One of my favourite games of recent years was against Man City when we got 3 in the last 15 minutes to beat them 3-1 at the Lane. I remember Huddlestone coming on and changing the game and Defoe scoring a late cracker to seal it. Oh for a repeat of that score line tomorrow.
Confirmed out injured for City are Silva,Bony,Mangala,Delph,Clichy and Iheanacho so our starting X1 more or less picks itself. Hart Sagna Kompany Otemendi Kolorov Fernandinho Yaya Stirling DeBruyne Navas Aguero Caballero Zabaleta Demichellis Fernando Nasri Roberts Garcia In the upper tier tomorrow but I think your hoardings are safe from further abuse
Confirmed out for us: Mason, Bentaleb, Dembele, Pritchard Interesting that Pritchard warrants a mention - is this because he's in the first team's plans...or is it because, until Sky Sports reported last week that the ankle injury he picked up playing for the England U21s this summer hadn't healed as we had hoped, the club hadn't mentioned he was carrying an injury?
I think I would go with Ben Davies (instead of Danny Rose) tomorrow with Vertongen Toby and Walker...then Dier, Ali, Eriksen, Lamela and Son with Kane. Rose offers more going forward but I think Davies is a little more reliable defensively. Lamela was good v palace and is good at hassling the opposition which will be important tomorrow. I am not optimistic about the result tomorrow but a good performance will keep our momentum going.
We made that mistake last season, with what I'd call predictable results...but Jonathan Moss at least tried to make it interesting.
Yeah, we're going to have him greet his old Argentinian teammate in the tunnel before the game, Costa-style: Hopefully neither will get anywhere near the pitch, though.
It's still a very strong 18. I thought City were in danger of having an ageing squad this year, who might lack the desire to win the title again, but they've added some youth and pace and look pretty formidable, although they still need at least three of Hart, Kompany, Toure, Silva and Aguero to stay fit and be consistently very good.
Nice quote from Chris Sutton on the BBC website "I feel for Harry Kane. He’s got more strings to his bow than scoring goals. He’ll be a top player. I worry about Spurs – where they’re going. I think they’ll be sixth or seventh again as usual". I have actually liked Sutton on final score he has been refreshingly honest. But needs to check his facts 6/7 as usual we have not been lower than sixth since 08/09 - so not exactly usual by recent standards
The number of professional football media types who lack a passing acquaintance with recent football developments is astonishing. In fact, we’ve been either fourth or fifth every year but one of the past six years. And since it seems you haven’t heard, Chris, we’re going here: please log in to view this image
That's a weakened line up?! FFS Hoping to see us line up with: Lloris Walker, Toby, Jan, Rose Alli, Dier Son, Eriksen, Chadli Kane I'm guessing Lamela will probably start instead of Eriksen though.
There’s a case to be made for not starting Eriksen and Lamela together, but I still think we’ll see them both. Now that I’ve given up trying to move Eriksen farther back, I’m picking up trying to move Lamela farther back, at least while Mason is out. They’re similar in trying to get the team moving forward quickly, and doing so would keep Lamela and Eriksen out of each other’s way more. Lamela is certainly decent defensively. I like Alli at RM, where he gives us a little width and the danger he presents in the penalty box is at a premium, while his misplaced passes are less likely to hurt us. Of course, on the other hand, from farther back, Lamela’s misplaced passes are more likely to hurt us. I think I’d gamble on Rose at LB because we need his pace and width, though I worry about his mistakes. I’ll go with Walker at RB, though. Trippier had a couple of games to impress and didn’t do enough, I think.
Lamela starting over Chadli is interesting - not least because Chadli's been pinpointed as one of Poch's favourites since last season. Of course, by "interesting", that could mean one of two things: either he has another performance like the one against Palace where he put in a good shift as well as created a goal...or a repeat of his first three performances of the season where he couldn't seem to get anything right.
For the first time ever I have got the team completely right...and as my 2 daughters just said...poch thinking like me is very very worrying
C.) Somebody told him Hart was captaining my fantasy team this week, so he didn't want his team to be 3-0 down before Hart got sent and/or stretchered off.
Chadli's form hasn't jusified his selection. Hopefully he'll take this as a kick up the arse and fight to get his place back. If we could get our injured players back, then we could have a back-up midfield of Bentaleb, Mason, Dembele, Chadli and Townsend. Pretty impressive group to send out to Azerbaijan! Toure in a more advanced role, where he's more dangerous, presumably. City packing the midfield, which makes sense, given our lack of width. Strong side, even with players missing. This'll be tough.
