Were going to win this 1-0 I have been saying it for weeks!! It will happen and I will be investing £10 on the correct score.
No reason we won't see a repeat of this: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/3615833.stm
Hoping they rest all the players with slight knocks as they have Pool next. Thier back two are big boys but they do leak goals, sorry but Kompany will have Lambert for breakfast every time we lump it forward. The only way to get past them is to play quick balls through them. I would have Sharp up front with Lallana on the left with J rod on the right and Lambert playing no10 in a 4331 with Spider holding and Davis with JWP(for this game as Cork is out) supporting the forward move. Fox must be told not to hit the ball further than 10 metres, if we give the ball away then we will be chasing shadows all day
Nice as it would be to play with 12 men, I can't see the premier league allowing it! I have reservations about Lambert being a number 10. Scoring goals is what he does and if he puts his striker hat on, he won't be there when we need him in the middle of the park. My worry would be that it would turn into a 442, very similar to what we were doing last season.
If we score, I can see it being Rodriguez. Kompany will be on top of Lambert and Rodriguez will be the man if we play around or through Lambert.
Hey tom, off topic again but have a look at this video "no whistle, no game" from Belgium, it's brilliant. http://vimeo.com/45746562
Does anyone know, more or less, how many tickets we've actually sold for the match? We won`t sell out but surely we`ll have sold more than 2,000. ....and thank you Man City for pricing out so many fans.
Mark Lawrenson's Prediction: Manchester City won 18 and drew one of their 19 home Premier League games last season and I expect them to get off to a winning start here too. But I don't expect them to manage a repeat of that amazing home record because it will be a lot more difficult for them, whoever they play. I know from my time at Liverpool that everyone wants to beat you when you are champions. They are still going to score a lot of goals and win a lot of games - their only worry this year is whether Manchester United will be better than them, but that is a big worry. Southampton, in contrast, will be in a survival battle from the off and their biggest problem will be where their goals are going to come from. It will come down to the half-chances. They are a bottom eight club and, for the clubs down there, someone who can convert those half-chances is worth their weight in gold. Everyone keeps telling me Saints striker Rickie Lambert will score in the Premier League but they need him to weigh in the sort of goal tally Grant Holt managed for Norwich last season. Saints boss Nigel Adkins is a shrewd guy and they will play some good attacking football but they need someone who can get 15 goals and, at the moment, I don't think they have one. Prediction: 2-0
