From four defeats to sudden optimism?

Not that I, personally, was feeling necessarily pessimistic after a longer-than-ever-before blip for our manager but that’s how it suddenly feels to me, at least.

Why the optimism?

For starters, finally some sensible decisions were made with regards to our creaking international players; whether it was not being asked to join their international colleagues or others who were assessed and then returned home very quickly without kicking a ball for their respective countries. 👍

Secondly…YAAAY! Pep agrees to a 2-year extension to his current contract!

All of a sudden – and assuming most or all rested / recovering players are available for this evening – the picture looks a lot, lot brighter ahead of one HELL of a difficult, rest-of-November and December schedule.

-       Tottenham Hotspur at home

-       Feyenoord at home

-       Liverpool away

-       Nottingham Forest at home

-       Crystal Palace away

-       Juventus away

-       Manyoo at home

-       Aston Villa away

-       Everton at home

-       Leicester City away

Not just some very difficult meetings and venues there but that’s 10 games in just 5 weeks and 2 days; 8 in December for a side who has been blighted with so many injuries, including such key personnel.

v Tottenham Hotspur

Etihad Stadium

On injury news, Pep gave updates on some players but others who were out injured prior to the internationals weren’t even mentioned, so there’s a little more guesswork for me to do on this occasion.

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 / 4-2-3-1 / 4-3-3:

____________________Haaland____________________

 

 

Grealish_________________________________Savinho

 

_____________________________De Bruyne_________

___________Silva________________________________

___________________Gundogan___________________

Gvardiol__________________________________Walker

___________Stones_____________Akanji____________

 

 

____________________Ederson____________________

Subs: Carson, Ortega, Lewis, Ake, Wright, McAtee, Foden, Nunes and Doku.

Ederson in goal.

I reckon our back-4 will consist of Josko, John, Manuel and Kyle.

Flip a coin to decide who might get the Rodri role, with Mateo Kovacic the latest casualty to join the walking wounded. Mine landed on Ilkay for that position but with some assistance from the very versatile and energetic Bernardo. Of course, I could be wrong; if someone else is able to start in central defence alongside Manuel Akanji, then John Stones could move forward into midfield. Then again, there are other candidates who might be attempting to catch their manager’s eye in training in order to get a crack at that role, such as Rico Lewis, who has played there before with mixed results; James McAtee and even younger defensive midfielder, Jacob Wright.

Ahead of “whoever” and Bernardo, I had originally put Phil Foden in advanced midfield. However, with the England man first being ill, then taking some time to find his stride once he had returned and THEN having not travelling with his international colleagues due to apparent fitness issues; I’ve gone for Kevin instead. Jack and Savinho are likely to be either side of the 33-year-old.

Erling up front.

Two keepers on the side in the form of Scott and Stefan, with Rico and Nathan providing defensive cover. Jacob, James, Phil and Matheus are four midfield replacements waiting their turn in ‘the 9’, while Jeremy is a change of wing option (Nunes has been playing on the left flank recently too, of course).

Notable absences:

-       Ruben Dias – Still recovering from a muscular issue and will be missing for this fixture. Unknown return date but it’s believed that it shouldn’t be much longer before we see him in contention for a place.

-       Rodri – Out with an Anterior Cruciate Ligament injury and will be missing for the remainder of the season following surgery. Pep did inform us that Rodders will be at the match this evening (5:30pm KO GMT).

-       Mateo Kovacic – Out for 3 to 4 weeks with an undisclosed injury that he picked up on international duty.

-       Oscar Bobb – Out injured with a fractured leg that he received in training last August. A likely return is deemed to be January / February.

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

If Gundogan is indeed up to the task this evening then I actually like the look of that potential line-up.

Result?

Huhhh…it’s “them”. 🙄😰 The side who have, very annoyingly but to their credit, dealt us so many blows over so many seasons.

However, a bit of a bogey side for us, they may be, but they are a team who are having some issues with consistency at the moment; with their last 6 results in the league sounding like some kind of marching rhythm – W L W L W L. They currently sit slap-bang in the middle of the table in 10^th, as I type this, with 5 wins, 1 draw and 5 defeats.

I was also listening, just the other day, to some Tottenham fans on the radio who were calling for a change in manager, as the spotlight begins to shine on Ange Postecoglou with questions being asked in the press about the Greek-born Australian.

Switching focus to us, ordinarily I don’t much care for international breaks and the fact that they crammed in THREE from the start of the season in August to mid-November I felt was utterly ludicrous. That being said, I don’t think I was alone in very much welcoming this latest one just gone, especially as so many of our players either didn’t travel or were soon returned, as I’ve already mentioned. In addition, anything that also acts as a break following four, back-to-back defeats would be most welcome too and it COULD act as a bit of a reboot for us 🤞.

If our returning players do feel rested and refreshed then with the addition of a ‘new buzz’ about the place regarding Pep’s fantastic announcement; it could prove too much for a team struggling to string positive results together, whilst at the same time listening to talk of a possible change in boss.

That’s what I’m going for – they might score but I’m having this one down as a City win.

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

Prediction: Win

Result: Drew

(Pre-match blog posting from that game).

Expected weather conditions during the game: After a period of very cold weather and VERY icy conditions, Storm Bert sweeps in and washes all that ice and residual snow away. Strong winds and LOTS of heavy rain is set to fall all day and although the heaviest of the rain should have blown through a couple of hours before kick-off; lighter rain continues to fall throughout the match. Conditions will surely test our pitch’s drainage system and it could make for an interesting time for the players; with potential slips and misjudged tackles and passes etc. I’ve got a feeling we might see a red card in this match for one reason or another…

Solidarity