Borussia Dortmund (A) - CL QF | Pre-Match Thread

[eversince 76]

I expect it to be tense. Not just because we play Dortmund, but because it’s a knock out game in the CL.
The fact that we play Dortmund away and without their fans actually makes me more confident. We seem to feel at ease away from home.

 

[KennyG]

We are likely imo to buckle under pressure unfortunately. I hope we go through but I'm not confident. All I can hope for is that the players try their very best.

Dortmund are bang average, albeit with a lethal goalscorer.
However this competition represents a major psychological stumbling block, both for City and Pep.
In the first leg we looked spooked!

 

[Cornish_Blue]

Uneasy about this, but then i am never confident. Dortmund are no mugs. Hoping Pep is proved right by resting what he thinks will be his winning 11. Big test for our players. Hopefully they won't let nerves get to them. If Dortmund score first, i don't think we'll get back in the game

You could very well be correct. In the first leg, they defended well, and our poor finishing yet again was our downside.

 

[solley attwell]

Do you mean hopefully he is able to?

Just trying to instill confidence in myself and other doom merchants

 

[The Colonel]

I’m hoping that the tentativeness that appeared for the last 2 games is a temporary blip otherwise these next 2 games are going to hurt. We need that arrogance back. A decent pitch will help also!

 

[The Colonel]

Reckon you’re right about key players rested. Never much point trying to guess who he’ll pick but looking at the Leeds game I’d say Kev, Dias, Phil, Ffs, Gundo and Rodders are guaranteed (ish), add Eddie to that. Didn’t see Eric or Kun on the training video yesterday so Stonesy will probably start too. After that I’ve no idea but knowing Pep he’ll probably put Garcia in to man mark Haaland :(

Been pretty clear who’s Pep’s go to players are at this stage of the season, all those above plus Mahrez and Walker. Pep won’t do man marking, says it just frees up someone else to hurt us.

 

[vicblueman]

Go with a back 3 & wingbacks , plus in front of our goals a Brick wall
Team coach

Ederson

Stones dias laporte
Walker Cancelo dinho rodri
mahrez Debruyne foden

Good Luck Blue boys !

 

[A590 blues]

Quietly confident on this 2nd leg lead for the first time...we will score they looked fooked after 55 mins (albeit they broke and scored) so take advantage then.
Put chances away City through
Come on the blue boys

 

[Tricky_Trev]

Starting to veer away from Zinchenko being in my ideal team now, even though I love him and Cancelo is in bad form, because if Walker and Zinchenko are to be preferred, it means Stones has to sit on the bench. Unless we decided to play with traditional fullbacks that stay wide, but then that wouldn’t suit Zinchenko in my opinion. I don’t see Walker missing out, it’s not an option in my mind.

So the decision is would we rather Zinchenko misses out, or Stones? I think we have to go Cancelo left back again.

 

[argyle]

Dortmund are bang average, albeit with a lethal goalscorer.
However this competition represents a major psychological stumbling block, both for City and Pep.
In the first leg we looked spooked!

They seemed a lot better than bang average in the 1st leg.

They looked very dangerous and I expect the same in the 2nd.