The Boss was upbeat in his press conference today, buoyed no doubt with the news that Alfie Mawson is training well and scheduled for an U23 game. Otherwise the only doubts are Ream and Seri who don't return from from their International travels until tomorrow. A key thing about Man City is the squad depth. Back in the running for a place on Saturday are De Bruyne, Kompany, Mendy, JStones, Otamendi and Fernandinho. Say no more. For us, there's the horrible 12:30 kick off and worse no tubes to Putney Bridge. And of course the Club attempting to thwart the 'Stop the Greed ' campaign, banning banners and such like. Should be interesting to see and hear the fan's take on the 55th minute. Football wise we really need to best set up to counter the City player's movement off the ball and the way they exploit the wide spaces. The answer? A good old fashioned Sweeper. .........................Rico.. .....................Chambers... ......Odoi........Nordtveit.......Bryan.. .........Cairney..Anguissa...Babel.. .................Ayite..Mitrovic..
Playing City with 10 men might just work Sorry C58 you obviously must have Sessegnon MIA or we could play Fabri next to Rico.
How right you are SuperBri. I meant to go 4-4-2. So the line up would be - ........................Rico.. .....................Chambers... .........Odoi.....Nordtveit.......Bryan.. ...Christie...Cairney..Anguissa...Babel.. .................Ayite..Mitrovic.. Sorry no Sess but he'll come off the bench to get the winner.
I think we can get this over the line under the fair play directive, come on it's only fair! On a serious note, I think you are near right Cottager, and I think we will do ourselves proud.
The man up tomorrow is Kevin Friend. Bit of a penalty king is our Kevin. He's given 5 so far and indeed one of those was for us. No doubting it will be one long remember but unfortunately for all the wrong reasons - the 'Kamara Fracas' in the match against Huddersfield at the Cottage last December. Quite a game it was too; baffling and nail biting then turning out all right on the day with Mitrovic getting the only goal in injury time. In the current genre - limbs. We've seen the Bristol City supporting Friend two other times this season. The debacle at Cardiff in October. Chambers, McDonald and Johansen got booked, as did 3 Cardiff players. The other was the League Cup game in August when we won 2-0 and that man Kamara was the 'hero' with both goals. For the record, in his 18 games so far Friend has dished out 72 yellow and 2 red cards.
I think this should be another chance for Mitrovic to showcase that he can do it against the top sides and hence boost his value in the transfer market, we need him to perform because City's weakness!!! is in defence. Same goes for a few more of our so called better players. Mustn't roll over just because City get a goal, then may be we can make a game of it. Used to like Kevin Friend as a Ref 'no fuss no nonsense', but even he has become a bit of a 'Hollywood' Ref when on TV.
Bit of a makeshift team, especially with Mitrovic missing. Apparently with a 'stomach' problem. Makes little difference though when we repeat the main failing this season; individual defensive errors equalling goals. That said, City strolled through the game. Anguissa had a decent game but all to often his complacent passing lets him down. Not that he was alone in that today. And a wodge of the others simply panic - 'get rid of the ball any old way' even if it puts a team mate in trouble. Disappointed by the fans as much a the players today. The frequent cat calls do nothing to inspire confidence in the team. But hey, what a week for 17 year old George Wickens. please log in to view this image His first Cap with England U18s in the midweek and out there at the Cottage against Manchester City as our third keeper.
