Before you confidently make that statement, perhaps one could attenuate that with one word - Agüero..!
How do you think we will approach this game, Will our normal pressing game be effective with Morgan and Vic missing. After the Villa performance i believe the personal we have available are capable to play that way as we dominated that match, my major concern is that with the above 2 missing + boruc and possibly Fonte if that style breaks down then i can see City scoring almost every time they attack. I personally believe our best chance is to play a bit more defensive and a lot more direct. Get the ball in early to Rickie and get Jrod and Lallana working there socks off around him. My team would be. Gazza Chambers Fonte/Jos Louvren Shaw Cork Jrod Jwp Davis Lallana Lambert I know people will say that Yoshi is Fontes replacement and Jos is Lovrens replacement but i think Jos is a bit more reliable. Which doesn't mean i think he is reliable at all just a tad more than Yoshi
Is Fonte out then? He looked okay against Villa. I guess I'd play Chambers at right back and it seems it'll have to be Cork and S Davis in the middle. Hopefully Ramirez is fit again so we have a couple of experienced attacking options on the bench.
31 Boruc 02 Clyne 03 Yoshida 05 Hooiveld 13 Fox (Richardson - 71' ) 04 Schneiderlin 08 S Davis (Ward-Prowse - 80' ) 18 Cork 42 Puncheon (Lallana - 61' ) 07 Lambert 09 Rodriguez This, somewhat incredibly, was the side that beat Man City 3-1 in February. Obviously Boruc, Clyne, and Puncheon won't feature tomorrow, and probably not Schneiderlin either, but let's look at the positives. Fonte and Lovren will hopefully be restored, Chambers in for Clyne should do OK, and Shaw is way better than Fox even if slightly off the boil at the moment. The biggest hole I can see is the CM pairing, if we are without both Morgan and Victor I don't know who MP will play alongside Cork. All in all, I still think we can field a side better than the one that destroyed Citeh in Feb. The main issue is that they are so much better under Pellegrini, and have Negredo alongside Aguero.
You've hit the nail on the head there. They look unbeatable right now. But in football anything can happen of course.
Blimey, I can't fathom this anti-Yoshida stuff. One poorish game in which neither centre back particularly covered themselves in glory. First, Premier league game of the season, first game with Lovren etc etc. He most definitely would have started the season instead of Fonte if it weren't for international duties and he hasn't suddenly become a bad player. He is an accomplished centre back. Against Cit's attack, its going to be a tough game for whoever plays there.
interesting opposition view on the city forum http://www.bluemoon-mcfc.co.uk/News/Article.aspx?id=469
Why are you assuming my feelings towards Man City are simply due to where Portsmouth find themselves now? If we were non-league or Premier League, I would still think the same thing because it doesn't change the facts, the facts being that Man City have bought the league through completely ridiculous levels of spending, inflating the transfer market. Your transfer policy is about the same as some kid who's playing on Football Manager, basically buy up any stars who have made a name for themselves at another club. When was the last time a youth player from the Man City academy has become a first team regular? Micah Richards? That it? Even in our Premiership days we had Gary O'Neil, Asmir Begovic, Marc Wilson, etc coming up from our youth ranks who were first team regulars. Compare yourselves with Southampton who are a decently run club, attempting to build in a sustainable manner, combining a few high-profile signings while utilising youth players and building a team. Southampton has far more class than Man City could ever hope to obtain. You claim you've brought jobs and prosperity to the local community but a lot of that is down to the the construction of the Eithad stadium and surrounding complex for the Commonwealth Games, Man City just 'did a West Ham' so to speak and got it on the cheap. As for giving to the community, you've certainly given a lot to the footballing community which has been received warmly. For example, I'm sure football fans of other clubs have certainly warmly received the inflated transfers and wages and difficulty of holding their players against the financial juggernaut of Man City. I bet Arsenal fans LOVE what you've given to the footballing community. Or what about the Man City Ladies players who may have played for the team in ages are now gonna to be chucked out of the team to make way for players like Karen Bardsley, Toni Duggan, etc. I'm sure they love what Man City have given to the footballing community too. Or what about little ol' Doncaster Belles, who were relegated for the very first time in their history via committee in order to make room for Man City, I bet they love what Man City have given to the footballing community as well.
Can you post that **** some where else? This is a match day thread. Not a that's bitch at each other thread.
Go and look at the gallery on OS. Mainly shots of 2-4 players with lots of wide open spaces...you'd think a few players were missing
It's not anti-Yoshida stuff. The lad is a Japanese international CB, for pete's sake. Nobody is saying he is rubbish. What people are saying is, is that he was at fault. There's no getting away from it. You can't hide that. I wish one could, but the Aston Villa game could have been 2-0, 2-1, or 2-2, depending on whether he cut out the errors or not. Instead it was 2-3 with 3 on-target attempts scoring. If Lovren or Fonte had made the same errors I would not defend it. Instead, like Boruc before him, we give him our support and hope he cuts the errors out. Unlike Boruc, he can be replaced in the line-up with someone equally as good.
Really looking forward to tomorrow. The back four is fine and will protect the keeper. I have a lot of faith in chambers as deputy for Clyne. We still have lots of options in midfield and j rod appears to make up for the lack of goals from rickie. An ever improving osvaldo finishes off a strong line up. It's a huge game to make your premier league debut but don't be surprised to see Gallagher sand Reed making a cameo appearance to morrow.
