Does a break in fixtures effect form?

I ask that question because our guests this-coming Monday night have not lost in their last 7 league games; a run that includes a home win against high-flying Leicester City and an away win at Manyoo.

If they keep that up, pundits will have to start including the name Burnley when they talk about teams who have a chance of finding themselves finishing in a Europa spot.

But with professionalism and a job still to do ourselves, it’s up to us to attempt to halt their progression.

Before I move onto Monday night’s game…

…a word on Leroy Sane.

As I’m sure most of you will have heard, it was announced on Friday afternoon that all attempts to secure Leroy Sane with a new contract have failed and, furthermore, it’s been officially stated that Leroy wants to play his football elsewhere next season. Ooo…I wonder where that…“elsewhere” might be?

Even those who, like me, were hoping that we could turn his head and get the talented, German left-winger to stay can’t be shocked at this statement…but it will be sad to see him leave.

But if his head’s just not right and he wants to leave then there’s no point whatsoever trying any longer to keep him ‘locked in’ until his contract runs out. To be honest, I’m not sure he was ever truly convinced that England was where he wanted to play his football – I’m sure I recall him having ‘homesick wobbles’ not long after he first arrived and, where, he returned to Germany for a short time before gaining some family support.

The big question now is, for me anyway, whether he will feature in a City shirt ever again / for the remainder of this season. I don’t know what his current ‘head situation’ is like; I don’t know whether or not he’ll ‘give his all’ should he feature for us again and I don’t know whether, likewise, how it might affect other players’ moral; those who might be sat on the bench itching for game-time whilst watching the want-away 24-year old on the pitch instead.

And neither do I know, truly…deep down, just what Pep REALLY thinks with regards to whether he wants Leroy to-ever play for him & City again and this mixed message, from Guardiola yesterday, does nothing for me to clear that up:

"I said many times we want players who want to play at this club, who want to play with us, want to fully commit to try to achieve our targets but we respect him. He is an incredibly nice guy. I love him. I love him so much, he’s so educated, nice family so I don’t have anything against him”.

"He just decided he wanted to make another adventure for his career and he doesn't want to stay. When that happens, we will help him until the last day that he is here and going to count for the players who want to stay here."

v Burnley

Etihad Stadium

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

(Number correct from starting line-up in the last game: 7/11).

Just a little rotation following last Thursday’s game, I would think…

Fluid 4-1-4-1 / 3-6-1:

____________________Aguero____________________

 

 

 

Sterling_________________________________B. Silva

___________De Bruyne________Foden_____________

_____________________Rodri_____________________

Zinchenko________________________________Walker

_____________Laporte______Fernandinho__________

 

 

____________________Ederson____________________

Subs: Carson, Cancelo, Mendy, Otamendi, Gundogan, D. Silva, Mahrez, Sane, Jesus.

The ‘flying Ed’ keeps the gloves.

Having played a full 90+ minutes (and there was a lot of injury time) just 4 days before this fixture; I’m going for our manager to assess / rest / protect the sometimes-fragile Benjamin Mendy for this one and, so, in comes Oleksandr on the left-side of the defence. Kyle, however, I can see being asked to start again for this particular fixture. In-between those I reckon Fernandinho will step in to partner Aymeric.

Rodders to be rotated with Ilkay in the deeper midfield role; Raheem & Kevin get starts once again, I would say, but joined this time by Phil in the middle and Bernardo on the right-attacking flank.

More rotation up front, I’m going for, with Sergio in for Gabriel, although Jesus has had some joy against The Clarets and age gives him the edge fitness / recovery-wise.

Scott finds himself on the bench as back-up to Ederson in the Premier League for the second game running; Joao, Benjamin & Nicolas are the standby defenders. Ilkay, David, Riyad and, yes, I think Leroy will make up the creative midfield / wing options from the side, with Gabriel possibly the reserve striker from ‘the 9’.

Notable absences:

-       Claudio Bravo – It’s since been revealed, following the Arsenal game, that he didn’t make the squad due to a hamstring issue. Apparently, he’s doing some light jogging work at the moment and should be back training with the squad in the next few days.

-       John Stones – Similarly, it turns out that John’s absence from the squad last Thursday was due to an ankle niggle. I’m taking it that this game will be too soon for him too.

-       Eric Garcia – Currently being monitored following the concussion he received right near the end of the last game; when a flying battering ram in the shape of Ederson saw the young Spanish defender worryingly flattened on the pitch for several minutes, as he was attended to by medical staff. He’s okay now, by all accounts, but this game comes too soon for him also.

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

No issues with that!

Result? I’ve already gone over our visitor’s ‘pre-Covid form’ (there’s a phrase I never thought I’d ever use or, for that matter, had even heard of only a few months ago) but something else to note would be Burnley’s extra 4-day preparation time over us.

There’s no doubt that we’ll have a battle on our hands and, if I’m being honest, if this early fixture, following the pause in the season, had been on their patch then I might have had some concerns about whether we could knock down their defensive walls; whilst surviving any counter-attack sucker-punches.

Even though we do have home advantage, no fans aside, I think we’ll find these a 'tough nut to crack'…but crack them we will, I think. Patience may be required but that will pay off in the end. It’s another home win for me.

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

Prediction: Win

Result: Won

(Pre-match blog posting from that game)

Expected weather conditions during the game: Decent. Reasonably warm (66F), a bit of a westerly breeze and dry.

 Follow me

 

To both new and regular readers, I wanted to draw your attention to the ‘Follow my Blog’ feature that I’ve only just added near the top-right-side of my Blog page. If you like my ramblings, then please click and do just that.

 

Thank you.

 

Restart – Game 1 (league game 29)

Seems strange, doesn’t it? No games for over 3 months and now trying like mad to finish the season by the end of July / beginning of August…before even contemplating a next season.

No fans; players being regularly tested for a killer virus and, likewise, so many precautions put in place at both training and football grounds that they look like scenes from many an X-files episode.

This is the changed world we all now live in, for now at least…

v Arsenal

 

Etihad Stadium

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

(Number correct from starting line-up in the last game, which was way back on 8^th March 2020 and where a largely poor performance – and slightly odd starting 11 in my opinion - lead to a 2-0 away defeat to Manyoo: 7/11).

For me, this is very similar in some ways to the start of a new season and, as such, there’s a little more uncertainty with regards to trying-to-get into a manager’s mind player-prediction-wise.

Additionally, I’ll point out for those who may not know or have forgotten, that teams are allowed to sit 9 players on the bench and a manager may use 5 of those during a game but still-only on no more than 3 occasions including the half time interval.

Fluid 4-1-4-1 / 3-6-1:

____________________Aguero____________________

 

Sterling_________________________________Mahrez

___________De Bruyne_______B. Silva_____________

 

_____________________Rodri_____________________

Mendy___________________________________Walker

_____________Laporte________Stones_____________

 

____________________Ederson____________________

Subs: Bravo, Cancelo, Zinchenko, Fernandinho, Gundogan, Foden, D. Silva, Sane, Jesus.

Ed to put the gloves back on for the first time, competitively, in exactly 100 days!

Benjamin & Kyle are likely start as our left & right-wing backs; Aymeric and I recon John to partner in the middle of defence.

Rodders to protect those as well as to-help a more advanced midfield / wing quartet of Raheem, Kevin, Bernardo, who I recon may start in the David role, and Riyad.

Sergio to ‘head up’ all of those.

Claudio the reserve stopper; Joao, Oleksandr & Fernandinho provide defensive cover left, right & centre (with the Brazilian being able to provide reserve defensive midfield cover also, of course). Ilkay, Phil, David, the returning Leroy & Gabriel provide some serious change-options from the side in the creative / attacking department.

Notable absences:

-       Nicolas Otamendi – The only notable player not to be selected / saved for the Burnley clash, I think…but I could easily be wrong here of course.

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

 

With some doubts over John’s consistency / concentration and Benjamin’s defensive qualities in general against a side that has plenty of attacking threat; I’d have to say, otherwise, I’m more than happy with that starting 11, especially if those two-named-players have decent games.

I’m also happy for Riyad to start and hope, likewise, that he has one of his 8/10 games and not one of his frustrating 5s (a strong, attacking bench should help to keep him and all on his / their toes).

Result? Although, like every other team, our lads will be lacking real match practice and, therefore, will most likely not be 100%...and despite the terrible circumstances that have led to where we are now; I can’t think of another time where our manager has had a full squad where none of his players have been involved in some energy-sapping, international tournament with little rest in-between tournament & domestic duties.

I say that because, as I’ve already mentioned, this really does feel like the start of a new season in many ways.

I’m sure one or two (hopefully no more than that) will pick up first-match niggles and I’m sure also that we’ll see a lot of player rotation as the games fly at us ‘think & fast’ in the coming weeks. However, other than that, that’s a mouth-watering prospect for the remaining games if we can keep most key players fit & available.

But it is first game back after a long time without match practice and tomorrow night (8:15pm KO BST), we might see both teams at only around 85 to 90%.

Similar to the predicted line-up & subs in our first game back following the Covid-19 break, the outcome is a tough one to call. I recon we have the better midfield / wing department than our visitors; they are known to be a little weak at the back and are in need of ‘summer strengthening’ in that area but there’s no doubting that they have attacking players who can cause some serious damage on their day.

They also have a manger who knows us and OUR manager very well indeed and that could well prove to be their biggest gun in their armoury.

Overall, however, I think we’ll start off our 10-game remaining league fixtures with a win. I can see a few goals in this one either way.

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

Prediction: Win

Result: Won

(There was no pre-match blog posting for that game due to seasonal illness at the time)

Expected weather conditions during the game: Welcome back football, welcome back the rain. Shame really, as most of Wednesday in Manchester is set to be dry & warm. However, some showers are forecasted to start to move in around 5pm and stay with us throughout the match. It might actually come as some relief to the players first game back, as the air might be a little humid prior to KO, which should cool off to a around 17C / 63F during the game.

 Follow me

To both new and regular readers, I wanted to draw your attention to the ‘Follow my Blog’ feature that I’ve only just added near the top-right-side of my Blog page. If you like my ramblings, then please click and do just that.

Thank you. Also...

...I'd just like to finally add that Blogger is currently updating its site template and, for now at least, I'm not liking it for a few reasons. So, apologies for any stretched-out format and other annoying niggles that might crop up - I'm working to adapt...