…a small blog announcement.
Observations and thoughts…
Well, it’s taken until November to see our first league defeat; only our second defeat in fifteen games in all competitions but it’s two back-to-back losses as we face a run of very tough-looking fixtures in the months of November and December.
- Sporting CP away
- Brighton & Hove Albion away
- Tottenham Hotspur at home
- Feyenoord at home
- Liverpool away
- 3rd-place Nottingham Forest at home
- Crystal Palace away
- Juventus away
- Manyoo at home
- Aston Villa away
- Everton at home
- Leicester City away
Wow. I’d say with the exception of Feyenoord and Everton at home as well as Leicester City away, that’s a serious-looking list of very demanding games. Before anyone comments on me not highlighting Manyoo as well, derbies are what they are and by then, they’ll have a new manager…
Last Wednesday’s defeat in the League Cup at Spurs was expected by a lot of City fans, I’m sure, but ironically I thought we played really, really well that night.
However, although I was of course hoping for a win and, indeed, made a City win my prediction in yesterday’s blog posting; that defeat yesterday has been coming for a few weeks now in my opinion. Apart from burying the last two sides in the Champions League; generally speaking we’ve not looked good in the league since we edged past Brentford at home on 14th September. I do say that, however, by giving credit also to the likes of Brentford, Fulham, Wolves, Southampton and, indeed, Bournemouth for their performances against us.
Yes, we’ve got lots and lots of injuries at the moment; some of them are key personnel and even returning players are struggling to find full fitness and rhythm. That last part was all too evident yesterday but like Pep alluded to after the game; what’s he supposed to do when he’s got players who have been covering for absent colleagues who are totally exhausted? Risk injury to them too? At the risk of making non-City fans laugh, we’re in a tough moment right now.
But injuries aside, I think we’ve had – and sill have - issues all over the pitch.
· Whether it’s down to individual errors / poor form or because we press so high up the pitch from the back without being alert / set up to deal with the many fast-breaking counter attacks we are faced with; we look so vulnerable at the back this season, don’t you think?
· We look way softer and easier to get through in the middle of the park; of course largely due to Rodri’s absence.
· Up front from attacking midfield onwards, we need to convert more of our chances. We’re just not killing sides / putting teams out of sight; some of our narrow victories – and there have been plenty of those – have almost ended up draws and, for that, we’ve had some luck and should-perhaps consider ourselves a little fortunate. I’ve already seen one fan comment online since yesterday’s disappointing performance and outcome saying that he thinks we’re in a false position in the league.
Want some more dour news in case you’ve not heard? Ruben Dias (muscular) and John Stones (foot) are both now out injured. Dias is out until after the international break but I’m not sure about Stones. 🤞
As long as they don’t join their respective international sides, this up and coming set of internationals could actually provide a good opportunity for a lot of our players to repair and refresh themselves. I’m crossing all that I can that many of ‘em don’t get selected if our club deems them as not fully fit / vulnerable to injury… 🤞
Ending on a positive, despite all of the injuries to key players and despite not exactly firing on all cylinders in a lot of games; it is only early November and false position or not, we are 2nd in the table, 2 points off the leaders, Liverpool, with a 4-point cushion from 3rd, ahead of this afternoon’s fixtures. We’re also 3rd in a new-look Champions League table of 36.
Players will return, our squad will look healthier soon enough 🤞 and as long as others who have been playing many minutes so far this season don’t break down themselves; we will find our momentum and ‘fine tune’ those areas of the team and need fine tuning.
Blog announcement
They’ll be no pre-match blog posting ahead of our Champions League game on Tuesday 5th November (8:00pm KO GMT).
Next up for me will be ahead of our away league fixture at Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday 9th November, 5:30pm KO.
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