Lee Morrison says…
We saw in the first 20 minutes of the away fixture that we were able to frustrate Man City. It was only down to Dias’ thunderbastard of a strike that the direction of the game changed.
Although we are at home, we are under no illusions as to how challenging this game will be. We’re missing key members of the team and are doing well so far to gain as many points as possible in challenging circumstances.
I’d expect it to be as close to the Arsenal game as possible, but with the added challenge of personnel
changes. Like others have said, I’d expect it to be five at the back with the team trying to soak up as much pressure as possible.
We do have some interesting questions to consider. Will Ballard be fit? I think this fixture will come too soon, so we can expect Mukiele and Alderete to be working on their partnership.
What do we do about left- and right-back? Despite the excellent block on the line in the last game, we have seen teams target Hume in recent games. Alongside this, it’s only Cirkin’s second game at this level. However, there’s no substitute for experience in this league, so what better chance to prove himself than against the very best?
Regardless, I’ll be fully in support of the 11 that Régis picks on the night. Regardless of who starts and who finishes, this team has shown how committed they are until the final whistle. Regardless of the result, we can rest assured that maximum effort will be evident throughout.
Malc Dugdale says…
This is the ultimate dilemma. What will give? The at-times unstoppable force of the Man City attack, or the immovable object of our unbeaten home run?
We know that our home record is something to be proud of and to be protected, but if we sit back and are too deep and defensive then we will likely succumb to the pressure and quality of City eventually.
With the absences we have, I think we will likely go with a back five of three centre-backs (Alderete, Mukiele, and hopefully Ballard, but more likely Geertruida) with wing-backs.
We need an out, some sort of a route to counter, and with a back 3/5 we can use the wide men as extra defenders when we have to, but retain the ability to break when we get the chance.
It may be a five-at-the-back focus for significant periods of the game, but we have to do something to stay in the game and to challenge when options arise.
We may well dabble with a 5-4-1 when without the ball, given that the midfield battle will also be fundamental to the outcome. As Brobbey is strong in holding play up while support arrives, giving Xhaka extra help in the middle may well help us too.
The main question the coach has to sort out is who can best staff the wisest of the available formations (in his view).
With the Leeds performance in mind, Adingra has made a significant claim for a start against Man City, and Eli Mayenda also showed what he can do if we need a quick and physical wide man who can attack with intent.
Can these lads play as wing-backs, or do we need to use Cirkin and Hume, which could be challenging against such an opponent (and was at times against Leeds)?
The one thing we have which will help us is Régis Le Bris. If anyone can get a tune out of our available lads against one of the main title challengers, it’s Reggie.
He may well go totally against what I’ve suggested and stick with a back four. He may go for it entirely. What he does often surprises me, and he will want to surprise Pep as much as he can too.
What I am confident of is the gaffer will have learned from the loss at the Etihad, and he will get these lads to graft their arses off to protect our defensive record – and maybe do even more.
If we lose but give it our best shot, which is a risk with the absences we have and the class of this opponent, then we have to take that on the chin and keep building with the next one.
We earned the right to play these teams, so we need to give it our all and leave nothing in the tank.
If we lose our unbeaten home record to the champions-to-be, we won’t be the only ones who have succumbed this way.
Our home record will still be very good if it has just one blemish on it. Let’s not forget that.
Bring it on; let’s show these guys what we can do.
Jon Guy says…
Without doubt, it’s our biggest challenge of the season. We are missing the pace of the players who are at the AFCON, so City will not be as concerned with the speed of our counter-attacks as they may have been in the game a few weeks ago. Ballard will be a big miss, and we may well need to go to a back five with a holding midfielder in front of the three. The concern is that from what we have seen so far, City are the side we have played that can best break down the opposition. We took Arsenal on and in many ways had the better of it.
We cannot simply look to keep them out, and I think Brobbey may well be key as his ability to muscle the City defence and hold the ball up is likely to give us a significant out-ball if we are under pressure. The best form of defence is attack, but we will need to be drilled compact, keep our concentration, and be ruthless when chances come our way. A big test, but our home has been our fortress.
