The View from the Swamp

article-2142511-13123A15000005DC-471_634x397

 

I only ever go in to Red Cafe twice a year, so I am not up to speed on what they post. At the moment there are loads of threads relating to City, which surprises me. I guess it means we are getting to them! All the posts here are taken from the match thread, and its not a bad read (considering the source). There is no decisive concensus on the outcome though, which is to be expected. Anything can happen in this game.  For once I am happy that we are playing on Sunday afternoon, it means that my weekend cannot be ruined until about 4pm tomorrow. Now, more than ever…

COME ON CITY !!!

Team Selection

—————De Gea—————
Darmian–Smalling–Jones–Blind
—————Carrick—————
——-Herrera——-Morgan——-
Mata———-Rooney———-Martial

Referee: Mark Clattenburg

My favourite

It’s going to be a bloodbath

And the rest…

Let’s fecking twat ’em

Same team vs Everton. Be a different game to the one tonight. City won’t park the bus like Moscow. Think we’ll smash them

Not too positive, should really put Schneiderlin on De Bruyne and hope Carrick starts

City will cruise to 3 points

Please play martial up front. We need that pace up top. Midfield 3 needs to stay the same. Blind in for Rojo at left back, Rooney will always play so put him out on the wing as he is a good crosser of the ball and works hard defensively. Ideally Young would play there but he’s out injured. Doubt Memphis will come in. So Rooney it is. ..Hopefully we put in a performance closer to the Everton one then today or Arsenal, and if we do, then we’ll win. City are decent, but nothing special without Aguero, especially not without both him and Silva. They’re no better then we are if you take Aguero out, and at Old Trafford we should be getting the win.

Aguero is a huge miss for them..He’s the best player out of the two sides and one of the best big game players in the world

They simply are a better team. Not expecting an upset

We don’t have problems against the big teams, and especially those who will try to play. Think some read too much into the Arsenal game, as long as we don’t start like we did at the Emirates, we should win this game.

Confident about a win 3-1

If you offered me a draw now, I would bite your hand off.

Aguero and Silva are out. If we’re ever going to win, it is now.

pa-11908868

Would not be that worried if not for the signing of KDB. He makes the difference when others aren’t effective and really bolters that squad to a new level and will help them in Europe. I bet they wish he was there for Juve…We’ll certainly have our hands full. We can win but we need all 11 players at it and making our chances count. We can’t have Rooney and Memphis playing poorly.

If Rooney starts upfront, we are fecked. But we don’t have a choice, he will start upfront anyway.

City slapping goals in and apart from the Everton game, we haven’t been all that great lately imo

I always have a bad feeling about games that follow a far flung midweek trip to Eastern Europe. Unfortunate timing for the derby, I’d definitely take a draw to be honest.

I have a feeling they will hammer us.

I’m going for 3-2 win. Mangala and Otamendi are like drunk guys in a disco. All over the place.

I find this city side more shaky than the one that came to OT last season. More dangerous too. I think they will score first again, but as long as they don’t blitz us like Arsenal did, I’m confident this game is ours to win.

De Bruyne is a concern, he’s clearly a very capable replacement for Silva.

Cant make my mind up…United are poor with Rooney on the pitch, but City dont look great without Aguero and Silva either…Would take a draw and be fairly satisfied with a hard run of games being completed.

Who can we boo with them? Rooney?

This is one of these weird through the Looking Glass seasons when literally anything can fecking happen on a given day. The form book means nada. Yes, De Bruyne is a class act. Yes, there is something fragile about United, but it’s a squad with lots of class too. And there is something fragile about City. Not hedging my bets, but I think that either team could get a couple of early goals and kick on from there. I predicted United – it’s a hunch, that’s all – to win this three nil. We need a bit of luck early on, Fergie type breaks. And if we are going well, the fatigue of the long haul flight and tough Russian assignment in mightn’t bite too hard.

At times this season they have been dire and Silva/Aguero have torn teams apart on their own. This is the weakest City team we will have played in years.

We can’t let them start well. They did the last time we faced and we were lucky not to be two goals behind. We must be ready to press well from the off.

Darmian will need to win his contest against Sterling. Or else we’re in big trouble.

Its not Sterling we need to worry about, its De Bruyne! I think he’s had a goal or an assit in every game he’s started so far!

Yes they have more pace than us, and without Shaw we’ll struggle. I’d consider a draw a good result.

I wasn’t impressed with City at all in the Sevilla game, I don’t think they are amazing like most on here do and I definitely expect us to put up a good fight.The City love on here will be unbearable if they beat us on Sunday.

I’m bit more confident now then year ago. Obviously won’t be walk in the park but this time we got stronger wings of defense and Morgan freakin Schneiderlin in midfield not to mention Smalling in a beast mode…However one mistake in squad and player role aspect and we may pay the price. Selection must be done carefully like never before if we’re in for a title challenge. Do it right Louie.

Looks like Carrick is going to start which I dont like. He has been subbed in the last two games.

don’t understand all the doom and gloom in this thread, we have a solid shot at beating them …especially with silva and aguerooooo out.

I have this sinking feeling he’s going to start Basti and Carrick.

With Aguero and Silva out, it is not KdB or Sterling who I worry about. It is Y.Toure. If we are paying too much attention to the wings, space is going to open up nicely in the middle for Toure especially the way we play 2DM atm. In addition, both Carrick and BFS are going to be “destroyed” by him physically in some cases when he use his pace and power. They are all 30s but the difference is obvious. I hope we play 3 man in the middle with 1DM. It is not only to protect each other but also in case their wingers roaming and drift in the middle. And last but not least, I wish Rooney does do something in this match, the whole team need him perform to “tick”

Some key battlegrounds as I see it:

Sterling vs Darmian – poor Matteo got torn a new one a few weeks ago against Arsenal; this is the time to redeem himself. Sterling has tended to roam a little more in his last few games for City, but I still think he’s most dangerous out wide, where he can stretch the play and provide space for his teammates. Usually he likes to run with the ball rather than run in behind, so hopefully Darmian stands off him a bit, rather than getting caught high up the pitch like he did vs Sanchez.

Schneiderlin vs De Bruyne – Not a whole lot to be said here, we just need a big performance from this man. I’m terrified of De Bruyne.

Martial vs Sanga/Otamendi – He’ll cause problems for both City’s fullback and right sided CB. Otamendi has been a tad error prone since coming to City, so if I were Van Gaal I’d have Martial target the spaces between CB and RB, and have players look to find Martial early. In fact, there’s actually an argument for having him switch flanks with Mata, given the threat Kolarov poses down the other side. Kolarov would be either less inclined to get forward due to Martial’s pace, or else leave spaces in behind.

Rooney vs Otamendi/Mangala – Rooney needs to stay high and occupy the CB’s. Against CSKA he constantly came deep and slowed the play down, I’d much rather he be high up the pitch making a nuisance of himself for City’s defence. In the same fixture last season, he provided a quiet but very important performance, hovering between the two CB’s and keeping them occupied, which really helped to provide space for other players. A similar performance on Sunday would be invaluable.

Paul Merson actually predicted us to win 2-1!  What a revelation!  I never thought I’ll see the light of the day.

This is about winning. The impact it could have…. No matter how we do it, we need to win.

pa-715970

 

 

 

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *