It’s F.A. Cup 3rd
round day.
v Salford City
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?
When Jack lost his England place last summer, he embarked on some early
training alone ahead of this season. Most of us at the time, I’m sure, saw the
pictures of his efforts in the Portuguese sunshine. Following his England snub,
it appeared as though Jack had a renewed sense of wanting to prove people wrong
and fight for his domestic place in the hope of regaining his international one
too.
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 game 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?
Yep and I hope there’s an
opportunity to give Nico O’Reilly a run out too at some stage.
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 |
