We tend to up our game against the big sides so depending that he rests our better players against valencia and not risk injuries and the obvious energy then we wont suffer the same fate as spurs did. We need our best players fit and ready and to hell what we do in europe..
If Swansea turn up,play narrow and work their socks off they may come away with something First game at the Etihad I thought Swansea were the better side for an hour but a bit of quality & a bit of naively saw Swansea on the end of an unlucky 4-0 scoreline. Since then we've found Swansea difficult to break down,especially at the liberty where we are yet to score Our defense is pretty porous at the moment while they try to get to grips with pellegrinis high line and I expect Swansea to provide more of a threat than we've seen at home of late If you are coming to Manchester on Sunday,the metro link tram service is up and running so will be a lot easier to drink in the bars in the City centre( away fans welcome everywhere) and hop on the tram straight to the ground
I like JDG and thought he ran the show at Fulham (though was partially to blame for their corner which led to the goal). We can't afford that at the Etihad so I agree I wouldn't play him as he's just not got a defensive mindset. It's a shame because he's influential and in a game where our chances are likely to be minimal he's more than capable of scoring from a free kick.
Thanks for that Paul, sure hope we give you a good game, I'm confident you won't put 6 past us like Spurs, and we do like the under dog tag against the big teams!............
Get off this board you tart! No fake jacks needed on here..................... please log in to view this image
do you want me to remind you what the majority of fans including you thought the score would be against man utd. thought not..
Have to agree with ivoralljack with regard to team selection, not the game for JDG or anyone else not prepared to fight tooth and nail against a very talented Man City side, their front line is frightening with Aquero in superb form and scoring for fun. You never know though it might be our day like it was at Arsenal in the league and Chelsea in the cup last season.
If we have a hard game against valencia which we will and we have not rested our key players then man city will run rings around us and will score a lot of goals and it will ruin what goal advantage we have over the bottom clubs...I love european football but its effecting our premiership games and that is because the squad is too small to cope..Man city can rest whoever they like and still have enough quality to beat us comfortably at there place. that is why our key players must be fresh and not worn out having played a hard game against valencia.. I can just see the excuses now if we do get hammered and it will really be self inflicted if we have played our key players a few days before...
My biggest concern, are we gonna play with a striker (Bony). If not, we will not create a chance for 90 minuts. Lets take a chance and play to win. If so, our defensive midfielder (either Canas or Britton) has to play the game of his life.
So you're not willing to even risk our goal difference for possible glory in the Europa. So we should send out youth teams in every cup game we ever have again. Life is full of risk Dai. You have to learn to embrace it if you ever want to achieve anything. If Swansea City was run by somebody like you we'd still be in the 4th division.
Im sure we can muster a team capable of giving valencia a game without the key players. Of course three or four might have to play both games but not our main striker and a few others sure to god. It going to be hard against man city as it is with everyone fresh and rested..
we cant afford to risk anything this season thats for sure. goal difference can make all the difference towards the end of the season. Premiership first every time with europe a distant second, I don't care what happens in europe as long as we survive the premiership preferably bettering last season.
Who are the key players you want to see rested? What would your line up be for both games? We are probably going to lose to Man City no matter who we play....it is unlikely that come the end of the season our position will be decided by goal difference, possible, but very unlikely. Valencia is a team we've beaten recently and need to beat to progress to the final stages of a European tournament...we'd be a handful of games away from winning a European trophy, our first, Wales' first...I never thought I'd see the day that this was possible, and it is possible. We now have a team who can beat anyone on their day.... ....and you want to play a weakened team with no striker and possibly pass that opportunity up for the sake of a few goals in the goal difference column! I'm sorry, I don't understand.
Team versus Valencia --------------Vorm-------------- Rangel-Chico-Amat-Taylor -------------Canas--------------- Dyer – de Guzman –Pozuelo -Routledge --------------Bony-------------- Team versus Man City -------------Tremmel------------------ Tiendall – Williams – Chico – Ben --------------Britton-------------------- Rangel-Shelvey –Canas – Taylor ------------Vasquez-------------------
It's a difficult conundrum for sure and to be honest I'm not sure what I'd do but on balance I think we need to win tomorrow. I take Dai's point though - it looks as if goal difference will be crucial in the Prem this season.
We only need to draw tomorrow against Valencia, as even if St Gallen end up beating both Kuban and us, it would still come down to goal difference, which as things stand would require a 4 goal swing both ways. As we are +8 better off than them. If we draw, and they are to beat Kuban by 2 goals, they would still need to beat us by 3 to level up on GD. So a draw should be more than enough tomorrow. And I can't see them beating Kuban by 2, if anything I can see that game being a draw or a single goal win. Then you have to look at the 5 goals minimum they would need if we drew, they have only scored 5 in the first 4 games, so I would be very surprised if they would pull back that GD. IF they win by 1, they would need to beat us by 4 IF they win by 2 they would need to beat us by 3 (tie GD) IF they win by 3, they will still need to beat us by 3. So a draw will do. It will also be enough for Valencia to guarantee qualification too, although can't see them dropping the GD they have either, so would say they have already qualified. So could really end up as a draw as it would suit both teams. Point is, we don't need to go out and win, we just need to go out and not lose *edit, for some reason thought i was on the Valencia thread, damnit
