben in the middle of the defence. If not, your guess is as good as mine…

Rodders ‘sits deep’; Phil, Kevin, Ilkay, Bernardo & Riyad likely to make up the fluid, interchangeable ‘attacking 5’.

There are defensive alternatives / players who both can & have played in different positions:

-       Josh Egan-Riley is a specialist left back

-       Aymeric Laporte can & has played in the left-wing back slot too

-       Conrad Egan-Riley is a player who can both play as a central defender or as a right back

-       Luke Mbete is an outright central defender and…

-       …of course, our skipper, Fernandinho, was used for a sustained period of time as a central defender a few seasons back during one particular defensive injury-hit “crisis”.

Of course, any tinkering and / or introduction of young players would be against very experienced and dangerous opposition but those players do give us formation options too.

Scott & Zack are the reserve stoppers; Conrad, Josh & Luke are the rather young, defensive replacement options in ‘the 12’ (5 subs allowed from that dozen). Fernandinho, Romeo, Jack, Cole, Raheem, Gabriel & Liam make up the midfield / wing / striking options from the side.

Notable absences:

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

-       Joao Cancelo – Suspended for this fixture.

-       Kyle Walker – Unlikely to have recovered from an ankle injury for this one, by the sounds of it, but the England defender will be assessed up to the last possible moment today.

-       John Stones – I did initially believe that there was a better chance [than Kyle] of John making it to tonight’s game and I, initially, stuck him at right-wing back. However, I’ve since then read a report from Monday afternoon that, like Kyle, the England central defender wasn’t seen training. Unless he was being kept inside and being worked on, on a more one-to-one basis; then it doesn’t look good for him either.

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

Under the circumstances, defensive wise…yep.

Result? Our visitors have all but wrapped up their league title with 5 games to go; a ‘cup-focusing position’ I’d love us to be in but that’s another matter.

They have other dangerous players in their side, I’m sure, but a certain Karim Benzema is having a truly terrific season in La Liga; with 25 goals and 11 assists in 29-league games played. The veteran, French striker also has 12 goals and 1 assist from 9-games played in their current Champions League campaign. Wow.

Despite all of those defensive questions, I'm feeling quite confident. I think they’ll score and I very rarely stick and actually scoreline on my predicted results but I can see a 2-1; possibly a 3-2 but also a 3-1 to us. Although we have those concerns at the back; we have some very dangerous, recently-rested players of our own and I think they’ll cause the Spanish side a lot of issues.

It’s a City win for me ahead of our second leg in Madrid on Wednesday 4th May.

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

Prediction: N/A

Result: N/A

Expected weather conditions during the game: Our third home game ‘on the trot’ sees dry conditions with just a light, north-easterly breeze taking the edge off a forecasted temperature of 9 or 10C. It’s gonna be boiling hot action-wise on the pitch, I’m sure, but the fans might want to consider a decent coat for this April, night-time kick off (8:00pm BST).

Solidarity


 

Saturday, 23 April 2022

We’ve got to forget about…

Tuesday night’s game completely – 3-points in another “league final” is so-very vital.

A few words on our last game…

Frustratingly, I wasn’t able to watch the match and worst still, as it turned out, I wasn’t even able to listen to live commentary on the radio, which is something I don’t mind doing whenever I have to (I know some fans just can’t / don’t like to do that for whatever their reasons).

So, when I woke up at about 2:45am having gone to bed not knowing the score beyond 0-0 at half time, I was nervous as hell and just had to turn my PC on to find out the final score ASAP! Phew…I was SO relieved.

Whenever this happens, I then spend a good chuck of the following morning pouring over everything I can game-wise; trying to take in as much as I can to try ‘n’ guage how we played / what sort of match it was. This comes in the form of reading match reports, watching highlights, watching Pep’s post-match interview(s); looking at a variety of player ratings, reading some fan’s online postings and watching / listening to post match interviews with fans on Ian Cheeseman’s Vlog. Having done so on this occasion ‘post Brighton, I was a little concerned to both read & hear so many repeated words, such as…

-       Sloppy

-       Pedestrian

-       Slow

-       Desperately needing a striker / ‘Number 9’

I think a lot of those comments and concerns were largely aimed at our first half performance (and how well, perhaps, Brighton kept us quiet?); where I understand even some of our better, attacking players weren’t quite ‘up to standard’. I believe nearly everyone improved considerably in the second half and even though 2 of our goals came via deflections; even their manager said that the better side won. Good.

On Friday, the Manchester Evening News picked up on City fans’ grumbling concerns and produced this explanatory piece.

All things ‘taken in’ and considered; I’m hoping that’s a ‘shrugging off’ / shakedown game for us following 4 really tough fixtures that ended in a Wembley-energy-sapping defeat.

3 vital points gained; back to the top of the league and we move on to another “final” (there’s that word again)…

…v Watford

Etihad Stadium

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 10/11).

Kyle, John & Nathan are to be assessed this morning with regards to whether they’ll be fit to be part of the squad to face The Hornets and, so…

Fluid 4-1-5-0 / 4-6-0 / 4-3-3:

______________________________________________

 

Foden__________________________________Mahrez

 

_______De Bruyne___Gundogan____Silva__________

 

_____________________Rodri_____________________

Zinchenko______________________________­_Cancelo

 

____________Laporte___________Dias______________

 

 

____________________Ederson____________________

Subs: Steffen, Walker, Ake, Stones, Fernandinho, Grealish, Palmer, Sterling, Jesus.

Ed in net.

A likely back-4 to consist of Oleksandr, Aymeric, Ruben & Joao.

Rodders is the deep-lying midfielder; Phil, Kevin, Ilkay, Bernardo & Riyad are the fluid, interchangeable midfield / wing 5 that I reckon will start this afternoon (3:00pm KO BST).

Zack is the reserve stopper; Kyle, Nathan & John might make the bench as defensive replacement options. Fernandinho, Jack, Cole, Raheem & Gabriel make up a more-than-decent group of midfielders, wingers / attackers in ‘the 9’.

Notable absences:

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

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

Deffo.

Result? There’s no doubting that our visitors are in serious trouble league-position-wise as well as continued poor form. If there is any note of optimism going into this fixture for the men in yellow & black, then I think it’s the fact that some of their better results do seem-to-have come away from home this season.

I have seen them ‘up their game’ considerably on rare occasions this season; suddenly looking like a very threatening side who go on to pull off a positive result. Additionally, although it doesn’t appear to be working for him at the moment; Roy Hodgson is a vastly experience, wily ol’ character who is very capable of setting up a very organised & efficient 11 to frustrate and then probe effectively at the opposition.

However, this Watford side gives me the impression that they are very much a team of individuals…similar to a side not a million miles away from the Etihad. That’s not surprising at all when you consider the sheer number of players & managers that come & go each season.

As for us, there are those defensive injury doubts, of course, but even if all three don’t make it; then providing none of the others break down we still have the capability of putting out a very good back-4.

We need to start with a strong 11, which is something I can see myself repeating for most, if not all, of the remaining season. The last thing we need is to weaken the side even ever so slightly and find ourselves 0-1 down and needing a battering ram to break through the oppo’s defences more than once.

Sorry Jack but for me, that means our expensive summer signing starting from the bench for the remainder of the season and coming on only when it seems absolutely right to do so and to give players ahead of him some much-needed rest. I genuinely cross my fingers and hope for progression next season for the England international winger / attacking midfielder but for the most part this season; I don’t think we look as threatening with him in the side.

When I look at their 19th position in the table and see, P32 W6 D4 L22F30 A62 and a run of results under Roy which goes, D L L W L D L L W L L L then it tells me that if we don’t win this match then we don’t deserve to win the league. As long as the players go into the game with the right attitude then I just can’t see that happening. It’s a home win for me and it’ll be nice to see us go 4 points clear, even if that might only be for around 25-½ hours. It would be even nicer if we could improve our goal difference even further today, just in case it comes down to that come 22nd May.

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

Prediction: N/A

Result: N/A

Expected weather conditions during the game: Flippin’ windy (again) from the east but the high-sided stadium should largely protect the pitch from it-having an effect on the ball. Otherwise, it’s mostly sunny & dry and 14C isn’t too bad at all.

Congratulations to our second team for securing the Premier League 2 title last night! Fantastic stuff.


Solidarity