Team for Stoke

[brite blu sky]

Anyone fancy chancing their arm on who Bob will pick.

As Barry is questionmarked, im going for Milner if Barry is out.

Hart
Micah - Kolo - Vinnie - Kolarov
deJong
Yaya - Milner
Silva - Tevez - Balotelli

I think he could get away without deJong for this one, but dont think he will do that.

[CityGer]

Hart
Micah - Kolo - Vinnie - Kolarov
deJong
Yaya - Milner
Silva - Tevez - Balotelli

Fine by me.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Hart
Micah - Kolo - Vinnie - Kolarov
deJong
Yaya - Milner
Silva - Tevez - Balotelli

Fine by me.

I would go for that if Yaya is deemed fit but Barry if not.

[brite blu sky]

Hart
Micah - Kolo - Vinnie - Kolarov
deJong
Yaya - Milner
Silva - Tevez - Balotelli

Fine by me.

I would go for that if Yaya is deemed fit but Barry if not.

ah i forgot that Yaya might not be 100% either. Cripes! we might be down to PV.

[Crossie]

Stoke are going to pressure us for 95 mins, DeJong HAS to play, Yaya should be left out of this one because he wont get any time on the ball.

Barry and Milner probably suit this kind of game abit more, they are much more use to a team like Stoke. Ballo needs to play to give us some spice upfront, but im not sure that leaves room for Silva. I'd love to see AJ given 90 mins too.

Argh its dead hard to pick 11 players!

[Ted Hughes]

I'd go for the OP team if Barry's not fit but Bob may go for Boateng rather than Micah at RB.

If Vieira has to play in place of Yaya, we'll be half a yard slower & in danger of running out of legs, in midfield. That shows quite clearly that we still don't have a balanced squad yet unless/until MJ gets fully match fit. If we do have injuries I would promote Andrew Tutte to the squad as he looked a considerably better (though smaller) player than Ibrahim v rags (a bit like Cattermole with talent). Boateng could also be moved there later in the game if neccessary.

[Green & Blue]

Same side as Fulham i reckon with the exception of Balotelli for jo and the forced change of the body builder for Zabaleta, the team played great last weekend and i would be surprised to see many changes to the line up.

[brite blu sky]

It is difficult, but the midfield might be determined more by who is fit, Doug reporting that Yaya has only trained lightly and Barry went in early.. so both might be out! hopefully not.

The argument for leaving deJong out is that he will be by passed by a lot of Stoke's play, but it is academic imo as Bob wont leave him out.
As for Silva, if he can dodge the challenges he will dictate the play and besides the less tinkering with a winning away team probably the better, as they say.

Im not convinced that he will or should start Balotelli, but fucl it he has to learn somewhere so may as well go for it, if he bags an early goal he can be pulled at any point if he starts to get narky.

[brite blu sky]

I'd go for the OP team if Barry's not fit but Bob may go for Boateng rather than Micah at RB.

If Vieira has to play in place of Yaya, we'll be half a yard slower & in danger of running out of legs, in midfield. That shows quite clearly that we still don't have a balanced squad yet unless/until MJ gets fully match fit. If we do have injuries I would promote Andrew Tutte to the squad as he looked a considerably better (though smaller) player than Ibrahim v rags (a bit like Cattermole with talent). Boateng could also be moved there later in the game if neccessary.

Tutte has gone to Shrewsbury on loan, not sure for how long though.

[Ted Hughes]

I'd go for the OP team if Barry's not fit but Bob may go for Boateng rather than Micah at RB.

If Vieira has to play in place of Yaya, we'll be half a yard slower & in danger of running out of legs, in midfield. That shows quite clearly that we still don't have a balanced squad yet unless/until MJ gets fully match fit. If we do have injuries I would promote Andrew Tutte to the squad as he looked a considerably better (though smaller) player than Ibrahim v rags (a bit like Cattermole with talent). Boateng could also be moved there later in the game if neccessary.

Tutte has gone to Shrewsbury on loan, not sure for how long though.

Oh aye, forgot about that! Don't know if his performance v rags was a one off (as he's been lousy every time I've seen him over the last couple of seasons) but I rated him right up there with Sturridge & Weiss in that Youth Cup team & he looked like that player again v rags. Exactly what we need in the 1st team to play next to Silva in the future on that showing. They see him more than I do though & Kiddo was watching so we'll see.

[saulman]

------------------------Hart-------------------------

Richards-------Kolo-------Kompany-------Kolarov

-----------------------De Jong----------------------

---------------Yaya-------------Barry---------------

------------Silva---------------------Balotelli------

------------------------Tevez-----------------------


If they play anything at all like last week, that's a winning team.

[Ted Hughes]

------------------------Hart-------------------------

Richards-------Kolo-------Kompany-------Kolarov

-----------------------De Jong----------------------

---------------Yaya-------------Barry---------------

------------Silva---------------------Balotelli------

------------------------Tevez-----------------------


If they play anything at all like last week, that's a winning team.

It was strange how we lined up last time because Yaya was almost like an extra striker as v Chelsea/Sunderland etc but Silva seemed to have a free role so it was almost like:

................DeJong......................
.........................Barry..............
(Silva)...........(Silva) (Yaya)..............
(Silva)...(Silva).....Yaya.....(Silva).....Jo
...........(Yaya)....Tevez..(Jo)(Silva)....

[brite blu sky]

I'd go for the OP team if Barry's not fit but Bob may go for Boateng rather than Micah at RB.

If Vieira has to play in place of Yaya, we'll be half a yard slower & in danger of running out of legs, in midfield. That shows quite clearly that we still don't have a balanced squad yet unless/until MJ gets fully match fit. If we do have injuries I would promote Andrew Tutte to the squad as he looked a considerably better (though smaller) player than Ibrahim v rags (a bit like Cattermole with talent). Boateng could also be moved there later in the game if neccessary.

Tutte has gone to Shrewsbury on loan, not sure for how long though.

Oh aye, forgot about that! Don't know if his performance v rags was a one off (as he's been lousy every time I've seen him over the last couple of seasons) but I rated him right up there with Sturridge & Weiss in that Youth Cup team & he looked like that player again v rags. Exactly what we need in the 1st team to play next to Silva in the future on that showing. They see him more than I do though & Kiddo was watching so we'll see.

Someone will correct me im sure but the Youth Cup team seemed to be fairly consistent in terms of the lads playing, whereas since then there has been more additions and changes.. i would imagine that would effect a player like Tutte because of where he play and how. Dunno but it is one explanation.

In general i suppose the academy lads get as good a shout as you could wish for. What i mean is that the club has an interest in their own coming through, so the best of them will get all the opportunities they can muster basically to see if they can make it. As you say they will know what Tutte is capable of.. now is the time for the big step up. A couple of loans and if all goes well maybe a chance towards the end of the season on the 1st team bench?

[Ted Hughes]

I'd go for the OP team if Barry's not fit but Bob may go for Boateng rather than Micah at RB.

If Vieira has to play in place of Yaya, we'll be half a yard slower & in danger of running out of legs, in midfield. That shows quite clearly that we still don't have a balanced squad yet unless/until MJ gets fully match fit. If we do have injuries I would promote Andrew Tutte to the squad as he looked a considerably better (though smaller) player than Ibrahim v rags (a bit like Cattermole with talent). Boateng could also be moved there later in the game if neccessary.

Tutte has gone to Shrewsbury on loan, not sure for how long though.

Oh aye, forgot about that! Don't know if his performance v rags was a one off (as he's been lousy every time I've seen him over the last couple of seasons) but I rated him right up there with Sturridge & Weiss in that Youth Cup team & he looked like that player again v rags. Exactly what we need in the 1st team to play next to Silva in the future on that showing. They see him more than I do though & Kiddo was watching so we'll see.

Someone will correct me im sure but the Youth Cup team seemed to be fairly consistent in terms of the lads playing, whereas since then there has been more additions and changes.. i would imagine that would effect a player like Tutte because of where he play and how. Dunno but it is one explanation.

In general i suppose the academy lads get as good a shout as you could wish for. What i mean is that the club has an interest in their own coming through, so the best of them will get all the opportunities they can muster basically to see if they can make it. As you say they will know what Tutte is capable of.. now is the time for the big step up. A couple of loans and if all goes well maybe a chance towards the end of the season on the 1st team bench?

The City players from that team who went on to represent England youth in the World Cup, were actually an embarrassment to the club & country & apart from Nimely who was much younger, were shown up as being so far behind other countries that it was beyond a joke, particularly Ben Mee etc, who's lack of pace against quality was almost comical. Tutte's was mainly a cameo/sub role (i think) but I wondered if the humilliation of that tournament effected him as he's never looked the same to me, til now.

[brite blu sky]

The City players from that team who went on to represent England youth in the World Cup, were actually an embarrassment to the club & country & apart from Nimely who was much younger, were shown up as being so far behind other countries that it was beyond a joke, particularly Ben Mee etc, who's lack of pace against quality was almost comical. Tutte's was mainly a cameo/sub role (i think) but I wondered if the humilliation of that tournament effected him as he's never looked the same to me, til now.

That was a 1st class embarassing washout, but in the City players defence pretty much all the England players were tosh. But you might be right in terms of the effect... although tbh i would have thought they would shrug such shit off at that age.

[saulman]

------------------------Hart-------------------------

Richards-------Kolo-------Kompany-------Kolarov

-----------------------De Jong----------------------

---------------Yaya-------------Barry---------------

------------Silva---------------------Balotelli------

------------------------Tevez-----------------------


If they play anything at all like last week, that's a winning team.

It was strange how we lined up last time because Yaya was almost like an extra striker as v Chelsea/Sunderland etc but Silva seemed to have a free role so it was almost like:

................DeJong......................
.........................Barry..............
(Silva)...........(Silva) (Yaya)..............
(Silva)...(Silva).....Yaya.....(Silva).....Jo
...........(Yaya)....Tevez..(Jo)(Silva)....

I'd play Yaya in a more defensive role with the option to bomb forward when possible with either/or Barry and let De Jong do the mopping up.
Agree about Silva. I reckon he's got the potential to be one of the best players in the Prem. If the cold doesn't get him and he continues to improve at the rate he's doing, he'll be on the teamsheet in equal measure with Tevez and De Jong, IMO.

Also, I'd have Jo warmed up and ready to come on for Balotelli at any time, including the first half. He'll be a marked man and his temperament will be called into question today. At the first inkling that he's acting like a dick I'd haul him off and replace him with Jo. An 11 man team including Jo is better than a 10 man team without. Jo did a decent job last week and though he goes down easy, he showed he's got a decent touch and can be a great aerial and attacking threat.

[Ted Hughes]

------------------------Hart-------------------------

Richards-------Kolo-------Kompany-------Kolarov

-----------------------De Jong----------------------

---------------Yaya-------------Barry---------------

------------Silva---------------------Balotelli------

------------------------Tevez-----------------------


If they play anything at all like last week, that's a winning team.

It was strange how we lined up last time because Yaya was almost like an extra striker as v Chelsea/Sunderland etc but Silva seemed to have a free role so it was almost like:

................DeJong......................
.........................Barry..............
(Silva)...........(Silva) (Yaya)..............
(Silva)...(Silva).....Yaya.....(Silva).....Jo
...........(Yaya)....Tevez..(Jo)(Silva)....

I'd play Yaya in a more defensive role with the option to bomb forward when possible with either/or Barry and let De Jong do the mopping up.
Agree about Silva. I reckon he's got the potential to be one of the best players in the Prem. If the cold doesn't get him and he continues to improve at the rate he's doing, he'll be on the teamsheet in equal measure with Tevez and De Jong, IMO.

Also, I'd have Jo warmed up and ready to come on for Balotelli at any time, including the first half. He'll be a marked man and his temperament will be called into question today. At the first inkling that he's acting like a dick I'd haul him off and replace him with Jo. An 11 man team including Jo is better than a 10 man team without. Jo did a decent job last week and though he goes down easy, he showed he's got a decent touch and can be a great aerial and attacking threat.

Yeah when I saw the game again, Jo did much better than I'd given him credit for (apart from the ridiculous fucking collapsing/arm waving thing which makes me want to kill him).

[brite blu sky]

Nah.. keep Yaya pushing up. It is one of the things that makes us more threatening and keeps us on the front foot.
Kolarov also made a big diff imo, and made the use of Jo work.

[Beefymcfc]

With the possible injuries, I wonder if Dedryk will be in with a shout?

[Ted Hughes]

With the possible injuries, I wonder if Dedryk will be in with a shout?

If him & Boateng play, we'll lose & I'll send Bob a turd for his birthday.