The Trafford v Manchester derby

A real opportunity for us to shake off a little rustiness; gather some momentum once again and start ‘motoring on’.

I think it’s gonna be a difficult, highly-emotional stadium-atmosphere for us to shake that rust off, however…

v Manyoo

Scaffold Trafford

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game which, for me blog-wise, was our home game against Brighton: 8/11).

A very fluid 4-1-4-1 / 4-5-1 / 4-3-3 (occasional 3-2-4-1):

____________________Haaland____________________

 

 

Grealish___________________________________Doku

______________________________Foden___________

___________Silva_______________________________

 

_____________________Rodri_____________________

Gvardiol__________________________________Walker

____________Dias_______________Stones__________

 

 

____________________Ederson____________________

Subs: Ortega, Gomez, Lewis, Ake, Phillips, Kovacic, Nunes, Bobb & Alvarez.

Ederson keeps the gloves for this Premier League clash.

A back-4, occasional 3 whenever it’s possible for Stones to join Rodri in midfield if I’m right with my prediction, of Josko, Ruben, John & Kyle.

Rodders to ‘sit & protect’; an attacking / creative quartet of Jack, Bernardo, Phil & Jeremy ahead of the Spaniard.

Erling heads the lot.

Stefan is the reserve stopper; Sergio, Rico & Nathan are the defenders on the side. Kalvin, Mateo, Matheus & Oscar are the midfielders / wingers in ‘the 9’, while Julian might have to be content with a place on the bench as reserve striker for this encounter.

Notable absences:

-       Manuel Akanji – Suspended for this game following 2 yellows in our last league outing.

-       Kevin De Bruyne – Continues to train alone whilst being assessed by physios after each & every session. December / January hopes of a return could be closer to November / December.

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

If Jack can produce another good performance similar to the one in midweek, I love that (predicted) line-up; especially the very strong midfield aspect.

I believe, with that set-up, if our lads all perform well, we can stretch the home side wide and then, perhaps, allow John Stones to ‘dip in’ to thinned-out midfield in order to exploit a sure-to-be-packed, otherwise, Manyoo centre.

Result? Despite some positive thoughts about our potential 11, I have to say that I go into the game with a little less optimism than I would like. Pre-derby nerves? Well, I shouldn’t have – we’re facing a side who, if you present your ‘A’ game’ in front of them, can crumble like a Crumbly Lancashire cheese at the moment.

Our hosts from M16 are a side who are struggling to steady the ship and find a true course so far this season – one minute seemingly getting to grips with each wave that comes along then, in the next moment, being knocked off balance as they struggle to engage the ship’s stabilisers.

However, we’re not exactly ‘firing on all cylinders’ ourselves right at this moment in time…and that’s despite winning 10 of our 13 games played in all competitions so far this season. We’ve also won the last two, thankfully, but those two victories come in a run of 6 games that look like this: L L W L W W.

I think that puts our 10 victories from 13 games into perspective, when-looking at our more-recent form.

Even our last two wins were tarnished in some ways – how we went from dominating Brighton in the first half to taking our foot off the peddle so much in the second - conceding a goal in that time - was a little concerning to see at the time and on the back of, what was then, 3 defeats from 4 in all competitions.

As for last Wednesday in Sweeden, it was a good win on a surface that we’re not used to playing on; while our hosts are very much used to it. However, although we had 14 shots on target from 26 efforts, we were still quite wasteful at times despite dominating for the most part; letting the home side back in to level at 1-1. Perhaps this is just new-found higher standards swirling around my head, I dunno. After all, it was a tricky place to go; we rested so many key players ahead of tomorrow’s fixture; we suffered no injuries, got the win and it’s 9 points from a possible 9 in the Champions League group stage. 👍

So, a side who appear to be taking two steps forward before taking a one back, backed by a sure-to-be-emotional & very vocal crowd following the recent passing of their much-loved Sir Bobby Charlton VS a team who haven’t quite found their full stride nor killer touch. Well, having not registered a single draw in those same-13 games, that’s what I’m going for on Sunday afternoon (3:30pm KO GMT). It’s ‘points shared’ for me.

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

Prediction: Draw

Result: Lost

(Pre-match blog posting from that game)

Expected weather conditions during the game: Mixed bag. Cool, without being too cold at around 12 / 13C; slightly overcast with some sunshine but also a chance of some wet stuff. Bit of a stiff, southerly breeze too.

For those who should, don’t forget to put your clocks & watches back an hour tonight.

Solidarity

Reset

After 3, back-to-back domestic defeats interrupted “only” by an away victory in Europe; for the first time I can recall, I actually thought the international break came at just the right time for us.

You know what frustrated me about our defeat to Arsenal a fortnight ago, it was that our hosts looked so off-pace and almost nervous in the first half and if we’d have stepped up our tempo; we could / should have put ‘em out of sight, in my opinion. We didn’t; their tempo DID increase, they brought on some dangerous players and thanks to a cruel deflection, the rest is unwanted history for us.

We’ve had a pretty good start to our season to say the least but we need to get last season’s attacking pizzazz back and soon.

There’s a bit of a blog announcement at the end of this posting.

v Brighton & Hove Albion

Etihad Stadium

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 / 4-5-1 / 4-3-3 (occasional 3-2-4-1):

____________________Haaland____________________

 

 

Doku______________________________________Silva

______________________________Foden___________

___________Kovacic_____________________________

 

_____________________Rodri_____________________

Gvardiol__________________________________Walker

____________Dias_______________Stones___________

 

 

____________________Ederson____________________

Subs: Ortega, Lewis, Akanji, Ake, Phillips, Nunes, Bobb, Grealish & Alvarez.

Ederson swaps his international gloves for his domestic ones and starts in net.

A back-4, occasionally 3, of Josko, Ruben, John & Kyle.

A returning Rodders to protect those, occasionally joined by John if I’m right; Jeremy, Mateo, Phil & Bernardo ahead of the Spaniard providing the more attacking, creative work in the middle and on the wings.

Erling ‘up top’.

Stefan is our reserve keeper; Rico, Manuel & Nathan are the defenders on the side. Kalvin, Matheus, Oscar & Jack are the midfielders / wingers in ‘the 9’; Julian, having travelled far and arrived back home quite late might have to be satisfied with a place on the bench as our back-up forward / striker.

Notable absences:

-       Sergio Gomez – Not selected.

-       Kevin De Bruyne – Continues to train alone whilst being assessed by physios after each & every session. December / January hopes of a return could be closer to November / December, we were last told.

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

Yep.

Result? Top league goal-scorers who also carry the 4^th-worst defensive record in the Prem – I think it’s fair to say that our 6^th-place visitors on Saturday afternoon have had an interesting start to their season.

So, they still clearly carry an attacking threat and having both lost & drawn their last two league outings, they’ll be very keen to tighten up at the back, I’m sure.

This won’t be an easy game for us as we attempt to avoid making it FOUR domestic games on the trot without a win.

As for us, everyone, apart from Kevin of course, is fit & available. 👍 Sounding slightly negative, if we don’t set up right and we don’t regroup well after our players have been scattered all over the planet representing their various countries; then facing a side who, on their day, can ‘counter’ and rip sides apart; we could find ourselves in [more] league trouble [title chasing-wise]. Over to you, Pep.

However, I just get a feeling that we WILL reset well; perhaps with a rusty start, I don’t know for sure of course, but I think we’ll see our lads ‘click’ tomorrow.

It could be “interesting” for a time – keep your nerve Blues fans – but I think we’ll come out of this clash with a 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: After an horrendous day in the region, along with many other areas of the UK on Friday, we’re left with a much drier day for our match. Even the sun may make a late appearance as the 90+ minutes approaches. Just a light breeze and 11C is the match temperature.

Due to a few days holiday, they’ll be no pre-match blog-posting ahead of our away game against some Young Boys. I will be arriving home in the afternoon on the match-day in question but too late to get a meaningful posting / analysis ‘out there’.

Solidarity

Toughest test so far this season both…

…in terms of opposition & venue as well as heading into such a game without one of our crucial components.

v Arsenal

Emirates Stadium

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

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

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

____________________Haaland____________________

 

 

__Doku________________________________Foden___

____________________Alvarez____________________

 

_____________Silva____________Lewis_____________

 

Gvardiol__________________________________Walker

____________Dias_______________Akanji___________

 

 

____________________Ederson____________________

Subs: Carson, Ortega, Gomez, Ake, Phillips, Kovacic, Nunes, Bobb & Grealish.

A slight shift in formation - I’m going bold by suggesting that Pep will be inventive in midfield for this one, as well as possibly-having read my last blog-posting 😂.

Ederson in-between ‘the sticks’.

A back-4 of Josko, Ruben, Manuel & Kyle.

“Inventive in midfield”, I say. Well, with no Rodders once again and with both players having good / very good performances last Wednesday, as well as the skills to perform this role; I think we might see the very versatile pair of Bernardo & Rico in a twin-axis partnership as cover for the suspended Spaniard; with each capable also of breaking formation and joining the attack. Both have the energy levels for it too; despite both having played all or most of our last match in Germany 4 days earlier.

In front of the defensive duo I’m going for ‘a 3’ who can all switch themselves around if required; that being Jeremy, in-form Julian & Phil.

Erling up front hoping to add to his 8 goals and 1 assist in 7 league games.

Scott & Stefan are the back-up keepers on the bench; Sergio & Nathan are just two defensive replacement options available in ‘the 9’ if I’m correct with my starting 11. Kalvin, Mateo, Matheus, Oscar & Jack provide both a wealth of experience & talent as midfielders & wingers waiting to come on.

Notable absences:

-       John Stones – Despite travelling with the squad last Wednesday and being on the bench in midweek, the England international is deemed still not ready to be part of Sunday’s squad.

-       Kevin De Bruyne – Some good news! Kev is apparently training alone now and then seeing the physios after each & every session. Hopes are that The Belgium international is ahead of his initial expected return of December / January. 👍🏼

-       Rodri – Serving the last of his 3-match suspension and, apparently, has been allowed a little holiday. I think I might try a little violent conduct at work; get suspended from my duties and see if my employer will pack me off abroad somewhere for a little R&R…

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

Yeah, I’d definitely endorse that.

Result? It’s a toughie for sure. Where we’ve lost 1 in the league our hosts are yet to be beaten and although we’ve scored 2 more league goals than our hosts and conceded 1 less; still, 15 “for” and 6 “against” in 7 games is the most impressive record we’ve come up against this season…and we’re on ‘their patch’.

They did take a hit in Europe in midweek and there are some doubts about Bukayo Saka, who is suffering with muscular issues / knocks at the moment - I’ll take any news like that as we head into this very difficult & crucial, early-season game without ‘our Rodders’. But they’re a side packed with huge talent besides Saka, of course, and they’ve been pretty impressive & devastating for the most part, aside from last Tuesday night. That’s another thing, they’ve also had a full-extra day’s rest / preparation time over us.

As for us, we’re in good shape and we bounced back well following two, back-to-back defeats in two different competitions. All things considered; I’m going for a draw.

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

Prediction: Draw

Result: Won - 🤞 for the SECOND time in two season for the same prediction AND outcome at the Emirates…

(Pre-match blog posting from that game)

Expected weather conditions during the game: WOW! Is it really 7^th October in England? 73 / 75F (23 / 24C in new money) with glorious, unbroken sunshine is the forecast for match day; a day that sits right in the middle of a forecasted weeks’ worth of pretty much the same in the North London region. It’s not bad ‘up norf’ during that same period either. A slight southerly breeze wafts over the area to help convince fans that they’ve been magically transported abroad to some coastal resort. Even without a sure-to-be-very-hot game atmosphere, that low-to-mid 70s temperature is more likely to be closer to 80F inside the ground. Take your shades and enjoy Blues!

R.I.P. Francis (Franny) Lee - Manchester City legend.

Solidarity

Two back-to-back defeats is almost…

…‘old school’ City.

There’s a bit of analysis of our current defensive midfield conundrum included in this piece.

v RB Leipzig

Red Bull Arena

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

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

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

____________________Haaland____________________

 

 

_Doku___________________________________Foden_

____________________________Alvarez____________

____________Nunes_____________________________

 

_____________________Rodri_____________________

Gvardiol__________________________________Walker

____________Ake________________Dias____________

 

 

____________________Ederson____________________

Subs: Carson, Ortega, Gomez, Lewis, Akanji, Stones, Phillips, Kovacic, Silva, Bobb & Grealish.

Wow -  it appears as though we might see 11-from 12 on the bench tonight!

Ederson in net.

I’m going for a back-4 of Josko, Nathan, Ruben & Kyle.

Rodders to most-certainly return as our deepest-lying midfielder; I think we’ll see Jeremy, Matheus, Julian & Phil ahead of the Spaniard as our attacking / creative midfielders / wingers / forwards.

Erling to head the lot.

Two keepers on the bench take the form of Scott & Stefan; Sergio, Rico, Manuel and, if deemed fit enough after another assessment in Germany, possibly John make up our defenders on the side. Kalvin, Mateo, a returning Bernardo, Oscar & Jack are 5 midfielders / wingers in the 11 (from 12) waiting to get a Champions League run-out tonight.

Notable absences:

-       Kevin De Bruyne – Recovering from a torn hamstring / surgery. Expected return around December / January.

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

Yes, although I really do hope we’re in a position to give some of the players who played most, if not all of last Saturday’s game as well as starting this one, an early’ish withdrawal ahead of Sunday’s match.

Result? Last weekend, our hosts managed to share points with the mighty Bayern Munich in a home 2-2’er; a team they sit just 1-point behind in their domestic league. 5^th is their current position in the Bundesliga after 6 matches played; just 3-points off the leaders, having scored an impressive 16 goals whilst conceding 6.

If any City fan believed that we were handed a group where we should be beating ALL teams then they might want to have a little rethink where Leipzig are concerned.

As for us, I’ve got to say that on the second half showing of BOTH sides in our League Cup exit last Wednesday, Newcastle deserved to edge it as they eventually did, 1-0. Their hunger for victory appeared greater than ours. The first half, I thought, was a training match for us.

Similarly, I have to say that for their excellent work rate, superb defending and devastating counter attacks, Wolves deserved all-3 points last Saturday, it pains me to admit. Yeah we had a few chances that we should have done better with and there were a few questionable decisions too…against both sides to be honest, I have to add, and Pep was keen to rebuff suggestions in his post-match press conference that we lost the game because of the referee. Too many of our players had an off-day.

However, even more worrying is how we’re struggling to cope without the excellent Rodri. Kalvin Phillips doesn’t appear to be the answer, albeit it can’t be easy to step into a team – and such big boots – having hardly kicked a ball since he signed in July 2022. But I have to say that it surprised me to see Mateo Kovacic struggle so much in that position too last Saturday afternoon; I really thought he was the type of player who could adapt his game in order to fill that hole for a short time. Oh for a fit John Stones (or Bernardo Silva?)…or an Ilkay Gundogan.

Having said that, the Croation must have felt a little overwhelmed as the home side hurried & harried both our central midfield and defence just behind him - it must have been like being dropped into the middle of a forest fire armed with just a few buckets of water. At least we have Rodders available for tonight and Pep will have had full week to find a solution to a very obvious problem before we travel to the Emirates Stadium this-coming weekend.

As a sidebar, I think a lack of a natural left-wing back with some pace was, on this occasion at least, exposed last weekend.

Still, long term, it poses a bigger question about what we do without our rock-steady and hugely influential Spanish defensive midfielder because if we lose him for a month or two with an injury, then we could find ourselves up a certain creek without a certain piece of boating equipment. All I can suggest in the meantime and for this season at least, is that when it’s not completely necessary to play the 27-year-old, then bench / rest / protect him as much as possible until we do find an answer as to his cover / replacement.

Would Rico Lewis, either on his own or as a ‘twin pivot’ with someone else, be a good suggestion against Arsenal, as well as on other occasions when needed? Furthermore, could I perhaps propose that a twin, defensive axis of Gvardiol & Lewis be a good combination in front of the defence, with a back-4 of, say, Ake, Dias, Akanji & Walker (with John Stones possibly not available at the moment)? Gvardiol, after all, has both good passing accuracy & range as well as his defensive qualities. Or am I just over thinking the issue?

As for tonight, will some delayed travel disruptions getting over to Germany due to a storm over Europe affect us? Possibly…but I’m reluctant to properly ‘chuck that one into the mix’ and I very much doubt our manager will want to either.

What I do want to have a little gripe about at this stage in my blog-posting, is that not only is this fixture and our next one on Sunday afternoon game-numbers 3 & 4 of back-to-back away fixtures but of the 3 matches to follow those; 2 of ‘em are away also. Putting it another way, 7 matches; 6 away from home! What’s that all about, fixture schedulers?!

After some considerable waffle there, I’m now gonna keep it short & sweet. I think it’ll be a tight game for a good while and a close result in the end. However, I think we’ll sneak it by a goal and possible two if we get our swagger back and with Rodri back in the heart of it all. A City win for me.

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

Prediction: N/A – Played them in the Round of 16, not in the group stage.

Result: N/A – Played them in the Round of 16, not in the group stage.

Expected weather conditions during the game: 13C, clear skies and a light, westerly breeze. Dry is good, of course, but if I were a fan heading to the ground, I’d do so armed with a decent enough coat to cope with a slightly chilly night (9:00PM KO local time / 8:00pm KO UK time).

Francis (Franny) Lee - R.I.P. Manchester City legend.

Solidarity