Uncertainty v Brentford

With several of our players telling their manager that they don’t quite feel 100% and with further assessments to be made on them ahead of Sunday’s late-afternoon match; it’s more of a guessing game than usual with regards to a starting 11 and subs.

There’s a bit of an advance blog announcement at the end of this piece.

v Brentford

Gtech Community Stadium

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 8/11)

A very fluid 3-2-4-1 / 4-1-4-1 / 4-5-1 / 4-3-3:

____________________Haaland____________________

 

 

Palmer___________________________________Mahrez

_____________________________Alvarez____________

__________De Bruyne____________________________

 

____________________Phillips_____________________

Gomez____________________________________Lewis

____________Dias_______________Akanji___________

 

 

_____________________Ortega____________________

Subs: Ederson, Walker, Laporte, Stones, Rodri, Gundogan, Foden, Grealish, Silva.

This is gonna be another tough one to predict – if PEP doesn’t know [at time of his pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon] who-exactly is available then what chance do I have...for what it’s worth and if anyone reading this still cares?

Our manager told the press guys & girls that missing players from our last outing are getting better and that no-one is definitely out. 👍 However, he couldn’t get a clearer picture, understandably, until after our player’s final training session today ahead of tomorrow afternoon’s clash.

SO…

Does he rest / protect Stefan ahead of the F.A. Cup final; a game he’s almost certain to start? I could well understand that logic. However, I don’t think Ederson needs to be regularly involved, at this moment in time; as he knows ‘the system’ and I think it makes more sense to give the German keeper more ‘game time’ / rhythm before our trip to Wembley. Stefan starts for me.

With player niggles in mind; Pep was also very mindful that some of our lads and the team in general needs to keep a certain tempo. But we also need to rest / protect some too, so I’m going for a back-4 of Sergio, Ruben, Manuel & Rico.

Kalvin to start as our defensive midfielder; Cole, Kevin, Julian & Riyad all create / attack behind Erling; who, I’m sure, would like to start finding the back of the net once again soon.

Ederson is the back-up stopper; Kyle, Aymeric & John are the reserve defenders on the side. Rodders, Ilkay, Phil, Jack & Bernardo are the midfielders / wingers in ‘the 9’.

Notable absences:

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

-       Nathan Ake – Might be involved to some degree; might be-further wrapped in cotton wool for the time being. I’m just having to go with the Dutch international not being involved at all, once again.

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

Yep.

Result? It could well be one of those crazy, end-of-season matches where goals are flying in at both ends and I can see both defences being breached. Hopefully though, it’s not a crazy match in terms of mad tackles ‘flying in’ etc. It could be a close one…but I’m going for a City win.

 

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: Very pleasant indeed. After a day of largely blue skies and unbroken sunshine, some light clouds do start to drift in before KO but it’s a still-sunny scene throughout the game, with temperatures around 19 or 20C. It does come with a fairly brisk and persistent 12MPH north-easterly breeze, which might take the edge of the temperature but it’s still a lovely day for a game of footy.

Blog announcement:

Due to going away on holiday on the day of the F.A. Cup final for a full week, there’s a very slim chance that I might not get the time to do a pre-match blog-posting for our Wembley clash. I return in the afternoon on the day of the Champions League final and there’ll be next to no chance of me getting a pre-match piece out for that game.

I will be eagerly watching both matches – C’MON CITY! – but if I don’t manage to get out an F.A. Cup final blog, then the next time I’ll be ‘putting pen to paper’ will be during close season; with articles such as end-of-season player ratings and transfers etc.

It’s just one of those things – the World Cup interruption pushed the end of season back a few weeks; forcing the two finals into a period of time where I have to either take my holidays then or wait until July / August / September and risk it clashing with the start of the league season.

Solidarity