Nothing concrete yet but rumours are that both David Silva and Fernandinho might not make this fixture due to ‘little problems’ following the fine display and good result against CSKA Moscow.
Update: Silva is definitely out for Sunday's game; he is, in fact, now out for 3 to 4 weeks as from 07.11.2013 with an issue relating to his calf! Nastasic now also joins the list of those being looked at in more detail before being given the 'all clear' or otherwise for the Sunderland clash...
Straight to it…
As mentioned in my last posting,
this is a must win for me. Not only do our early season rivals in the top 3rd
have mostly ‘should win’ games but we need to start to take our good form into
our away Premier League games to get this ‘away
day’ monkey off our back and supplement our exceptional home form with some
consistent, 3-point away results. And what better way to remove the primate
clinging on to us than at the often-bogey ground of the Stadium of Light.
 |
| Stadium of Light |
So I’m gonna assume
here that both David and Fernandinho are going to miss this one; if there
is a doubt I’d rather not risk the Spaniard and in fairness to our Brazilian he
has played a lot of footy for us since the start of the season. Has he even
missed a game? Certainly not many…
Probable team to face
4-4-2:
___________________Aguero__________
___________Negredo_________________
___________________Toure____________
____________Milner___________________
Clichy___Nastasic___Demichelis___Zabaleta
______________Pantilimon______________
For me that’s a crackin’ starting line-up…and, in
particular, the on-fire partnership up-front picks itself now.
However, I’ve just got the feeling that Pellegrini might start with either Garcia (God
I hope not) or Rodwell alongside Yaya and, instead, leave the slightly more
attacking midfield option of Milner on the bench to come on as an ‘impact
player’ if necessary. With no David Silva, Jovetic
and, I’m assuming, EDS player Marcos Lopes may not have yet recovered from his
recent little injury (not sure what it
was / is); it leaves our more attacking midfield options a little thin. Apart from Edin, that ‘probable bench’ is jam-packed
with more-defence-minded players!
Despite a long and very productive game in mid-week, Samir
just has to start on the opposite wing to Jesus. As predicted at the start of the season, our French wizard is feeling loved
again and is on a high this season. You can’t rest a player who has such a
spring in his step for this one and, after all, it was a Tuesday night Champions League game and this is a Sunday afternoon fixture;
they’ve all had a decent enough rest.
More frustrations for Lescott and Dzeko; they continue to
warm the bench before the international break. Edin, at least, will be pleased to be getting a more-than-bit-part game
for someone next week…
If Silva is missing for this one, I hope Navas DOES start
and can really open up his throttle to show us all what he can do. He needs to
have a really good game to kick-start his season.
It’s getting weird
seeing Hart’s name regularly appearing on the subs list.
Good luck in his recovery too to Stevan Jovetic and I hope
that some journalist will earn his or her money soon and finally pop the
question to our Manager - or ANYONE at City for that matter - and enquire how John Guidetti’s recovery is coming along. It must be
2 to 3 weeks now since he’s re-joined the first team in full training sessions.
On a personal note – 50 FLIPPIN’ DAYS!
I’ve been a season ticket / card holder now for 28 years. In
the early years I used to do a fair amount of away games (not for a while now –
far too expensive for me at the moment) and have very, very rarely missed a
home game in all competitions. This is why, at the moment, I feel utterly
bereft of that ‘match-day experience’ of watching my beloved Blues at the Etihad.
 |
| Etihad withdrawal symptoms |
Due to a combination of a run of away fixtures throughout the
whole of October; an ill-timed trip to Edinburgh
(where I missed the 7-0 thrashing of Norwich), dog-minding duty on the evening of the CSKA / bonfire night clash and a flippin’ international
break following yet another away game this weekend; it’ll be a whole 50 days in-between
my last game (Everton) and the visit of Spurs on 24th November!
Sure I’ve watched all live City games on the TV but I
exaggerate not one bit when I say that it’ll feel like the start of the season for
me when I trundle off down the road to see City v Tottenham - that’s if I can remember the way of course…
It’s already started…
Along with the Hart-bashing-rumours (and insults to
Pantilimon) of which Keeper we’re going to sign in January or next summer – the latest being the previously linked Asmir Begovic of Stoke City
– we’ve already started to be linked with players who are apparently going to be on their way to the Etihad in January. No left-backs yet I’m must add, with a certain increasing frustration, and
the most recently linked are two midfielders from Real Madrid.
I’m positive that any rumours of out-going players from Real
are simply as a result of the Spanish giants having spent so much money on Gareth Bale. One of those who will be, apparently, swapping
the white of Madrid for the blue of Manchester is German international midfielder Sami Khedira. It’s highly unlikely seeing as the
energetic, rangy midfielder appears to be very similar to what we already have
in Fernandinho…and we’ve already spent £30M for that position (the same as the
rumoured fee for Khedira); shipping Gareth Barry
out on loan in the process. Nope…there’s nothing to this one I’m quite sure.
Slightly more
interestingly, however, is the surprise link (once again) with Isco. Having some seriously heavyweight midfielders
ahead of him at his new club – not least the Welshman Bale and a certain ex-Manyoo slapped-arse face – he may well already be
getting frustrated. Stats show an impressive 4 goals from 10 for the
midfielder…but that’s just yer 10 games for a player who played 69 in 2 seasons
for our current Manager at Malaga
Would he possibly consider a reunion with Manuel so soon after snubbing us for a switch of Spanish clubs? Would we be interested? And could we even guarantee him more games than Real? Might be worth watching this one…
Would he possibly consider a reunion with Manuel so soon after snubbing us for a switch of Spanish clubs? Would we be interested? And could we even guarantee him more games than Real? Might be worth watching this one…
Just a quick message to those with spare fireworks near to where I live:
For Christ’s sake save them for New Years
Eve! Bonfire…NIGHT…is over! Morons!
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