Fernandinho is 34 now. Wouldn't fancy him in a foot race with Sarr. It'll probably be Walker to cover Otamendi.
City’s defence is nearly as bad as ours, at least our boys know they’re championship cloggers and are punching above their weight, as for Citeh injury crisis replacing one £50m defender for another is a nice crisis to have but if they continue to play like they have back there we need to get at them to get anything from this set pieces corners they’re there for the taking. I’d start with a defensive formation 451 maybe even success as loan striker Hughes Cleverley Capoue Doucs chalobah. Leaving pace on the bench Sarr Gray Del Boy to come on if still in it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Seriously? Imagine if this had happened to Liverpool or City. No chance would the same official be given the VAR role a mere two matches later. Shouldn't even be allowed to be a VAR until he's undergone substantially more training. If your only job for the day is literally to watch a slow motion replay and you still miss the one thing you were supposed to see, you shouldn't be allowed to do it.
I don’t mean this to sound aggressive in tone but I really cannot disagree more. City’s defence was poor in their last game but it is nowhere near as bad in comparison with ours. And while I agree that we can’t go punch for punch with City with an attacking formation - Success? Really?! Deulofeu on the bench? I’d be furious with QSF if he made those kinds of choices. Just because they lost their last game and have a few injuries, I really don’t see how it can be conceived that they ‘are there for the taking’.
Unfortunately for us Norwich scored two goals from two shots. We needed 31 shots to get the same result.
Ok tongue in cheek that city there for taking. But Success can hold ball up better than gray, if Welbeck is fit I’d try him over success but if we kept it tight for an hour then unleash one lung Gerry and Sarrman which would cause problems for a plastered up city defence. City going forward can be devastating as we know, if we open up from start could end up double figures. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I think we are going to get slaughtered , but I also thought that last week Can’t see us getting 31 shots in this game so to have any chance albeit slight we are going to need a better conversion rate Unfortunately 5-0 city Edit:Interestingly we have the 3rd most shots in the prem , only team with more shorts are city and Liverpool. I could see 50 shots in this game , 49 for Man City and 1 for us
Still disagree. We don’t need a striker to “hold the ball up” while we get 5 or 6 players up the pitch, we need 2 nippy players to break at speed, run at their defence and hopefully get through a few times. Don’t want them to hold the ball up while our midfield catch up. I want them to cut the city defenders to shreds with their pace. The last thing we want is a Troy or Success “focal point” slowing our attacks down.
If you play parking the bus for first half or first hour and the starting line up I suggest, a player holding it up would work better. Hit them with set plays putting big men forward. Concentrate on keeping them out then bring on your fast players and go for it last 30 mins. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Contrary to popular belief Troy is actually good at holding the ball up and doing something useful with it when it’s played to his feet. It’s when it’s lumped up to him he’s useless.
From the highlights it seemed to me Norwich out tikka takka'd them. We've tried going defensive, we've tried long balling them, we've tried counter attacking them... perhaps we should try the Norwich approach and put out our best ballers?
When the last 30 mins comes we’ll be 3+ down. Better to play with genuine pace up top from the start and catch them on the break one on one . A player holding it up is fine if you just want to hold onto the ball for a minute or so before you give it away and have no intention of trying to get anywhere near their goal.
Could well be 3+ down, open up and try and play we could be 6+ down. Don’t get me wrong last season could of been different had Tierney not allowed that goal. When QSF went there and played Deeney left midfield was boring and we were beat from the start it was all about keeping the score low. I’d love for us to go there and go for it but I can’t see QSF doing that Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
This game is nothing more than mildly interesting to see how QSF approaches the game, how Man City line up with 1 fit centre half and to see if we can do better than the cup final.
We will need to mix it up. Defensive with quick countering when we get possession. Trying to put everyone behind the ball and ‘park the bus’ will only end one way - a heavy defeat. Success has shown nothing in the last 12 months to show he should be starting. I can’t think of one club that’s gone there to soak up play and win. Palace won last season by playing their counter break style with Zaha and Townsend. If theres any way to do it, we need to utilise Deulofeu and Sarr from the start in my opinion. I can see your way of thinking but I’m 99.9% certain it wouldn’t work and we’d get our usual hammering.
We need to get the idea of relying on Welbeck out our minds. He will be a welcome surprise and addition when fit and healthy. However, it is not smart or possible to plan around someone who is not fit as often as is the case with Welbeck. He's just a great bonus to have.
I said we'd beat the @rse, and we nearly did. But Citee is a different game in a different reality. Despite Norwich beating them, they and Liverpool are on a higher level than the eighteen other teams. I believe the confidence of Sunday will not seep away, and I would love us to get even a point. They don't lose many and although we have the talent in midfield to cause them a few problems, I just can't see it. However a good team performance and a willingness to dig in and not get battered will do more good than harm. 2-0
Yes I agree totally. Solid/defensive but break with pace. having said that, when you look at the stats for the CP game last year, CP only won through pure luck and that Townshend thunderbolt. 29 times out of 30 they would have lost that match. We will be outplayed but could maybe nick something if we end with 5 shots to their 18 for example.
The more I think about this match, the more I see it's going for us. City have key defenders out, a good referee has been appointed, City are playing an match away in the Ukraine today and have to travel back which will mess up their Thursday training schedule, they got beaten last week so things are not going that well right now, and Watford's second half come back would have done wonders for confidence. You put all that into the melting pot, and maybe, just maybe we'll not get thrashed on Saturday.
I think I know what's wrong with Troy. Every time the camera panned to him on Sunday he was drinking a liquid that looked almost but not quite entirely unlike tea. I believe he is suffering from leaf mould. He must drink more tea than Tony Benn. When did 'foot race' slip into the lexicon? I would like to see Fernandoodah and Sarr race in peddle cars. 4-0 to the grey jumpers.
This might sound like sour grapes (since I came so close to getting a set-piece role at City a couple of months ago), but you're definitely right here. Despite hiring a set-piece analyst, City look incredibly vulnerable from them - Norwich exploited that at the weekend after City inexplicably put 5"7 Sterling in their zonal marking set-up with predictable results: https://twitter.com/From_The_Wing/status/1172917636470050818
