Manchester City coach David Platt admits David Silva and Mario Balotelli may not be ready to start the new Premier League season. Midfielder Silva and striker Balotelli are being given time to build up their fitness and appear unlikely to be rushed back into action by City. "They are behind the other lads due to a short pre-season," said Platt. "We don't know if they will be ready to start games." City face Chelsea in the Community Shield at Villa Park on Sunday before opening the defence of their Premier League title at home to promoted Southampton on Sunday 19th August. http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11679/7967693/City-pair-may-miss-start Great news! If Silva doesn´t play against us then our chances or getting a result against City increase a whole lot more. Balotelli doesn´t worry me much ,as he wouldn´t start anyway, but he could do some damage of the bench, either by scoring a goal or breaking someone´s leg, as you just never know with him. Silva is City´s play-maker though and when he doesn´t play or doesn´t play well, City are a different side. So, if he doesn´t play and we can keep Yaya Toure more or less quiet, then we´ll have a real chance of getting something I reckon.
Awesome! Now all we have to worry about are Aguero, Dzeko, Tevez, Nasri, Toure, Milner and Johnson as attacking threats, we've got this game in the bag!
Joe Hart maybe? City went through a slight dodgy patch in the new year when Kompany was injured. And, has already been mentioned, Toure maybe. There's a big difference between best player and most important player. And I certainly wouldn't say Silva is the latter for City.
It's a big boost for us with Silva not playing. We'll still have our work cut out though. Hopefully they get complacent and **** this up.
In my opinion he´s not. If Toure get´s injured then they have still have De Jong to come in and play alongside Barry, who can do a decent job there. However, if Silva get´s injured then there is no one who can replace him and make City play like he does. Not many players can pick a pass like Silva, not just at City, put in the premier league.
Yaya Toure is one of the best midfielders in the world, he's certainly their best player. Been calling this for ages. However the one that would hurt them most to lose is Hart because it's such a step down to Pantilimon.
I would have to agree with this. When we played Man City at CR last season we were 2-1 down on 70 minutes and pressing hard for a goal. Toure came on and promptly turned the game on it's head and we lost 6-1! They guy was on fire and totally unstoppable for that 20 minutes.
Newcastle v City is another prime example of Touré's sheer class. He was told to push forward and just turned the game. He was unbelievable that day, probably the best box to box CM in the world.
Toure is definitely one of the best midfielders in the world and so is Silva, but I think that City can cope more without Toure than without Silva. Hart is an awesome keeper but against many teams, he has very little to do. Sometimes City dominate games so much that you could put a cone in the goal and the opposition would still not score.
As fantastic as Silva is, I could still see City winning most games without him. Same goes for Aguero. I don't however see that applying to games where they're without Hart, Kompany and/or Toure. Based on their current squad, those three players, as I say, are the important three in my eyes.
Toure has the stamina and workrate of 2 players and does the attacking and defensive jobs of 2 players. Neither Barry or De Jong have that and he'd be a huge loss to them. Unfortunately for for us he is fit, especially as De Jong is the sort of player who kicks out when he gets frustrated.
Funnily enough the player who got the most MOM´s for City last season was Gareth Barry, 6. Toure and Silva both got 4.
Are you deluded! We still have to contend with Yaya Toure, Aguero, Tevez (if he stays), and any signings City make between now and next Sunday. Even if those two don't play, they have more than enough quality to beat us. I would be amazed if we got anything out of the game.
