Man City - a good time to play them?

[shefcanary 2,940]

Their loss tonight means they have to beat Bayern Munich four days after our match at Eastlands / Etihad.  Every chance now they may rest some stars against us - good or bad?  I can see it working either way but you would imagine there is too much to lose from the Sheik''s point of view so they will not necessarily have as much focus as normal.

[Forever Norwich 0]

Even if they do rest players the bench is still full of world class players, I see where your coming from though and it might work in our favour. I can see us scoring 1 or 2 at the Etihad might nick a point!

[Legend Iwan 30]

It would benefit us if Richards is rested for the Champs League. In superb form right now, and his overlapping caused a number of issues on the weekend.

If we didn''t have him charging up against Pilkington and Tierney that would make me happy.

[Sing up the river end 0]

Yep easy win.4.0 Norwich :)

[lake district canary 0]

Just goes to show that money doesn''t always mean success.

And what about Napoli - a well run club with a good manager and a good competetive group of players.

Remind you of anyone?.....................

[splutcho 196]

And plenty of star players.

[Shack Attack 0]

[quote user="lake district canary"]Just goes to show that money doesn''t always mean success. And what about Napoli - a well run club with a good manager and a good competetive group of players. Remind you of anyone?.....................[/quote]

 

And they also spent time in the third tier of the Italian league quite recently [;)]

 

I''m not sure that there is ever a good time to be playing Man City right now but I must admit I was rooting for Napoli last night. Partly because they are an absolute joy to watch (that front three must be as good as any in Europe when on form) and I''d like to see them in the last sixteen but also because it may lead to City resting a few a week on Saturday.

[Reggie Strayshun 0]

Yep, every chance of this happening, ,Shack, though it will still be a tough ask. My heart bleeds for them if they have to "make do" with Dzeko, Lescott , Johnson and co as a second string......

 

On a wider point, do the sort of results seen last night and earlier in the CL not suggest that the Prem is perhaps not quite as good as it pretends to be ? The two Manc clubs are, by some distance, the best in England, but even they have struggled when they come up against well organised, fast  Italian , Spanish, German and Portuguese sides.

[curly_whirly_tipz 0]

This is the only game I have been really worried about. However hopefully Man City will think we will be easier and have a poor game - bit like Man U situation.

[Yorkshire Canary 118]

Alas i think their second 11 would be too good for us on home soil

[Jersey Canary 180]

No is the answer!

[211203 0]

[quote user="Eric Pickles Pie Supplier"]

Yep, every chance of this happening, ,Shack, though it will still be a tough ask. My heart bleeds for them if they have to "make do" with Dzeko, Lescott , Johnson and co as a second string......

 

On a wider point, do the sort of results seen last night and earlier in the CL not suggest that the Prem is perhaps not quite as good as it pretends to be ? The two Manc clubs are, by some distance, the best in England, but even they have struggled when they come up against well organised, fast  Italian , Spanish, German and Portuguese sides.

[/quote]

 

Good point.  There was a time recently when you could realistically expect 2 or even 3 Prem teams in the CL semi-finals, but not now.

 

On the trip to ManC, this looks like being our toughest away fixture.  On that basis, it''s probably a good time to play them.  It will never be easy and the odds are against us, but we are quite capable of getting a result.

 

Also has anyone else noticed that after ManC we''ll have played them plus Man U, Liverpool, Chelsea and Villa away ?  So most of the "top" away fixtures with only 1/3rd of the season gone.  I guess the flip side is we have them all to come to CR.  But plenty of away games against the lower sides is not a bad thing IMO as it suits us when they have to attack us.

[Jacko 0]

You can interpret this game in many ways. Will they rest a couple? Will they lose some confidence? Or are we going to witness the mother of all backlashes? There is never a good time to play them. They have won every game this season with a bit to spare (Fulham apart which they should have).

All we can do is try to remain in the game for as long as possible and hope an opportunity on the counter presents itself like we did against Arsenal. Its a very wide pitch at the Etihad so I would definitely give Bennett and Pilkington the nod in a 4231 system, with Morison as the lone striker.

[211203 0]

[quote user="Jacko"]You can interpret this game in many ways. Will they rest a couple? Will they lose some confidence? Or are we going to witness the mother of all backlashes? There is never a good time to play them. They have won every game this season with a bit to spare (Fulham apart which they should have). All we can do is try to remain in the game for as long as possible and hope an opportunity on the counter presents itself like we did against Arsenal. Its a very wide pitch at the Etihad so I would definitely give Bennett and Pilkington the nod in a 4231 system, with Morison as the lone striker.[/quote]

I really hope we don''t give them too much respect - which I think we were guilty of against Arsenal to an extent.  There''s never going to be a time when we''ll be favourites even to get a point here but I think if you had to pick the time to go to them, now is a good time.

 

Also I think in some recent games they''ve been winning without playing that much better than the other side (which of course is key to winning the league!). Against Newcastle they were lucky that they didn''t concede in the first half at least twice and the scoreline flattered them.  QPR could certainly feel they could easily have come away with a point.  And the 6-1 scoreline massively flattered them thanks to some kamikaze attacking by Man U with 10 men.

 

Certainly not underestimating the task but I hope we go for it as we did against Man U in the knowledge that we should have come away with at least a point there. 

[exiled blue 0]

we play liverpool on sunday. let`s see what happens there first.

[Well I Never 0]

Isn''t it QPR on Saturdayt?

[exiled blue 0]

sorry, the `royal we` was manchester city.

["""""""""Ben """"""""""" 0]

Why are you on this forum if you''re a Man City fan?

[Shack Attack 0]

[quote user="Ben "]Why are you on this forum if you''re a Man City fan?[/quote]

 

Pitchforks at the ready lads looks like Ben has spied a foreigner [;)]

[......and Smith must score. 1,587]

[quote user="Yellows_1902"]Even if they do rest players the bench is still full of world class players, I see where your coming from though and it might work in our favour. I can see us scoring 1 or 2 at the Etihad might nick a point![/quote]....and I might end up winning Euro Millions and then have all the hassle of going out on the town with a supermodel every night [;)]

[Rob Sims 0]

exiled blue has posted numerous times on threads on this board with most of it being useful / relatively unbiased unless it comes down to Man City! ;)

There was the huddersfield town chap as well.

Put your pitch fork down!

[Shaun Tilly Lace 0]

Aren''t they supposed to have two teams capable of a top four finish? Can''t see it being too easy. We''ll do very well to come away from there with a point.

[Indy 3,471]

I thnik we will do well to keep it down to 4.!!!

Is there ever a good time to play a team who have a second string any of which would walk into our starting 11!

Miracles do happen this time of year and would it not be funny for us to be the first and only team to beat them in the league this year?

[exiled blue 0]

" Why are you on this forum if you''re a Man City fan? "

a fair question!!.

because i live here now, i married a norwich gell, and mosy of my inlaws are norwich fans. i don`t come on here to `troll` or do wind-ups, i just like to sometimes give what i think is an objective view on some of the matters raised on here.

as for your game against us, with any bias set aside, you`ll be very lucky to get anything from your trip. not being big headed, just based upon what i`ve witnessed with my own eyes, it usually takes us about 10-20 minutes to get into gear, but once we do we play beautiful posession football. and currently averaging three + goals a game...

good luck anyway, and i hope that any of you going up for it have a good day, hopefully there`ll be `chips on the concourse` this match!!.

[pete_norw 0]

[quote user="exiled blue"]" Why are you on this forum if you''re a Man City fan? " a fair question!!. because i live here now, i married a norwich gell, and mosy of my inlaws are norwich fans. i don`t come on here to `troll` or do wind-ups, i just like to sometimes give what i think is an objective view on some of the matters raised on here. as for your game against us, with any bias set aside, you`ll be very lucky to get anything from your trip. not being big headed, just based upon what i`ve witnessed with my own eyes, it usually takes us about 10-20 minutes to get into gear, but once we do we play beautiful posession football. and currently averaging three + goals a game... good luck anyway, and i hope that any of you going up for it have a good day, hopefully there`ll be `chips on the concourse` this match!!.[/quote]

Bit like me Blue, my family live in Birmingham and I visit the three web sites there, to keep in touch with them, As for Man city, the reason why it takes them 10 20 minutes to get started it must be something to do with the garlic the frog players eat  

[Hutcherby46 0]

i think it might of been yaya toure who said there second team is more than capeable of beating most teams and when you look at it properly you start to agree with him,but hopefully a battleing performance from us will lead to us knicking a goal or 2 or maybe a point

[exiled blue 0]

there isn`t really a `second team` in my opinion. mancini has the luxury of being able to pick an 11 from, probably the best squad ever assembled in the premier leagues` history. there may be certain names who are slightly more `stellar` than others, silva, yaya and aguero for example, but even they sit out games. every player will get a chance, he juggles the pack depending upon who we are playing, at home? play a different side to the away games. need to speed it up?, again a different game to when we need to play the possession game. not a bad problem to have!.

summed up by the fact that we lost one of our 4 strikers, tevez, and we don`t miss him!.

[Darren Lamb 0]

[quote user="exiled blue"]there isn`t really a `second team` in my opinion. mancini has the luxury of being able to pick an 11 from, probably the best squad ever assembled in the premier leagues` history. there may be certain names who are slightly more `stellar` than others, silva, yaya and aguero for example, but even they sit out games. every player will get a chance, he juggles the pack depending upon who we are playing, at home? play a different side to the away games. need to speed it up?, again a different game to when we need to play the possession game. not a bad problem to have!. summed up by the fact that we lost one of our 4 strikers, tevez, and we don`t miss him!.[/quote]

And the fact you can sling out Adebayor on loan who can walk into Tottenham''s starting 11, mental!

[exiled blue 0]

"And the fact you can sling out Adebayor on loan who can walk into Tottenham''s starting 11, mental!"

yeah, but they`re welcome to him. he`s a `sleeper`, just wait til he gets a contract there. the ink won`t be dry and he`ll be moaning about being disrespected. a leopard doesn`t change his spots.

if you go down the leagues i think we have something like 28 players out on loan to other clubs atm.

[In Dubious Battle 0]

Manchester City 2nd 111. Costel Pantilimon2. Aleksander Kolarov3. Kolo Toure4. Stefan Savic5. Pablo Zabaleta6. Adam Johnson7. Gareth Barry8. Nigel De Jong9. Owen Hargreaves10. ???11. Edin Dzeko