High demanding Pep Guardiola warned his players against eating too much festive goodies after a performance against West Ham United that he wasn’t entirely happy with; despite us keeping a clean sheet and scoring three times.
I only had the radio to listen to the match live whilst away on holiday before watching highlights, reading reports and comparing player ratings from different sources. It sounded mostly good from my perspective but, of course, Pep knows best and must have seen something lacking in the 96-minutes that he witnessed from the touchline.
You have been warned lads…
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| City Ground |
Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:
(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game which, for me blog wise, was our away win at Palace: 10/11.
A very fluid 4-1-4-1 / 4-5-1 / 4-3-3 (occasional 3-6-1):
____________________Haaland____________________
__Foden________________________________Cherki__
_________Silva(C)_________________Reijnders_______
____________________Gonzalez___________________
O’Reilly___________________________________Nunes
__________Gvardiol______________Dias(VC)__________
__________________Donnarumma_________________
Subs: Trafford, Lewis, Ake, Khusanov, Mfuni, Gray, Mukasa, Savinho and Heskey.
Gigi continues in goal.
A settled back-4, occasional 3, sees Nico-O- and Matheus on the flanks, with Josko and Ruben in the middle.
Nico-G- sits just in front of those in midfield.
Ahead of the Spaniard is a likely 4 of Phil, Bernardo, Tijjani and Rayan-C-, with Erling up top.
James is reserve keeper; Rico, Nathan, Abdukodir and Stephen make up four defenders on the side. Charlie and Devine are two midfielders in ‘the 9’, while Savinho and Reigan give us two attacking change options from the bench.
Notable absences:
- Marcus Bettinelli – Not selected.
- Stefan Ortega – Not selected.
- Rayan Ait-Nouri – Away on international duty.
- Kalvin Phillips – Not selected.
- John Stones – On 26th December, Pep said that John still wasn't quite there but would be back soon.️
- Mateo Kovacic – Recovering from secondary surgery to clean up some calcification in his ankle. Expected return is around February 2026.
- Rodri – In a pre-match interview conducted with Club Media, our manager believes that there's a chance we could see Rodders in today's matchday squad but there were further tests / observations to make before deciding for sure.
- Jeremy Doku – For Jeremy, read John.
- Oscar Bobb – Out with a muscular / hamstring issue. Unknown return date.
- Omar Marmoush – Away on international duty.
That’s a rather large-looking red list, don’t you think? 🙄
Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?
Yep.
Result?
Our hosts appear to be marching a tune in the league at the moment and the beat looks like this: W L W L W L. 🥁 I’m sure you’ve worked out the sequency and that you don’t need me to tell you that we need to avoid what would come next.
I can’t quite work Forest out at the moment – on the one hand some results suggest that they are a tight, hard-to-break-down outfit, which you’d expect under Sean Dyche, yet on the other they have been rolled over 3-0 on a number of occasions. 🤷♂️
I expect a tight game where, once again, we may find it hard to break the home side down. Goals don’t come all that easy for the reds of Nottingham but I wouldn’t rule out them scoring against us in a fast, counter attacking break or two.
It’s easy to sound like a stuck record when you support Manchester City but that’s just how it is – facing a lot of sides who mostly set up with a low block and then hope to counter and catch us on our heels.
This concerns me a little…
Whenever I look at our next fixture and see that it’s at the City Ground, I sort of think Spurs away, Villa away…and even Southampton away. All grounds we either sometimes, or all too often, struggle at. 🫢
However…
A win? I think so. As long as we continue to show the kind of craft we’ve all witnessed of late as well as being needle sharp in our half of the pitch.
Whatever our manager thought of our last performance, a good all-round team display was how some City fans described us against West Ham and that’s what’s needed this afternoon…plus a few magic moments from the likes of Foden, Cherki and Haaland, of course.
Patience, hard work and not too many mince pies in the days leading up to the match and we should bring home a Christmas present of all-3 points. 🎁😁 I’m going for a City win.
Last season’s, corresponding pre-match prediction and result:
Prediction: Win
Result: Lost
(Pre-match blog posting from that game)
Expected weather conditions during the game: Overcast but dry once again; as the weather continues to be kind, moisture wise, and feels quite winter like. A constant 10MPH north-easterly breeze should keep any morning mist away but that does make 7C feel more like 4C for those in the stands. ☁️🧥🧣🍵🥧🍺⚽
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| Solidarity |
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