A new signing, a number of players leaving either permanently or on loan; a player signing a new contract (YAAAY!) and a manager flying off to Spain for back surgery; leaving his ‘Number 2’ in charge not only for this game but for our following fixture too, as well as all the training / other day-to-day stuff in-between, of course.
In addition to all of that, we’re apparently in for ANOTHER midfielder (?!); have had a large bid for him turned down and should that eventually fail we are, once again, being linked with…another right winger (??!!)!
Bring on 2nd September and can we please now get back to a bit of footy, for flip’s sake?!
 |
| Bramall Lane |
Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:
(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 9/11).
A very fluid 4-1-4-1 / 4-2-3-1 / 4-3-3:
____________________Haaland____________________
_Grealish_______________________________Alvarez_
_____________________________Foden____________
___________Kovacic_____________________________
_____________________Rodri_____________________
Gvardiol__________________________________Walker
____________Dias_______________Akanji___________
____________________Ederson____________________
Subs: Ortega, Gomez, Lewis, Ake, Phillips, McAtee, Palmer, Silva, Doku.
Ed in net.
Despite one departure and one injury, there are still both personnel & shape options in defence. I’m going for our manager to choose Josko, Ruben, Manuel & Kyle; the latter returning to the city where he was born and former club.
Rodders to sit the deepest of our midfielders, while I recon we’ll see Jack, Mateo, Phil & Julian provide most of the attacking / creative threat.
Erling to lead the line.
Stefan is the reserve stopper; Sergio, Rico & Nathan make up the defenders on the side. Kalvin, James, Cole, Bernardo & new-signing Jeremy are the midfielders & wingers in ‘the 9’.
Similar to the defence but even more so, there are so many options in the midfield / wing department. Although deemed match fit, having already started his season in France, I think we might see Doku first-observe his new teammates in action from the comfy seats in the dugout. I’m confident, however, that he will see some action tomorrow afternoon.
Although recovered from illness and back in training, I think this game might have come just a little too soon for Bernardo to start or put anywhere near like ‘a 90’ in. I’m no doctor but when I watched his new contract-signing interview on City’s website, I couldn’t help notice that he still looked a little rough / drained.
Notable absences:
- John Stones – Out with a muscular issue and will miss our next two fixtures, including this one. The England international defender is ‘pencilled in’ for a return following the next international break, which takes place in early September.
- Kevin De Bruyne – Recovering from a torn hamstring / surgery. It’s hoped that the Belgium international will be available once again around December / January time.
Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?
Result? Our hosts have registered 2 defeats from their opening 2 games back in the ‘top flight’ but they’ve only been beaten by 1 goal on both occasions. Possession-wise, they were dominated by a visiting Crystal Palace side in their opening match, 68 to 32% but the following match away at Nottingham Forest, they shared 50% of the play.
It’s no secret – most pundits bring this up whenever The Blades come up for discussion – that they’re a side that often struggles for goals. In fact, that was the case the last time they were in the Prem…and it’s the very reason they’re close to completing the signing of Aston Villa and England Under-21 forward, Cameron Archer.
However, although they only managed to get 1 shot on target at home to The Eagles, I watched the highlights of their away game at Forest last weekend and they looked to have sharpened up their finishing somewhat – they looked a real threat to the Nottingham side for a good while.
They still “only” managed 3 on target from 7 shots in anger but for a newly-promoted side, 15 shot-attempts in 2 games is enough to suggest to me that they’re not content to just sit back and hope to keep a clean sheet and then nick a break-away goal.
Having said all of that, I think on Sunday afternoon they might HAVE to be content with the hope of hitting us ‘on the counter’ and I just hope that we’re set up to be prepared for that possibility. Kyle & Josko’s pace could be useful, defensive weapons to have.
If we have that threat covered, then I can’t see anything other than a City victory. In fact, if we really ‘click’ on Sunday, I can see quite a few goals flying into the home side’s net…and ‘the big man’ netting a fair few himself. It's a City win for me.
Last season’s, corresponding pre-match prediction and result:
Prediction: N/A
Result: N/A
Expected weather conditions during the game: Sunshine, showers and quite breezy. 17 / 18C is the forecasted temperature but with the westerly wind as it’s set to be, I would imagine that will feel a lot cooler for the fans in the stands. Huh…August in the UK – don’t ya just love it?
 |
| Solidarity |
No comments:
Post a Comment