…expected us to challenge for the league title, City fans included; to come out of the season having won both domestic cups and to take the league race down to the penultimate game of a rebuild / reset season is quite some achievement in my opinion. 💪👏👏👏…
Makes me feel proud, I don’t know about you the reader.
Congratulation to Arsenal – well deserved over the 37 games so far.
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| Etihad Stadium |
Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:
I was gonna go proper rogue and suggest that Pep might practically fill his starting 11 with players who have had fewer minutes this season; including the likes of Trafford, Lewis, Stones, Gonzalez, Foden, Savinho and Marmoush, plus others.
However, having had almost 5-full days off, I think he’ll want to give most of those same players from last Tuesday, who should be more rejuvenated by now, a chance to get that performance and result out of their collective systems.
We’ll see…
Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 10/11.
A very fluid 4-1-4-1 / 4-5-1 / 4-3-3 (occasional 3-6-1):
___________________Haaland(VC)__________________
__Doku______________________________Semenyo__
___________Silva(C)_____________Cherki___________
_____________________Rodri_____________________
O’Reilly___________________________________Nunes
___________Guehi______________Khusanov________
__________________Donnarumma_________________
Subs: Trafford, Dias, Gvardiol, Stones, Kovacic, Foden, Reijnders, Savinho and Marmoush.
Gigi puts the gloves on for the last time under Pep.
A back 4, occasional 3, of Nico-O-, Marc, Abdukodir and Matheus.
Rodders is ‘the holder’.
Ahead of the Spaniard, I’m sayin’ Jeremy, Bernardo, Rayan-C- and Antoine.
Erling up top.
James is reserve keeper; Ruben, Josko and John the back-up defenders on the side. Mateo, Phil and Tijjani are a trio of midfielders in ‘the 9’, with Savinho and Omar giving us wide / forward options.
Notable absences:
- Marcus Bettinelli – Not selected.
- Rayan Ait-Nouri – Not selected.
- Rico Lewis – Not selected.
- Max Alleyne – Not selected.
- Nathan Ake – Not selected.
- Nico Gonzalez – Not selected.
Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?
Yes.
Result?
I’ve mentioned how proud I feel about our achievements this season, especially with so many young and new players introduced I’m keen to add, and it was clear that Erling Haaland’s pride was severely dented when interviewed after the Bournemouth game.
Whilst acknowledging that it was important for us to win both the League Cup and F.A. Cup, the Norwegian was clearly hurt by us not showing up stronger in the league competition. He said:
"In the end, every game in the Premier League is difficult. We tried. It wasn't enough," said Haaland. "The whole club should use this as motivation now. We should be angry, we should feel a fire inside our belly because it's not good enough.
"It's gone two years now, it feels like forever. We're going to do everything we can, everyone that will be here next season, to win the league."
I like that a lot.
After the crazy decision rule by UEFA that forced us to hold our game on the Tuesday [rather than Wednesday when Aston Villa were playing, and winning, the Europa League 👏👏👏…] after a draining F.A. Cup final on the Saturday, most of our players looked like they had little left in them, I thought. I still believe that this fixture could have been played at 7:30pm on the Thursday, if Bournemouth would agree with that of course. Was it even suggested by anyone?
Attacking changes were made in order to ‘freshen it up’ and although we looked better after the break, the new attackers made very little difference against an excellent and very hard working home side. Congratulations to them for securing some kind of European competition, which is to be decided on the last day of the season.
Looking at this afternoon and our newly crowned opponents - will we face a buzzing, ‘we can beat anyone’ mentality from The Villans or will it be the case of after the Lord Mayor’s show for them? I dunno.
For us, it would be great to finish with as few points between us and Arsenal as possible; whether that’s the current 4, 3, 2 or even just 1. Damn those thrown away points throughout the season – I’m sure you’ve all got your particular results / matches that spring to mind when thinking about that for a second.
It’s actually quite a hard one to call but calling it I am…a City win.
Last season’s, corresponding pre-match prediction and result:
Prediction: Draw
Result: Won
(Pre-match blog posting from that game)
Expected weather conditions during the game: BOOM! Flippin’ boilin’! After a largely dull week up to Thursday with some heavy downpours, summer has come screeching onto the scene…in spring. 25C, although that is likely to feel closer to 30C inside the stadium. Breeze? Virtually none. Coat? Not unless you’re a nutter. ☀️😎🫗🍦🌭🍟🍺⚽ Brace yourself for a far hotter day tomorrow too. 🥵
Pep…
· Confirmation that he’s leaving has happened.
· North Stand to be named after him and a statue to be built, quite rightly so.
· Best manager this club has ever seen and one of the best, if not ‘the’ best, the world has ever seen.
· Confirmation that he’s not really leaving us, in a way, as he becomes ambassador / overseer over the City Football Group. With that, the stand and the future statue, there’ll always be a little bit of Pep close by in the future.
· Great little video, by the way.
That’s all folks!
After a period of being really quite ill, I’m off for a much needed recuperation holiday soon.
As usual, I’ll slowly get together my close season pieces, such as season player ratings, prediction results, opinion on new kits and possibly some transfer chatter too.
I hope you have enjoyed another season of my Manchester City ramblings or, if you’ve just dipped in and out of it over the last 9 months, have enjoyed what you have read; enough to consider joining me on a more regular basis.
My readership is always very much appreciated as well as any comments that you can always post on the site itself.
Signing off for now… 🫡
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| Solidarity |
Should have gone with my instincts regarding 'the 11'... 😁
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