We are limping towards the finishing post.

It goes without saying that it was a drab local derby to say the very least last Sunday with two very average sides cancelling each other out. I thought we set up to not lose and had more of the play but they had the better chances.

One thing that stuck in my mind, for some reason, were two attempts from Kevin De Bruyne that just had no strength behind ‘em whatsoever. It was quite sad to see his fading powers out on display last weekend. 😢

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

If I were you, fellow Blues, in order to avoid end of season disappointment I’d start thinking now about us playing our European football on Thursday nights next season. I am.

That being said, it was confirmed in midweek that 5^th place will definitely now bring with it a Champions League place next season; presumably through a two-legged qualifying process similar to how it’s been for finishing 4^th.

That, at least, gives us a slightly better chance of playing our European fixtures on a Tuesday and Wednesday next season but we need to ‘pull our socks up’ now.

v Crystal Palace

Etihad Stadium

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

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

A very fluid 4-1-4-1 / 4-5-1 / 4-3-3:

____________________Marmoush____________________

 

 

Doku______________________________________Savinho

 

_________Grealish________________Silva_____________

____________________Gonzalez_____________________

 

O’Reilly_____________________________________Nunes

__________Gvardiol_______________Dias_____________

 

 

_____________________Ederson_____________________

Subs: Ortega, Lewis, Khusanov, Reis, Kovacic, Gundogan, De Bruyne, Foden and Bobb.

Ederson continues in goal.

A back line of Nico O’Reilly, Josko, Ruben and Matheus is highly likely.

Although he’s not been selected much in recent matches, I’ve got a feeling that Nico Gonzalez will start as our deepest-lying midfielder. I hope so. Jack and Bernardo ahead of the Spaniard while Jeremy and Savinho provide the width.

Omar up top.

Stefan provides keeper insurance; Rico, Abdukodir and Vitor are three defenders on the side. Mateo, Ilkay, Kevin and Phil make up four midfielders in ‘the 9’, while Oscar gives us a change of wing option. If there’s no Oscar Bobb in the match-day squad then they’ll be a place for midfielder, James McAtee once again.

Notable absences:

-       John Stones – Out with a thigh injury for another 10-days to 3-½ weeks, going off the initial assessment and timescale information given.

-       Manuel Akanji – Initial thoughts were that he could be out for the rest of the season after badly damaging his abductor muscle, for which he had surgery on 15^th February. However, an update from his manager on 1^st April confirmed that the Swiss international was making progress and feeling better. Return date unknown but it sounds like we might see him back in action over the coming weeks.

-       Nathan Ake – Recovering from a fractured foot, for which he has had surgery. This one sounded like it could be a season-ending injury.

-       Rodri – Continues to train as he maintains his long journey back to fitness following an ACL injury last September.

-       James McAtee – Not selected unless Oscar isn’t included on the bench.

-       Erling Haaland – Out for the majority of the rest of the season with an ankle injury.

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

I mean…pffff…what can I say that hasn’t already been said about our wing-back situation? In terms of being a defender, I don’t have 100% confidence in 20-year-old, attacking midfielder, Nico O’Reilly and I have even less trust in 26-year-old attacking midfielder, Matheus Nunes; both who find themselves being asked to play roles they’ve never trained for until very recently in one of the toughest leagues on the planet.

However, unless Pep is gonna dip into the EDS and put faith in a specialist left and right-wing back it is what it is for the time being and we’ll just have to continue to hold our collective breath.

Apart from that it looks good. If my prediction proves to be correct, then that’s a midfield that can control and ‘keep ball’ with lots of attacking energy and goal threat both either side and ahead of ‘em. We’ve then got the potential ‘impact subs’ of Kevin, Phil and Oscar.

Result?

It’s them again 🙄. I usually reserve that comment when we’re about to face Spurs but these are almost as annoying - they like to take points off us on a fairly regular basis (HOW VERY DARE THEY!) and more often than not on our patch.

And they’re in very good form too, sadly for us. Their last 6 in the league reads, L W W W D W) but you can also chuck a couple of wins in between those in the F.A. Cup. That really is a side coming into excellent form at the ‘business end’ of the season.

They can and do score, otherwise they wouldn’t be beating sides so regularly of course. But they’re also a tight and organised outfit; conceding just 35 from 30-league games played (we’re 40 from 31).

If I was to try to sprinkle a bit of optimism over this fixture then it would be to say that we are slowly starting to find a little bit of decent form ourselves. I wouldn’t say we’re playing particularly well a lot of the time but a last 6 in the league of, L W L D W D is better than it’s looked in a good while; especially when you also chuck in a couple of F.A. Cup wins of our own in the middle of those.

This is a really tough game for us; one that we need to win but one where you might take a decent performance and a point and be grateful for it.

I want the win – of COURSE I do! – but I’m gonna call this one a ‘points shared’. It’s another draw prediction from me but with 🤞 for all-3, very vital points. Such as we are at the moment I’m afraid… 🤷‍♂️

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

Prediction: Win

Result: Drew

(Pre-match blog posting from that game)

Expected weather conditions during the game: Bloomin’ gorgeous! 18/19C (64/66F in old money) and wall-to-wall sunshine once again. And there’s no nagging, northerly or easterly breeze to slice the edge of that lovely temperature either so…ENJOY! ☀😎 - 🥧 / 🌭 - 🍺⚽

Congratulations to our Under-18s who reached the final of the F.A. Youth Cup on Thursday night. Fingers crossed that the men’s first team can follow up on that with the same result against Forest on Sunday 27^th April.

There’s still life in this season if we step up and

grab hold of it…

💪

Solidarity

The Trafford v Manchester Derby

·       Trafford versus Manchester

·       Red versus Blue

·       One side trying to find some consistent form versus…a side trying to find some consistent form

·       One team with just domestic league pride to play for versus a team desperate to finish in a Champions League position

Flip a coin for this outcome! 🤪

Quick check back…

Two back-to-back wins achieved…but wasn’t it sad and disappointing that we didn’t “burn” Leicester last Wednesday, as one other City fan put it?

With goal difference quite likely to prove pivotal in a couple of months’ time, that was a wasted opportunity against a side who were simply there for the taking.

Still, I’ll take the two wins on the trot and 3 points in the league, especially with Bournemouth and Brighton both losing in midweek.

And…Bobb’s back! 😊

v Manyoo

Scaffold Trafford

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

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

A very fluid 4-1-4-1 / 4-5-1 / 4-3-3:

____________________Marmoush___________________

 

 

Grealish____________________________________Doku

 

________De Bruyne_______________Silva____________

____________________Gonzalez____________________

 

O’Reilly____________________________________Lewis

__________Gvardiol______________Dias_____________

 

 

____________________Ederson_____________________

Subs: Ortega, Khusanov, Reis, Kovacic, Gundogan, Nunes, Foden, Bobb and Savinho.

Ederson between the sticks.

Josko to be given his second, back-to-back outing in his more natural position of central defence? Well, with attacking midfielder, Nico O’Reilly, now doing a pretty good impression of a left-wing back then why not? I can see Pep thinking the same. Ruben and Rico to join ‘em, I’m guessing (surely the Matheus Nunes right-wing back experiment has failed and won’t be attempted again).

Nico to patrol in front of those.

Ahead of the Spanish defensive midfielder I’m going for Jack to start once again but, this time, being asked to slip back out to the left; Kevin and Bernardo in the middle with Jeremy on the right.

Stefan is reserve stopper; Abdukodir and Vitor are two defenders on the side waiting for their turn should they be needed. Mateo, Ilkay, Matheus and Phil make up four midfielders in ‘the 9’, while both Oscar and Savinho give us two different wing options.

Notable absences:

-       John Stones – Out with a thigh injury for another 2-½ to 4-½ weeks, going off the initial assessment and timescale information given.

-       Manuel Akanji – Initial thoughts were that he could be out for the rest of the season after badly damaging his abductor muscle, for which he had surgery on 15^th February. However, an update from his manager on 1^st April confirmed that the Swiss international was making progress and feeling better. Return date unknown but it sounds like we might see him back in action over the coming weeks.

-       Nathan Ake – Recovering from a fractured foot, for which he has had surgery. This one sounded like it could be a season-ending injury.

-       Rodri – Continues to train as he maintains his long journey back to fitness following an ACL injury last September.

-       James McAtee – Not selected.

-       Erling Haaland – Out for the majority of the rest of the season with an ankle injury.

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

Some question marks about the flanks of our defence (isn't there always?) but, generally speaking, that’ll do for me.

Result?

This is probably going to be the briefest result section I’ve ever done.

In a lot of ways as I finish this piece off on the morning of the game, it doesn’t even FEEL like derby day to me for whatever reason. Perhaps that’ll change as 4:30pm approaches.

I just can’t call it either way and, therefore, I’m going for a draw and hope, in the right way of course, that I’m wrong.

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: During this fine, settled period of dry weather it’s more of the same for the match - wall-to-wall blue skies and bright sunshine. 15C is the forecasted temperature with that continuous easterly breeze just shaving the edge off it by a couple of Celsius (feels like 13C and might be a little nippy if your stand is in the shade). ☀😎🥧🍺⚽

Leaving at the end of the season - A true club legend

Solidarity