Barcelona v Manchester City, 30th July 7pm EDT / 31st July 12am BST, Orlando, FL, pre-match thread | KO delayed until 01:20 (BST)

[Mad Eyed Screamer]

Barcelona v Manchester City, Tuesday July 30th, Camping World Stadium, Orlando, Florida
Kick off 7pm local time / midnight Wednesday morning 31/7 UK time

 

[ninjamonkey]

Expect this one to be the game where we see pep go with the strongest/ most senior 11 we have for first 45-60 minutes.

I know it was arranged way before the fixtures came out but given we have Chelsea away first game, the Chelsea friendly after this is a mental game to be playing.

even though the players are going to be vastly different we're still not going to be wanting to play anything close to our planned style or approach for the league game in that friendly and they'll have the same mindset so I could see that being a really weird mishmash side with an experimental formation from both sides just to keep each other guessing.

if thats the case, it makes this game oue last proper pre-season game before the shield. Kovacic and gvardiol will make a big difference to how we build.

 

[Wanchope n me Dickov]

Expect Mickey, Donald and Pluto to get some game time in this Mickey Mouse game.

 

[Vester]

Is any of our first teamers currently on holiday expected to join the US tour or is 80% of the first team squad going to miss the entire preseason? Not saying we should rush them back since they need their rest, just wondering.

 

[Damanino]

apparently this is their first pre season game hope they are much more undercooked than we are lol

 

[burning blue soul]

 

[Mad Eyed Screamer]

Expect Mickey, Donald and Pluto to get some game time in this Mickey Mouse game.

They've just signed for the rags so won't be available

 

[COAT_OF_ARMS]

apparently this is their first pre season game hope they are much more undercooked than we are lol

They played local fourth-tier side Olot in their first pre-season game, three days ago. A few first-teamers played the first-half, notably Araujo, Martinez, Balde, Romeu, and Roque. They came away with a 1-0 win, courtesy of Pablo Torre. That was played at Ciutat Joan Gamper, so I'm assuming they've only just flown out to America.

Definitely behind us in preparation. Depending on line-ups, it could be like the Celtic game, except with us being Celtic in this scenario.

 

[ninjamonkey]

Is any of our first teamers currently on holiday expected to join the US tour or is 80% of the first team squad going to miss the entire preseason? Not saying we should rush them back since they need their rest, just wondering.

No. They'll all be back at the cfa a week on monday once the tour ends, shield will be their first and only official pre-season game. It's undoubtedly a concern even if we're used to it by now, we start slowly because of it and it often shows in our first few games. we've got some important and difficult fixtures early this season so it might be tougher than usual but it's hard to argue against it when peps repeatedly proven it works over the course of the season. Pep trusts the players and we trust pep.

 

[Gray]

Third loss on the spin.