The Manchester v Trafford Derby

v Manyoo

Etihad Stadium

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 8/11).

Fluid 4-1-5-0 / 4-6-0 / 4-3-3:

______________________________________________

 

Sterling_________________________________Mahrez

____________________De Bruyne_________________

__________Foden_________________Silva__________

 

______________________Rodri____________________

Cancelo__________________________________Walker

 

___________Laporte_____________Stones__________

 

 

_____________________Ederson__________________

Subs: Carson, Steffen, Zinchenko, Mbete, Fernandinho, Gundogan, Grealish, McAtee, Jesus.

Ederson in net is a ‘no brainer’.

Our back 4 is highly likely to consist of Joao, Aymeric, John & Kyle.

Rodders, who I’m hoping rediscovers his near-season-long good form, ‘sits in’ / shields and then ahead of the Spaniard is a fluid, interchangeable, 'attacking 5' of Raheem, Phil, Kevin, Bernardo & Riyad. Jeeeze…if all those are on their ‘A game’ on the day, God help Maguire & Co!

2 keepers in the form of Scott & Zack on the bench, I would say and in case recently-recovered Zack ‘feels a niggle’ and a change of goalie is required. Oleksandr & Luke are the only defenders on the side, while Fernandinho, Ilkay, Jack, James & Gabriel provide midfield / wing / attacking options in ‘the 9’.

Notable absences:

-       Benjamin Mendy – Suspended by the club until further notice.

-       Nathan Ake – Having landed awkwardly / flat on his back in our last outing following an aerial challenge, the Dutch international defender will be missing for a short time with an…“undisclosed injury”. It looked flippin’ painful at the time, I recall quite clearly…

-       Ruben Dias – Picked up a hamstring injury in our last match and will be out for 4 to 6 weeks. Worst case scenario [6 weeks], we could lose the Portuguese central defender for 7 games; the 7^th game being 50/50 / about the end of that recovery estimate and, which, would be the Liverpool clash.

-       Cole Palmer – The good news is that the 19-year-old attacking midfielder has now been deemed fit enough to resume training in the coming days, following a foot injury that he received a full 2 months ago.

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

Sure do.

Result? I regularly speak to a red who, in fairness to him, has always been so-very honest about his own team’s performances; even if they somehow achieve an underserved win or manage to scrape a draw, he very often tells me how poorly they defended / defend generally; how terrible they were / are at passing and how wasteful they were / are in front of goal. Personally - not that I pay too much attention to that side, of course - I think it’s a largely unhappy and disjointed camp; full of ‘big egos’ vying to be ‘top dog’ in the dressing room and players who, otherwise, just don’t appear to care enough for the club that pays their wages.

As for us, generally speaking I think we’ve lost about 10% of our powers in recent games; I think our passing has been a little off and some key, previously in-form players have looked a slightly ‘off colour’; as well as, perhaps, a little jaded. We've slowed are attacking play a little too, I would sauggest. That being said, I still think we’re playing well and we just need to both tighten & ‘sharpen up’ a tad.

All things considered? I’m putting this down as a home win…and that’s despite our visitors achieving some positive results on ‘our patch’ in recent seasons.

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

(Pre-match blog posting from that game)

Prediction: Win

Result: Lost

Expected weather conditions during the game: Although low in the sky, the start of the game (4:30pm GMT on Sunday afternoon) should see a bit of sunshine. Dry throughout the match but as daylight turns into night, it starts to get a little chilly; with a finishing temperature of 6C perhaps feeling a little colder as a light, easterly breeze wafts over the ground.

Solidarity

A welcome distraction; something we…

 …can use to gather momentum OR will a [predicted] change in personnel, tonight, perhaps disrupt us a little as we look to stabilise ourselves?

There’s no doubting that we’ve not exactly looked our-previous selves in recent games from the side who looked so-very assured and deadly in our play during a fabulous run of victories from early November to mid-January. That being said, we’ve actually not been playing too badly at all, in my opinion; still pressing the opposition very well as well as defending okay, for the most part, too (we still have the best defensive record in the league).

But you’d have to have LARGE blue-tinted glasses on not to see that we have looked a little ‘off colour’ in some respect during a…blip period? where we’ve drawn 1 and lost 1 in our last 5 league outings. Certainly, for me at least, previously in-form players such as Joao Cancelo & Rodri have looked ‘off the boil’ and I am struggling to understand why in-form Riyad Mahrez has not been starting recently.

Chuck into the mix the fact that I’ve noticed our passing has been a little off too, even from the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, and it almost sounds like a mini-crisis that we’re experiencing!

But I stop WELL short of some of the panic that I’ve both heard and heard about from some City fans; even though I can half-understand it with-having Liverpool ‘breathing down our necks’ once more.

v Peterborough United

Weston Homes 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 home game against Spurs: 10/11).

It’s worth noting that our second team played away last night (0-0 was the result) and a good number of players who have seen themselves in & around the first team were in the starting 11. I have no idea how many minutes of ‘the 90’ each of those players played as yet / as I type this and, therefore, there is some considerable doubt as to whether any of them will be involved in the first team squad tonight and, if so, whether they’ll be on the bench or will be asked to start another game in 24-hours.

Fluid 4-1-4-1 / 4-5-1 / 4-3-3:

_____________________Jesus____________________

 

Grealish_________________________________Mahrez

 

__________Gundogan___________McAtee__________

 

___________________Fernandinho_________________

Zinchenko________________________________Walker

 

_____________Ake______________Stones___________

 

 

_____________________Ederson___________________

Subs: Carson, Slicker, Cancelo, Dias, Rodri, De Bruyne, Foden, Silva, Sterling.

Will Pep go with back-up keeper number 3 or 4? I’m going to say, no – Ederson will be a surprise / not-so-surprise inclusion tonight.

An almost completely changed back-4 from our last outing, with only John keeping his place but moving to his more familiar central role. Joining the England international is Oleksandr, Nathan & Kyle, with the latter keen, I’m sure, to put a in a good performance in an effort to get his regular place back; a situation not helped by the fact that he’s still to miss 2 more Champions League fixtures due to being found guilty of violent conduct. I get the feeling that he’s being punished by both UEFA and, in some ways a little, by his manager, following the on-the-field incident in December 2021…

Official Club Captain, Fernandinho, is highly likely to get the defensive midfield job, with a 4-man, attacking midfield ahead of him that looks like Jack, Ilkay, James, who MIGHT be asked to start this one despite playing last night, and Riyad.

And although he’s versatile and will likely interchange, drop deep and go wide; I think we can officially state that we’ll be deploying a striker later on today and that’ll be in the form of Brazilian, Gabriel.

Scott, who may have fancied himself as a starter in Cambridgeshire, is one of two reserve keepers; the other being Cieran, who also featured in last night’s game. Joao & Ruben are the only two defenders on the side; Rodders, Kevin, Phil, Bernardo & Raheem are the midfielders / wingers / attackers in ‘the 9’ (5 subs still allowed in this competition at the moment, as far as I know / understand it at least).

Youth players who may have-otherwise featured – and still could, of course – but I’m guessing won’t, include:

-       Conrad Egan-Riley

-       Luke Mbete

-       Oscar Bobb

-       Kayky

-       Liam Delap, who I’m predicting will-definitely not be risked as he is eased back into action following a long injury layoff.

It’s worth noting that exciting prospect, Samuel Edozie, was welcomed back last night after a long absence also following a serious leg injury.

Notable absences:

-       Zack Steffen – Still out injured and it’s now been confirmed by our boss that the American is out with a shoulder injury and not, as I suspected it to be at least, a continuation / flare up of a recent back issue.

-       Benjamin Mendy – Suspended by the club until further notice.

-       Aymeric Laporte – Not selected / rested / protected.

-       Cole Palmer – STILL no update about the 19-year-old attacking midfielder after his excellent game in the last round of this competition and subsequent foot injury following that fixture. It’s been nearly 2 months now, which suggests to me that the injury is quite serious. I don’t recall seeing him hobbling off when he was substituted on 86 minutes in the match and I wish some journalist would make some enquiries as to the extent of the issue; as I see him as an important asset in ‘the run in’.

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

Absolutely.

Result?

To me, to you...

Now I’m not for one second referring to either of these managers as the Chuckle Brothers but, instead, I’m making the reference to how often this football club has employed, parted company with and then re-employed each fella. Unbelievable!

-       Darren Ferguson: January 2007 to November 2009

-       Darren Ferguson: January 2011 to February 2015

-       Grant McCann: (Caretaker Manager) 2015

-       Grant McCann: May 2016 to February 2018

-       Darren Ferguson: January 2019 to February 2022

-       Grant McCann: February 2022 to present…

I mean…WHAT THE HELL?!

I think it’s worth a mention that former Manchester City player, David Oldfield, managed to get 2 separate spells in charge as Caretaker Manager amongst those periods; where he has a record of: Played 2, Won 2. 👍

Our hosts currently sit bottom of the Championship with just 5 wins from 33; drawing 6, losing a whopping 22, scoring just 24 times and conceding 66, which is one less than Reading at least!

As they sit 8 points adrift of safety and with a far worse goal difference, albeit with a game in hand over the team just out of the bottom 3 (Reading again); I think the F.A. Cup is a distraction they could well do without really, apart from being given a financial boost of course.

There are cup upsets…and there are CUP UPSETS. This one would be absolutely enormous, should it happen.

I just can’t see it myself – it’s a City win for me.

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

Prediction: N/A

Result: N/A

Expected weather conditions during the game: A bit mirky and there might be a little drizzle in the air for the 7:15pm KO (GMT). 6C is the official temperature but that could feel considerable colder with a fairly brisk, north easterly breeze blowing across a ground with low roofs and open corners.

Solidarity

Blog announcement

Due to going away on Friday morning for a long weekend holiday, they’ll be no pre-match blog-posting ahead of our trip to Everton; a game I’m also unlikely to get to watch and, so… 🤞

This was always going to be, of course, a game we need to win – we were certainly never in a position to 'take our foot off the accelerator'. But having suffered an irritating home defeat to Spurs, yesterday, there does seem, understandably, a greater need / urgency to keep picking up 3 points; starting, ironically, in Merseyside this-coming Saturday (5:30pm GMT).

Brief thoughts on that Spurs defeat? I’ll just 'copy & paste' what I wrote on a vlog this morning:

I feel like I'm to blame for that result yesterday, in some ways, as I painted two scenarios in my pre-match blog where, in the first scenario, we lost and Harry Kane scored a hat-trick! 🙄

Very disappointing to lose at home to a side who have lost 3 league games in a row but, as I say, I sort of saw it coming - flippin' Spurs have a nasty habit of doing that to us, especially at crucial times and when we least need it...or at least that's how it seems to me.

Too many players had below-par performances at the same time - I even thought some of our better players' passing was off yesterday, although I have to give Tottenham a lot of credit for the way their bank of 5 defenders and 4 midfielders worked hard to make the passing spaces tight.

Just need to reset & focus now and a trip to Goodison, next up, is something that should force us to do.

I think 21 shots and only 4 on target tells an old, sadly-familiar story too...

Thanks, as always, for taking the time to read and, hopefully, I’ll be back blogging ahead of our trip to Peterborough United in the 5^th round of the F.A. Cup on Tuesday 1^st March (7:15pm GMT).

Next up - Goodison Park

C’mon City!

Beware the wounded animal or…

…are they just pants?

v Tottenham Hotspur

Etihad Stadium

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

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

Apart from an update regarding Jack Grealish, Pep explained in his pre-match press conference that he’ll know better about other players / possible doubts following Friday afternoon’s training session. Since then – and as I type this – there’s been no further update and, so, I’m gonna have to employ far more guesswork that I would otherwise like…

Fluid 4-1-5-0 / 4-6-0 / 4-3-3:

______________________________________________

 

Sterling_____________De Bruyne___________Mahrez

 

__________Foden_________________Silva__________

 

______________________Rodri____________________

Cancelo__________________________________Walker

 

___________Laporte______________Dias___________

 

 

_____________________Ederson__________________

Subs: Carson, Slicker, Zinchenko, Ake, Stone, Fernandinho, Gundogan, McAtee, Delap.

I’m gonna save myself a little time here and simply say that, aside from changing our right-back following our last outing from John to Kyle, I’m going for our manager to pick the same side that came back from Portugal 0-5 victors.

There’s a chance ‘the boss’ might stick two keepers on the bench - although if he does, it doesn’t exactly say much about his confidence in veteran, Scott – and if that’s the case; it’ll be Cieran joining the 4-times-capped, England international stopper. Oleksandr, Nathan & John are the defensive replacements on the side; Fernandinho, Ilkay, James & Liam are the midfield / more attacking options in ‘the 9’.

I suppose there’s a chance that we’ll go with just one reserve goalie and, instead, bring in another outfield youth player; either in the form of a defender or midfielder / winger. As I say, lots more guesswork with this one…

Notable absences:

-       Zack Steffen – Didn’t travel with the squad to Portugal and both then and now there was no reason given. Therefore, I’m just going to have to assume that he’s still not fit / available.

-       Benjamin Mendy – Suspended by the club until further notice.

-       Cole Palmer – No update on the recently ‘missing in action’ youngster and so it’s another ‘assumed still injured’ from me.

-       Jack Grealish – Continues to recover from a shin issue but isn’t quite ready to resume action just yet.

-       Gabriel Jesus – Just as with the Cole Palmer situation, there’s still no update about the Brazilian forward. I’m having to presume, therefore, that he’s still not recovered from a niggle that he came back with whilst on international duty the other week.

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

Sure do.

Result? On this occasion and for the first ever time, I’m going to do this section like this (it won’t be a regular format but feels right to do it this way on this occasion):

Scenario 1:

The wounded animal strikes out! 3, back-to-back league defeats is too much for them to take and is something both their manager and players will want to put right (I’m sure this’ll be the case in both scenarios, to be honest). And what better way to ‘right themselves’ against-not-only the side that everyone else wants to beat these days but one, who, they’ve managed to ‘stick the knife in’ all too often over the decades (people who know me and regular readers might recall that I’ve had ‘a thing’ about Spurs ever since the 1981 F.A. Cup Final). They have a nasty habit of frustrating and irritating the crap out of me at times and I’ve got a little bit of that ‘Spurs feeling’ once again ahead of this evening’s fixture (5:30pm KO GMT).

Despite their woes, they have a few danger men in their side and not only should we expect livewire Son Heung-Min to be a thorn in our side; wouldn’t it be old, ‘typical City’ to see Harry Kane go from-having just 5 league goals all season to scoring a hat-trick at the Etihad later on today?

We come back from our brilliant display and victory in midweek all ‘full of ourselves’ and fail to adjust to life back in windy-ol’ England. And following a scary flight home also, we find ourselves ‘out of sorts’ and then ‘put out of sight’ by a Tottenham side who take their chances and ‘pick us off’. A home defeat and celebrations in Merseyside…

Scenario 2:

Our visitors prove to be as fragmented and generally bobbins as their league stats illustrate; having-not-only lost their last 3 outings but having won just 11 of their 22 so far; losing 8 in that time.

As they prepare to face the meanest defence in the league, they’re only just over a goal per game too; leaving the North London side with an even harder task to add to their 28 goals scored. It’s also rare to see a side in 8^th place and just 3 points off 6^th with a negative goal difference but The Lilywhites have managed that too, as they stand on -1 having conceded 29 in 22 matches.

We come back from our brilliant display and victory in midweek with even more confidence than we already had; adding to our brilliant momentum of 15 league games undefeated; winning 14 and drawing 1.

We’ve got ‘that swagger’ about us now. Not an arrogant one, as some non-City fans might think when reading that, but rather that one City fans should recognise all too well; in that every player has absolute confidence in both themselves and their teammates; backed up with incredible, INCREDIBLE work rate.

Show no complacency whatsoever (our manager has already warned about this, so that’s good) this evening and hit the ground running as soon as the first whistle blows and I’m confident that we’ll see ‘Scenario 2’. It’s a home win for me.

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

(Pre-match blog posting from that game)

Prediction: Win

Result: Won

Expected weather conditions during the game: After a cold and still-blustery start to the day [after two named storms this week]…it dries up at least in time for kick-off. 2C with a strong, westerly breeze is still enough to cut a chill right through those who aren’t dressed appropriately but, as I say, at least there’s some respite from the ‘wet stuff’.

Tough game ahead in Portugal, I would suggest

I suppose most of ‘em are in this competition; especially from this stage onwards…

v Sporting CP

The rather green-looking, José Alvalade Stadium

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 8/11).

Fluid 4-1-5-0 / 4-6-0 / 4-3-3:

______________________________________________

 

Sterling_____________De Bruyne___________Mahrez

 

__________Foden_________________Silva__________

 

______________________Rodri____________________

Cancelo__________________________________Stones

 

___________Laporte______________Dias___________

 

 

_____________________Ederson__________________

Subs: Carson, Slicker, Zinchenko, Ake, Mbete, Fernandinho, Lavia, Gundogan, McAtee, Kayky, Delap.

Ederson continues to have ownership of the gloves.

A strongly-predicted back-4 comes in the form of Joao, Aymeric, Ruben & John.

Rodders to both help the defence and link up with the interchangeable, attacking 5 ahead of him, which I think will consist of Raheem, Phil, Kevin, Bernardo & Riyad.

Both Scott & Cieran provide keeper cover; Oleksandr, Nathan & Luke are the defensive replacement options in ‘the 11’ (from 12 allowed). Fernandinho, Romeo, Ilkay, James, Kayky & Liam are the midfielders / wingers / strikers available on the side.

Notable absences:

-       Zack Steffen – Hasn’t travelled with the squad having been reported as injured. No details on what the injury is or how long the American keeper will be out for so any speculation about whether it’s a ‘flare up’ of a recent back niggle would be just that…speculation.

-       Benjamin Mendy – Suspended by the club until further notice.

-       Kyle Walker - Suspended for this game (and the next two Champions League fixtures).

-       Cole Palmer – Still out injured with a foot injury following our F.A. Cup clash with Swindon Town. Still no news of a possible return date.

-       Jack Grealish – Has a shin injury; a problem that both kept him out of our league win against Norwich City last Saturday and, if it’s a similar problem to one that he’s had in the past; an issue that kept him out of his previous club’s side, Aston Villa, for a couple of months or so last season…

-       Gabriel Jesus – Still not available having picked up an issue following action with his national side quite recently. Similar to Cole Palmer, there’s no update on a possible return date.

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

I’d be lying if I said that I don’t have some concern about our makeshift right-back, John, which is no disrespect to him whatsoever but other than that; it’s a very good-looking 11. A good mix on the bench too in case we need to ‘change things up’.

Result? From what I understand, our hosts are a strong side who defend very well but who-also like to both press the opposition and win possession back quickly. Apart from the fact that, apparently, their preferred formation is 5-2-3; does that remind you of anyone?

Having an almost identical league record to current league leaders, Porto; just 2 defeats from 22 games played sees last season’s champions just 6 points off their title challengers and they have the meanest defence, with just 15 goals conceded whilst scoring 43 in that time.

Of course, we’re in extremely good form ourselves and we’re sure to see our manager put out his strongest, available side…or at least you’d think so.

They did, however, barely make it through to the knock-out stages and for whatever reason, their group stage results in this competition are far from their domestic league standing; winning 3 but losing 3 also. Only goal difference, or perhaps their results against 3^rd-place Borussia Dortmund, saw them progress (I can’t recall how those situations work and I just can’t be bothered to look it up now that it's past and ahead of this game, sorry).

I am so very close to putting this down as a draw and I think it will be a very close affair. Up to yesterday, that was, in fact, going to be my predicted result. Now on the day of the match and having looked at their group stage table as it finished; I’m changing my mind.

It might well be a narrow one but I’m going for a City win. 🤞

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

Prediction: N/A

Result: N/A

Expected weather conditions during the game: No situation that will affect the game and the fans should feel relatively comfortable too. After a lovely, sunny day in the region, the game sees 11C, dry and just a light, north-westerly breeze. I’m personally quite envious of those conditions back in the north west of England at the moment and with two ‘named storms’ on the way, I don’t know about you…