…factors, in my opinion, to explain a slightly-underwhelming performance last Wednesday night in Greece; all said DESPITE the penalty shootout win (it’s not often I’ve been able to type THOSE last few words).
They are…
· The heat. If you’ve ever flown from a country where it was no warmer than 18 or 19C and then stepped off a plane into 35C temperatures; I think a lot of people would admit that it can often take a few days before their bodies started to adjust / acclimatise to the increased temperature and general feel of the air. Try, then, running around in 30+C for 90+ minutes a couple of days after you’ve arrived. I know they are fit athletes but our opponents, who swapped Spain for Greece, simply swapped 35C for 35C and I think it showed at times during the match.
· Linked in with that is the fact that it was only our third competitive match of the season over 11 days, including the Community Shield, and prior to that; we’d started our pre-season later than most, if not everyone, due to last season’s successes / extended season. It’s the very price of success, in fact, and something simply has to give either at the back end of a season or at the beginning of the next one. They’re fit lads with all the best equipment and staff at their disposal…but they’re not robots.
· No Kev, no Bernardo and no Ruben (or John Stones despite him travelling). Two key creative forces and a calming influence at the back all missing the same game. Despite the quality we have otherwise; take that sort of calibre out of any side and it will have more than just a ripple effect.
· A new player, Josko Gvardiol, making his starting debut with his new teammates and, therefore, only just beginning to forge new player partnerships; as well as learning new systems and ways of playing.
 |
| Etihad Stadium |
Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:
(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 9/11).
A very fluid 3-2-4-1 / 4-1-4-1 / 4-5-1 / 4-3-3:
____________________Haaland____________________
Grealish_________________________________Palmer
______________________________Foden___________
__________Kovacic______________________________
_____________________Rodri_____________________
Gvardiol__________________________________Walker
____________Ake_______________Akanji___________
____________________Ederson____________________
Subs: Ortega, Lewis, Gomez, Dias, Laporte, Phillips, McAtee, Bobb, Alvarez
Ederson in net.
Even though there are still some personnel options and various combinations, I think the back-4 practically picks itself for this one. My predicted selection would, perhaps, limit us a little with regards to us not having one of our usual players to step into midfield and, therefore, we could see Rico Lewis being given a starting place. However, with the counter-attacking & pacy threats we are likely to face tonight, I’m going for our manager to select Josko, Nathan, Manuel & Kyle.
Rodders to take up his usual midfield position and I’m going for an attacking 3-½ / 4 of Jack, Mateo, Phil & Cole. Once again, I could be wrong in that we might see either Phil or Cole step back in place of Julian.
Erling to head the lot.
Stefan, after some midweek speculation linking him with a move to Bayern, is still with us and is our back-up stopper; while Rico, Sergio, Ruban & Aymeric are the defenders on the side. Kalvin, James & Oscar are the midfielders / wingers in ‘the 9’ and Julian is the reserve striker.
Notable absences:
- Joao Cancelo – Not selected.
- John Stones – Still out with a muscular issue; possibly in the hip area, which was the information previously issued by our manager. Unknown return date.
- Bernardo Silva – Still recovering following recent illness.
- Kevin De Bruyne – Out injured until around November / December…possible January, going off the initial assessment / information given. He has now had surgery so we may get an update - and more accurate reading - in the next 2 to 4 weeks about the expected length of recovery time.
Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?
Result? I’ve made a ‘case for the defence’ but I want to flip it over before our next challenge. We have to improve a lot if we’re to match our visitors from the North East tonight.
- I thought we played well against Arsenal at Wembley on 6th August; I thought, overall, we were the better side by a percentage of around 60/40. But Haaland hardly saw the ball that day and if the Norwegian international saw little of it in London, then he saw next to none of it in Greece. He was practically a spectator last Wednesday night. That’s not necessarily his or any one-single, City player’s fault; sometimes the opposition will-have-done their homework well and Sevilla put in to practice superbly what they set out to achieve. But we have to be savvier than that collectively and work out ways to get the ‘big fella’ more engaged whenever he gets crowded out. If not, other players then need to-then step up and become the threat. At Burnley, Erling found the spaces and clinically dispatched two goals.
- Less tippy-tappy and more punch-punch. I like watching our passing game – it bores some fans – and I totally get why we pass the ball so many times from side to side; backwards, forwards and then side to side again. It drags the opposing players from left to right, too & fro and we eventually find holes to poke through. It also drains some of the opposing players…and I’m pretty sure it mesmerises some of them too 😲. However, there are times when a little more directness is required and I thought it was needed against Sevilla the other night. Newcastle shared the best defensive record in the league with us last season – pretty-pretty alone won’t crack this lot on Saturday.
- Burnley was practically a training match for us in parts a week or so ago but what was both annoying and slightly concerning for me that night, was the sloppy, slack-looking passing along our defence. Aside from many a misplaced hit, it looked lazy / late and even a little arrogant, I thought. I was sat watching it huffing on more than one occasion and eventually said to my wife…any another, much sharper team would have been ‘picking us off’. We definitely got away with a few that night but we won’t be allowed that “luxury” against The Magpies.
So, in summary, it’s understandable why our performance levels are where they are at the moment but if we want to make it 3 straight wins from 4-games played in the first 2 weeks of the season, then we need to ‘take it up a notch’ for sure.
It’s a close one to call – ahead of the season and in a close season piece that I published back in June, I had this game down as a win in a run of victories that I predicted all the way to ‘game number-7’ in the months of August & September. Those pre-season predictions are ‘set in stone’ for-me-to-then calculate the success, or otherwise, after the season has finished.
Have I change my mind, now, in my pre-match prediction?
Well…since typing all of that and on Friday morning, I then
watched last season’s brief highlights of our home meeting in March 2023 and it
was a hard-fought contest indeed, which we won 2-0. What was very noticeable
was how quick & direct our attacks were. I’ll say it again, I believe
that’s how we need to be this time around too. I also noticed how many decent
chances they created with their own, pacey attacks and how much, in particular,
Alexander Isak caused us some
issues. I’ll say that again too, none of that slack passing that I witnessed at
Turf Moor, please
City.
Phil celebrating our opener v Newcastle in March
In his pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon, Pep was very much defiant about the tight fixture schedule following our midweek UEFA Super Cup fixture and also repeatedly asked for our home fans to fully get behind his side on Saturday. Clearly, he’s still irked by this league fixture being scheduled for Saturday night and I’m fully behind him on that one. It was obvious to me that he has some concerns but there was a very strong, steely resolved about our manager to rise to this early-season challenge.
I was being pulled very closely towards a draw in the lead up to this one and even more so following news that we have no John Stones, no Kevin, of course, still no Bernardo Silva and possibly a just-returning-from-injury, Ruben. However, call it pre-match optimism and a strong desire to put two fingers up to those who have the final say when fixtures are played, I’m going for a City win; however close or otherwise that might be. C’mon City!
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: Dry, nice & warm (18 / 19C) with just a little, southerly breeze.
Solidarity
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