I did say on my last CL posting that these are the games that we aspire to be part of, but today I think I’m changing my mantra to read “these are the games that we aspire to get result in”. As the draw was being made for this years CL I always felt that the games against CSKA would be the pivotal games and I’m still convinced that this will be the case.
The back to back games always are crucial in most CL groups and I can’t see any reason why today should be any different, 3 points today will leave us well placed in the group but even 1 point would not be a disaster with home games against CSKA and Plzen to come, 3 points in each of those games plus the 1 from an away draw would give us 10 points, tantalisingly close to qualification. Ana way win plus 3 points from both home games means we are qualified in my school boy mathematics brain. But let’s not get to ahead of ourselves.
Tonight’s match will be a trick one, and by all accounts the pitch is a bit of a cow patch and that could play right into the home sides hands, who should have more experience on the pitch than City will have. Not that I’m getting my excuses in early, far from it, I just think that in this day and age CL teams at this level should have a decent pitch and if not should be made to play at a stadium that does.
It’s hard to know precisely how tonight’s match will pan out, will we see the clinical City that swept aside West Ham on Saturday or will we see the tentative City that is trying not to lose but at the same time not going all out to win. If I’m honest we have the great firepower and quality in our team but we all know that counts for nothing if the big players don’t play well in the big games.
It’s great to see David Silva is getting back to something like his best, and we do tick over much better when he plays. He’s even adding tackling to his game, as witnessed in the booking for the sliding tackle he made on Saturday, perhaps leave that to the tacklers in the team and just get back behind the ball. His presence in the team is a welcome distraction for the opposition which gives time and space to others in the City team to exploit, whilst talking the burden of creating something from Toure (where it usually ends up when we are not breaking teams down).
I’m not really sure about CSKA Moscow and where the strengths and weaknesses lie (I haven’t got FIFA 2014) but I think they will pose a decent threat to City and we should not take them to lightly particularly at home. I’m sure the City coaching staff are well aware of what CSKA can do and have drilled the team in what to expect, as they should do for every game.
It’s my contention that for these sorts of games you should play the strongest team possible but, being mindful of what happened against Munich, we also have to have an eye on how the opposition will line up and play. So on that basis this is my team selection for tonight’s game.
In goal there is only one choice for me, yes he’s dipped in form but class is permanent and he’s massively experienced in big games both for City and England, so Joe Hart is my choice in goals.
Defensively I think we should pick our strongest 4, and at full back this should be Zabaleta and Cliché, even though Kolorov has had some good games of late he is likely to come under defensive pressure and in that regard Cliché is the better defender. I think that Micah Richards is getting back to form but I think Zabaleta is the better of the two defensively but can get forward if required. At Centre Half I thinkw e should go for the best two defenders and for me that should be Lescott and Nastasic. I know this means two left footers but instincts tell me that they are both better defenders than Garcia, who is the obvious other choice given the injuries we have at the moment. To be fair to Garcia he does have a better distribution than Lescott but Lescott can stand up for the fight a bit better in my view.
The midfield is another interesting proposition but for me Toure and Fernandinho must play in the central roles, both have bags of CL experience and are big match players when it matters, in my view. With the magician that is David Silva occupying another of the midfield slots its then down to who plays in the last spot, presuming 4-4-2 of course. So who out of Navas, Nasri and Milner should play in the last of the midfield slots. There are others who could play in midfield but are perhaps not quite fit enough yet (Rodwell) but for me it’s a choice between Milner for legs and tackling, Nasri for guile and Navas for width and pace. I’d pick Nasri.
Upfront I think it’s a very simple choice and that would be Džeko and Aguero, this is hard on Negredo who is playing out of his skin in the league but Dzeko has the experience of this type of fixture.
So I hope this game doesn’t turn into a stick to beat the manager and that the players step up and show why City are a force in this years CL, at least through these early group stages. I do believe that the managers philosophy is getting through to the players now and that we are starting to build the new City approach and style under Pellegrini.
C’mon City.
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