What’s so super about…

…playing on a Wednesday night in the 30+C Greek heat in a friendly match with a cup attached to it that you’re not even obliged to play in should you choose not to, according to one online source; when you’re THEN being asked by your own league back home to travel the 1,640+ miles home; try to rest, re-group and play a crucial league game on a Saturday NIGHT, of all things, just because the ‘telly people’ told them to?

Rant over – c’mon City, let’s ‘av’ it!

v Sevilla

Karaiskakis Stadium

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: A lowly 6/11, which wasn’t helped by a couple of unexpected / unreported injuries in training in the week leading up to it).

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

____________________Haaland____________________

 

 

Grealish__________________________________Palmer

 ______________________________Foden___________

__________Kovacic______________________________

 

_____________________Rodri_____________________

Lewis____________________________________Walker

____________Ake_______________Akanji___________

 

 

_____________________Ortega____________________

Subs: Carson, Ederson, Gomez, Gvardiol, Laporte, Stones, Phillips, Perrone, McAtee, Bobb & Alvarez.

12 subs allowed on the bench (we’ve chosen to take “only” 11); the usual 5 allowed to come on PLUS a 6^th should it go to extra time, which is the last thing we need, aside from more injuries, that is…

I have to say that I was slowly building my predicted staring-11 the day after our league opener and I had half-a-mind thinking that our manager might want to rest / protect some of our players ahead of Saturday night’s clash.

I had Cole Palmer starting on the right and Julian Alvarez ‘up front’ with Haaland on the bench. Later, I changed both of those for Bernardo & Erling but THEN realised that Silva hadn’t travelled!

Basically, as the time neared, I’ve tried to ‘read the signals’ coming out of the camp about the importance of this fixture and have tweaked it accordingly.

I also had a debate going on in my head about whether Pep might want to reward as many players as possible who got us to the point of being in this one-off final; hence the inclusion of Rodri when this could have been a chance to protect him; handing a start to Kalvin instead.

Stefan in net? During that early tinkering that I was doing, I put the Champions League final winner, Ederson, in there. However, with very recent rumours emerging that Bayern Munich are now very-much interest in our ‘No.2’, something which appeared to concern Pep when asked about it in his pre-match press conference with regards to-having just 2 weeks left of the summer transfer window for us to find a replacement (James Trafford perhaps?); I’ve decided that our boss might just want to hand him this one as ‘a sweetener’; not that it’s Guardiola’s style in the slightest to do such a thing. Still…I’m going for the German to start but I could well be wrong on this one.

Of course, there are many options for Pep to explore on the left-hand side of our defence; even if that’s being filled with a player, or players, whose natural position isn’t strictly left-back / left-wing back. On Friday, we saw ANOTHER player being slotted-in there – I don’t recall Rico ever playing there before, certainly not from the start – and I thought he did quite well; especially as he was being slightly targeted and buffeted around as he was. I’m putting the 18-year-old, England Under-21 defender in there not out of laziness with-him-having played there recently but rather because he’s just signed a new, 5-year deal with us and I think Pep might want to see him express himself in this one-off final. I could, of course, be very wrong there and I haven’t researched Saville’s right-side attacking threats. Anyway…joining Rico, I’m going for Nathan, Manuel & Kyle.

Rodders to start in the deep midfield position and, fingers crossed, can be one of those players withdrawn earlyish if the scoreline suits. Jack, Mateo, Phil & Cole make up the creative / attacking threat from the midfield / wings.

Erling to start up front.

Scott & Ederson are two back-up keepers in ‘the 11’; Sergio Josko, Aymeric & John are the defenders on the side. Kalvin, Maximo, James & Oscar make up the midfielders / wingers on the bench, while Julian might have to make do with being reserve striker rather than being handed an attacking midfield start.

Notable absences:

-       Joao Cancelo – Not selected / hasn’t travelled and, by the sounds of it, things are moving quite quickly with regards to a possible transfer to Barcelona.

-       Ruben Dias – Following protocol, Ruben is resting and is under observation for a few more days following the concussion he suffered in training in the lead up to our opening league fixture. Should be okay for Saturday, I reckon.

-       Bernardo Silva – Hasn’t travelled and one reporter apparently tweeted that the Portuguese international had been feeling unwell. Nothing was asked about him in the pre-match press conference, so…?

-       Kevin De Bruyne – As I suspected it would be, Kev’s out for 3 to 4 months, having had a relapse of his Grade-3 hamstring injury. Possible surgery is to be considered over the coming days. 🙄 ☹ 

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

Yep.

Result? I’ve nothing against us being in this one-match competition, by the way, and I genuinely hope we manage to add to our ever-increasing silverware on Wednesday night. However, I’m right in line with Pep’s recent grumbles - our domestic ‘powers that be’ should have shown a little backbone & consideration by allowing us to play our second league game of the season on the Sunday at the earliest; regardless of what the broadcasters wanted.

For me, it just adds a little more uncertainty about not only the starting 11 but also the outcome – simply put, I just don’t know how much desire Pep has for this trophy over 3, vital points against a Newcastle United side who destroyed Aston Villa 5-1 in their opening match last Saturday. That being said, I do suspect that our manager would very much like to have this cup in the cabinet back at M11 and Nathan Ake has already expressed, in a recent interview, the club’s desire to win this one.

As for our opposition, they lost their opening league match at home last weekend BUT, unlike us, they don’t play their next fixture until Monday evening; so I can see them having no qualms about putting out a stronger side than they may otherwise have done if they’d have been asked to play just 3-days later.

Similar to the Community Shield, it’s a bit of a ‘toss of a coin’ but I think we’ll have a little too much for the hard-working Spanish side. City to win.

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

Prediction: N/A

Result: N/A

Expected weather conditions during the game: Yeah…it’s just flippin’ boilin’.The match just about starts off with the sun still up in the sky and the outside-stadium temperature is 88F (that’s 31C in new money). God knows how much hotter it will be at pitch level and in the stands. It doesn’t drop below 84F even when the moon replaces the big yellow thing. No wind, no rain.

Solidarity