Fire!

Pre-Liverpool, in a rather pessimistic blog posting, I pointed to the fact that a number of City fans had been suggesting that this City side has very little fight in ‘em’; something I agreed with to a point.

Last Sunday, our lads proved to me that they do in fact have fire in their bellies when they really want or need to.

Then came Fulham at home and amidst a very good first half from us, a 15-minute spell of 3 goals saw off the visitors.

It was slightly slower from us, once again, after the break and there were a couple of sloppy moments in defence that a better side would have likely taken advantage of, and it was yet another second half without a City goal; our fifth time in six matches without a post-half-time break goal. Crazy statistic.

However, that win made it 6 unbeaten for us in all competitions. 👍

WELCOME TO MY 1,000^th BLOG POSTING!

Est: 23^rd April 2013

🥳🍾🎂

v Salford City

Etihad Stadium

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

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

A very fluid 4-1-4-1 / 4-5-1 / 4-3-3 (occasional 3-6-1):

___________________Marmoush___________________

 

 

__Ait-Nouri______________________________Cherki__

 

_________Reijnders______________Foden__________

 

___________________Gonzalez____________________

Ake_______________________________________Lewis

_________Alleyne________________Khusanov_______

 

 

____________________Trafford____________________

Subs: Donnarumma, Nunes, O’Reilly, Dias, Guehi, Stones, Rodri, Silva and Samenyo.

James returns in goal for this domestic cup fixture.

I can envisage a back-4, occasional 3, of Nathan, Max, Abdukodir and Rico.

Nico-G- fills the defensive midfield slot, while Tijjani and Phil are more advanced with both Rayans either side of them on the attacking flanks.

Omar starts as striker this afternoon.

Gianluigi steps back to the bench as reserve keeper; Matheus, Nico-O-, Ruben, Marc and John make up five defensive replacement options on the side, with a couple of midfield options amongst those five. Rodders and Bernardo are two additional midfielders in reserve, with Antoine giving us an attacking wing option in ‘the 9’.

Notable absences:

-       Marcus Bettinelli – Not selected.

-       Josko Gvardiol – Out with a fractured tibia, for which he has had surgery. On 23^rd January, we were informed that it will be at least 2 more months before the Croatian international might be ready to return, which takes him up to the end of March.

-       Mateo Kovacic – Back in training with his teammates as he attempts to put nine months of injury / rehabilitation behind him.

-       Jeremy Doku – Out with another unspecified leg injury. On 30^th January we were told that the Belgian international will be out for around 2 weeks, which gave him a chance of being in contention for today’s encounter with Salford City. However, nothing was mentioned of the 23-year-old in the pre-match press conference, so I’m guessing that the wait continues for the winger’s return.

-       Savinho – Out with an unspecified leg injury. It was said on 7^th January that it will be 6 to 8-weeks before we could see the Brazilian international winger back in contention to be part of a matchday squad. On 23^rd January, we were given an update and that was that the young Brazilian had started back with some light training / running the day before (Thursday 22^nd January).

-       Erling Haaland – Rested / protected after some physical niggles in midweek would be my guess.

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

Yep.

Result?

You’ve never played a team in your entire club history and then you draw ‘em twice in two consecutive seasons. 🚌🚌…

Riding quite high in 6^th place in League 2, just 5 points from an automatic promotion place with a game in hand; our visitors from just down’t-road have wobbled a little in recent games, with 2 defeats in their last 3 outings.

Two danger men to perhaps watch out for are Nigerian born forward, Daniel Udoh, and Republic of Ireland Under-19 international winger / striker, Ryan Graydon, who only signed for The Ammies on 9^th January and already has 3 goals and 2 assists in all competitions. 🔥

For us it’s an opportunity to give starts to a few players who often begin games by watching from the sideline. However, such is the strength of our squad at the moment, aided by players who are starting to return from injury with more to come; it remains a side that shows respect to the opposition as well as one that should progress to Round 5.

🚫🍌 No banana skin today, for me; I’m going for us to make it 7 games unbeaten with a home win this afternoon.

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

Well, it was the 3^rd and not 4^th round last season, but still…

Prediction: Win

Result: Won

(Pre-match blog posting from that game)

Expected weather conditions during the game: After a cold, damp and breezy couple of days, it clears and calms down on the day of the match. A crisp-cold feel fills the air on Saturday with bright sunshine, no breeze and a temperature of 5C. Beautiful. ☀️😎🧥🧣🍵🥧🍺⚽

What a game!

I don’t often mention the City Women’s team, for no particular reason, but they were live on TV last night I was eager to watch it.

Despite the visitors, Leicester City, being bottom of the WSL, I thought The Foxes looked sharp whenever they attacked and did hit our crossbar quite early on, around about the same time as we hit their post twice. It was a game you just couldn’t take your eyes off, such was the pace.

We were fantastic – the speed of the moves and the fast, accurate passing was a joy to watch. There was skill in abundance and some of the finishing was excellent, as we ended up 6-0 winners on a freezing cold night.

I urge you to at least watch the 8-minute highlights.

Solidarity