There’s plenty of room for error trying to choose an 11 for this home-domestic cup clash against lower-league opposition; where changes are almost inevitable. How many and where is the tricky one to try ‘n’ forecast…
Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:
(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 11/11).
A very fluid 4-1-5-0 / 4-5-1-0 (occasional 3-7-0):
_______________________________________________
_____________________Foden_____________________
Grealish____________________________________Doku
_______________________________Nunes___________
__________McAtee_______________________________
___________________Gundogan___________________
Gvardiol__________________________________Walker
________Simpson-Pusey________Akanji____________
____________________Ederson____________________
Subs: Ortega, Lewis, Ake, Kovacic, Silva, O’Reilly, Savinho, Haaland and Mubama.
With his manager informing us that he was fit again, I think we’ll see Pep use this fixture to reintroduce Ederson to first team action.
I can see a back-4 consisting of Josko, Jahmai, Manuel and Kyle.
This could be an opportunity to give Ilkay a go at the deepest midfield position but I suspect that he’ll get some assistance from James, who I’m including in the starting 11 also. The rest of the midfield / wing department is made up of Matheus, Jack, Jeremy and Phil, who I’m guessing will feature as a ‘false 9’ in this strikerless formation that I’m predicting.
Stefan returns to the bench as keeper cover; reserve defenders come in the form of Rico and Nathan. Mateo, Bernardo and Nico make up three midfielders in ‘the 9’; Player of the Month, Savinho, is a change of wing option while we might see two strikers on the bench in for the shape of Erling and Divin.
Can we just talk about Jack Grealish for a moment?
I’ve heard this argument many times before but it’s more than reared its head in the last week since Pep decided to air some of his views about the England international. For a manager who 99 times out of 100 protects his players and even takes the heat when something is not necessarily his fault; it’s not the first time Pep has decided to shine a spotlight on a player with whom he’s not entirely happy with in a particular moment.
Last Saturday was Jack’s turn.
Since those words from Guardiola, I’ve seen LOADS of online messages – mostly from non-City fans was my overwhelming feeling – stating in no uncertain terms that it’s PEP’S fault why Jack has been largely unsuccessful at Manchester City in terms of not being a regular cog in our machine. “Stifled” and “Restricted” were two words that came up a lot with regards to how fans believed Pep Guardiola had managed the player who turns 30 in September. “Told to play a certain way” came up a lot too. ‘Skip-skip, stop then pass backwards’ is, APPARENTLY, the instructions Pep is giving his £100M attacking purchase.
Really?
Jeremy Doku has been with us for around 18-months now and whatever you might personally think of the Belgium international and his end product; does it look like Pep is trying to stifle his attacking threat? I say no.
Savinho who, at times, has appeared to struggle with his new life in the Premier League has been with us for just six months. Has his manager, therefore, told him, “It’s not working lad; I want you to change by slowing down, cutting inside every time and then pass it to a teammate”. Again, I say no…and the player has been getting more rewards for his continued attacking efforts of late.
Have we ever know our manager stifle the attacking, creative styles of the likes of David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden. I think you know my answer to that.
Jack has been with us for 3-½ seasons. First season? Awful. First half of his second season? Just as bad if not worse. Second half of that season? WOW! There were creeping signs of improvement in November 2022 and throughout December, I seem to recall, but once the calendar flipped over to January 2023; Jack burst into life and produced a brilliant second half to his second season with us!
There WAS a player behind those smiling, sometimes distant, half-glazed eyes.
That last point alone blows any theory out of the water that Pep stifles poor ol’ Jack. Anyone who was watching City that season will have witnessed that half-season transformation and will know, therefore, that the player has it within himself to be far, far better than he has been for the other 3 years of his Manchester City life. He was – and therefore is – capable of being a far more dynamic and threatening attacking player and as Pep said just last Saturday, he wants that Jack back.
Does that sound like a manager who is plotting to stifle even more life out of the 29-year-old? Does it not sound more like the player himself not stepping up and finding that same form that saw a brief, 6-month transformation?
Jack has since had some injury niggles and has been in and out but…what? Where is that determined, all-action Jack we were hoping to see?
Villa fans – and fans of other clubs who appear to like to stick their two penn’orth in when it comes to talking about Mr Grealish – often point out how WONDERFUL he was in a burgundy, blue and white kit. Really? 7-full seasons at Villa Park, 185 league games and 29 goals (plus however many assists that I haven’t looked up).
185 / 7 = An average of 26 league games per season
29 / 7 = An average of 4 league goals per season
Big fish, little pond and a fish that’s appears to have been way over exaggerated from looking at those very basic stats.
Why am I now havin’ a pop at Jack?
I’m not – I’m simply having MY two penn’orth like many others have had.
Do I, like Pep, want to see an all action, all goalscoring, all creative Jack Grealish charging his way down the left-hand-side of our midfield towards goal with end product? Just like I wanted Riyad Mahrez to be more consistent and look like he could be bothered more often than he appeared, yes…of COURSE I do! But I just get the feeling that Jack himself doesn’t always want it as much as others want it for him.
I think Jack has some terrific qualities that other attacking players in a Manchester City shirt don’t have. One of them is his strength on the ball (when he’s not fishing for a foul that is) and his ability to MORE than help us keep possession when it’s needed. Perhaps tucked inside on the left of central midfield would be a better position for him than an out ‘n’ out left-winger. 🤷♂️
Wherever his manager chooses to play him it’s up to JACK to perform to the best of his abilities…just like we saw him do so for those six, fantastic months (and apparently seven amazing seasons at Aston Villa).
Once again, it’s over to you fella. Aannnnd…a-WAYYYY.
Notable absences:
- John Stones – Continues to be absent with a foot injury.
- Ruben Dias – Out with his second muscular injury of the season. Going off the initial assessment and information given, the Portuguese international has another week to 10-days recovery time remaining. On 10th January, Pep said that the Portuguese international was getting better.
- Kevin De Bruyne – Rested / protected.
- Rodri – Out for the season with an Anterior Cruciate Ligament injury. Surgery was completed months ago and the slow road to recovery continues.
- Oscar Bobb – We were treated to some good news in Pep’s pre-match press conference ahead of our games against The Ammies – after training alone for a few weeks, the Norway international has resume partial training with his teammates.
Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?
Result?
What I know about our opponents:
1. Their home kit is red and white.
2. They play their league football in League 2.
3. There’s apparently some connection with another team from just outside Manchester with regards to ex-Manyoo players.
4. They’ve never played us before.
5. They’ve never been in the 3rd round of the F.A. Cup before.
6. They’re in very, VERY good form at the moment and sit joint-second on points in the country’s 4th professional division.
Not only have they won their last 6 games, scoring 12 goals in that time…they’ve kept 6 clean sheets too! Impressive. There are also plenty of players in the team contributing to their goals, so they’re not reliant on just one or two sources of threat.
As for us, we’re definitely on the mend in terms of injured players – the treatment room is most definitely looking far emptier in recent days and weeks. And, generally speaking, there’s been improvement in our play too and the results are, thankfully, reflecting that.
However, we still looked vulnerable at the back in our last victory and before we scored, we could easily have gone a couple of goals down. We also failed to keep a clean sheet in the end; conceding a late goal after we’d scored our fourth.
That could be a cause for concern against an unknown element, such as Salford City are, and I wouldn’t bet against them scoring. If we are to assume that they will hit the back of our net then I just hope that, by then, we’ve breached their defences two or three times because that seemingly solid defence of theirs could be a problem for us.
Trying not to think about banana skins, I’m going for a Manchester win.
Last season’s, corresponding pre-match prediction and result:
Prediction: N/A
Result: N/A
Expected weather conditions during the game: Would it surprise you to hear that it’s gonna be cold? After a F-F-F-F-FREEZIN’ week, the matchday temperature is going to be…one. And, so I only discovered this morning, that 1C looks like it’ll be accompanied by light snow that’s set to fall throughout the entire game; making it really feel like an English F.A. Cup match. ❄🌨☕🥧🧣🍺⚽
Solidarity
