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Stoke City v Manchester City
Saturday, 14th September 2013
Kick Off: 3 PM

Mark Clattenburg has been appointed the referee for this game!


Lots of questions only Pellegrini will answer ... but we'll surely see a lot of rotation I guess:

- Demichelis came in as a cover but is injured himself so now what? How will the defense line up?
- Silva is injured so will Jovetic come in the hole or will Nasri play central? (although Silva has started on left mostly).
- Negredo has to start I guess, but who will sit out? Dzeko or Aguero?

Games will come thick and fast now on ... there's the CL game (Plzen away) mid-week after this, then the Derby, two days after that is the LeagueCup starter followed by Aston Villa Away and then Bayern visits Etihad followed by Everton. So till the next international break, 7 games in 22 days, at almost a game every 3 days ...

AG7 wrote:- Demichelis came in as a cover but is injured himself so now what? How will the defense line up?

Zabba - Garcia - Lescott - Kolarov (I know!)

AG7 wrote:- Silva is injured so will Jovetic come in the hole or will Nasri play central? (although Silva has started on left mostly).

If Jove is fit yes but most likely James will step in

AG7 wrote:- Negredo has to start I guess, but who will sit out? Dzeko or Aguero?

Dzeko will likely partner Negredo

Yaya playing off the front man Negrado with Jovetic and Navas/Nasri as wide players. Rodwell and Fernandinho as the central holding midfield players.Nasti and Lescott in central defence with Zaba and Kolarov as full backs. Easy :)

Douglas Higginbottom wrote:Yaya playing off the front man Negrado with Jovetic and Navas/Nasri as wide players. Rodwell and Fernandinho as the central holding midfield players.Nasti and Lescott in central defence with Zaba and Kolarov as full backs. Easy :)

11 outfield players? Can't see us getting away with having 12 players on the pitch.

Douglas Higginbottom wrote:Yaya playing off the front man Negrado with Jovetic and Navas/Nasri as wide players. Rodwell and Fernandinho as the central holding midfield players.Nasti and Lescott in central defence with Zaba and Kolarov as full backs. Easy :)

I do hope you're right on that one Douglas. . . I'm very keen to see Jovetic on the pitch and feel myself that if he's fit enough for a run out then he'll add that bit of something special that makes the difference. I don't think it'll be easy but it's certainly the kind of game where we need to grind out a win if we're serious about a tilt at the title.
Also hope that Silva is fit to play (need him fit) but doesn't play because those clowns alway kick the shit out of him and that ref offers no protection. All being well, we'll get 3 points and have a fit and inspired Silva available for the derby.

Haven't you heard the pundits, yaya is too defensive minded to play that far forward.

Breks wrote:
11 outfield players? Can't see us getting away with having 12 players on the pitch.

I believe you miscounted. Doug named 11 players, and I agree with his squad.

Dave should definitely be rested for the CL if he picked up an injury last week

Saul Goodman wrote:

Breks wrote:
11 outfield players? Can't see us getting away with having 12 players on the pitch.

I believe you miscounted. Doug named 11 players, and I agree with his squad.

Dave should definitely be rested for the CL if he picked up an injury last week

Eggsactly.Navas or Nasri with Dave getting a rest.

Amazing re Yaya isn't it.We see him week in week out and don't rate his defensive attributes but the media still seem to place him as a defensive midfield player who maybe powers forward in the latter stages.

Gonna be a tuff game. Hard one to come off an international break into. Plus Hughes still holds a tampon for us so he will have them up for it against us or maybe that was just Mancini he hated.

Defence is fucked so we will need to change the habit of the last few years and put a few past them I think, can't see us keeping a clean sheet.

Dzeko and negredo need to start. There won't be any room for aguero and I can't see there being much space for him to run/dribble. Wack the crosses in and fire shots in from outside the area whenever the opportunity comes.

Can't fucking wait though. Feels like the start of the season.

We need to put out our toughest team. Stoke will try to bully us all game and we need to stand up to them so they don't get the upper hand or an increased confidence.

They are going bombard our CB's with crosses due to the crisis which we are having. We need reliable midfielders who will come back and defend.

Speed will be the key to breaking Stoke down. Aerial balls won't work. They have big, strong defenders who can clear crosses with ease when it's predictable and route 1.

Front 3: Navas will be good and ruin the defended with his pace, Jovetic will be good in and around the box if he's fit and Negrado should start because of what he has done so far.

Midfield 3: Milner, Rodwell, Yaya

Defenders: Zaba, Nasti, Lescott, Clichy

Milner needs to start with Yaya and Ferdi

Stoke City .... Mark Hughes .... I'd be happywith a draw, even though I think we should stuff 'em. They're on the same points as us!

Risby wrote:
Front 3: Navas will be good and ruin the defended with his pace, Jovetic will be good in and around the box if he's fit and Negrado should start because of what he has done so far.

Midfield 3: Milner, Rodwell, Yaya

Defenders: Zaba, Nasti, Lescott, Clichy

I'd be happy with that.
Maybe just throw head and shoulders or panties between the sticks and we're good

Here's what I think the team will be (I don't like it, but this is what it will be):

Hart
Zaba - Lescott - Nasti - Kola
Yaya - Fernan
Navas - Nasri
Negredo - Dzonkey

AG7 wrote:Here's what I think the team will be (I don't like it, but this is what it will be):

Hart
Zaba - Lescott - Nasti - Kola
Yaya - Fernan
Navas - Nasri
Negredo - Dzonkey

Wanna bet on it?

Why are we wanting to mirror them? Fucking going to clog it up, let's outplay them!

Saul Goodman wrote:I believe you miscounted. Doug named 11 players, and I agree with his squad.

Dave should definitely be rested for the CL if he picked up an injury last week

i seen 11 outfield players, and no goalkeepers name

As long as Milner is on the pitch i'll feel a lot more confident.

We need his graft seeing as we've ditched Gaz Baz.

Front three of Dzeko - Pantilimon - Negredo with Micah providing the ammo from the throw ins. See how they like it.

london blue 2 wrote:Front three of Dzeko - Pantilimon - Negredo with Micah providing the ammo from the throw ins. See how they like it.

LOL, would have been funny as fuck against Pullis but I think Hughes is changing their 'that' way of playing, well, at least that's why he's been brought in ...