Burnley (h) pre-match thread

[Ban-jani]

2-2 lots of boo's at half and full time.

Then Pep slating the fans after FT.

 

[Adlab123]

could see against liverpool bravo was under instruction to clear the ball long in order to not put ourselves at risk at the back. other than a few crappy balls long i thought he played really well.
we struggled at burnley so strong team this time with a little rotation.

..............bravo
sagna stones otamendi kolarov
..............Garcia
sterling de bruyne silva (sane/nolito)
..............aguero

the defensive midfielder position is one which does the most work so it's the one i'd rotate. toure is old and fernandinho looked a little off the passing last game, maybe because tiredness was kicking in.
I'd put in Garcia instead of fernando simply because of the opposition. Any formation that allows silva and de bruyne to play centrally should be able to beat burnley. Garcia has a lot of patience recycling the ball and that's something we will probably be doing a lot today against burnley parking on their 18 yard line.

Heavy fixture list, lesser opposition at home, perfect time for just 1 kid pep. come on m8

Fernandinho has been suspended for three games!

 

[jimmygrimblesboots]

Will be heading for the train to Piccadilly soon for a good day out watching gods own team and i will look back at this depressing thread at the end of January and have a good long laugh at some of the knee jerk comments and doom & gloom bollocks that has been posted. The next few games all very winnable and with jesus arriving for some divine intervention what more could we ask for , so cheer up you miserable lot of bastards , and happy new year :)

 

[Brendan110_0]

Fernandinho has been suspended for three games!

Eh? Have you been in a coma? Or did I miss something?

 

[MadchesterCity]

CrownPointBlue said: ↑
Yes BH,but this is City....there are always more questions than answers.

If we had kicked on & backed Bobby after 93-20 we'd probably have won 2 more Championships,2 more FACs & be genuinely dominating the English game & be right alongside Barca,Franco FC & Munchen.

We didn't,we haven't & we aren't.

A shameful betrayal of the man who restored our pride & respect.

Bobby's time has gone sadly never to return but as you say heads should roll from what we have become since, we've been on a decline every season since and are at the position we were in last spring where a CL qualification place is even in doubt as others continue to strengthen while we piss about with 2 proper centre halfs and probably 1 1/2 fullbacks, but don't worry we have 7/8 wide players and no height up front.

The worst thing this season is Pep's play from the back stuff, he knows and we know we haven't got the players but not only does he persist with it he also shifted our best defender Hart to bring in Bravo. To be fair to Bravo I don't think he's been as bad as he's being protrade just that he's not anywhere near Hart's level.

To keep on topic, come on let's smash these.

The Mancini betrayal still causes much annoyance amongst the real blues, it sickens me but batman is right that we have a mess to sort and a real battle on to secure top 4 this season

 

[rnblade]

2-1 to City.
We will be complacent again because we are at home, and won't start to raise the attacking effort until 75 mins.
I really hope I'm proved wrong and we are 2 or 3 up by half time. I suppose it's Optimistic almost impossible but I can dream.

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

Agree mate, we all get annoyed when we lose but on the balance of it being totally honest I would say spurs away is the only match we've deserved to get beat. Some may add Leicester to that but I don't, apart from a mad few minutes we totally dominated them. For some reason which pep needs to address is the fact since the beginning of October we've been average in every first half, apart from maybe Chelsea. 2nd half were a different side which frustrates the hell out of me. Start games as we end them and they'll be no problems. Quick start today, 6-0 ;)

Garcia and Nacho to play up top with kun today please not fussed if it's a 3 or a 4 at the back apart from the odd long ball they won't be crossing over the half way line today. Pep will be hurting just as much as us I'm in no doubt he's gonna get this right only team that has turned us over this year are Spurs the rest is down to individual errors which are gonna happen when your a side in transition or your individualy not upto the task. As for banging on about Mancini...........move on!

These two statements are just about correct. I prefer to say that Spurs thoroughly outplayed us. Let's have it right: no-one else has. That's no consolation, of course. My feeling for the season is that we've been throwing away points in all sorts of games. Whether it's down to a new system that players are not comfortable with (or are simply not capable of implementing) remains to be seen. The record of conceding more goals in the first fifteen minutes of matches - more than Hull, ffs! - is simply mind-boggling, in a team of this quality. But is probably related to the learning curve, and the fact that Pep has made far more changes to his team than any of the other top five. Back to Burnley, since that's what this thread's supposed to be about. Let's hope they're angry about Anfield. If they are, I can see four-nil. If well, basically, they think it was ok, this could be another home draw and two more points chucked away à la Southampton, Everton, Middlebrough.

 

[cibaman]

I think we might see a few changes to the team today.

In goal you could pretty much guarantee that Bravo will be starting.

Defense wise, we could well return to the 3 at the back - Pep clearly doesn't rate any of our existing full backs so having Stones, Ota and Kolarov will suffice. Burnley will sit back so having the supposed passing quality of AK and JS might help us cut through the lines.

For some reason I feel Garcia might be thrown into this game, he has fresh legs and is one hell of a passer. Hopefully Pep was so exasperated by the capitulation at Liverpool that he will bring the young lad through.

Ahead of him Fernandinho and kdb centrally, both have an abundnace of energy and can spray the ball around.

On the wing Sterling - he was a positive for me in the Liverpool game - he hugs the touchline therefore creating more space through the middle. On the other side I believe Sane is still injured so Navas. Again, purely to hug the wing and be a nuisance positionally.

Aguero up top, he hasn't impressed me much recently. However, on his day he is world class and can destroy teams.

We've had hardly any preparation time for this game so I expect it to be a familar line up with a familar game plan.

 

[Chippy_boy]

I expect Pep will have given them all a right kick up the arse after the pathetic effort at Anfield.

So for the 1st time in fucking ages, we are going to score early and often and the game will be out of sight by half time.

3-0 up at the break and City running out 5-1 winners by the end.

Oh, and KDB will play a blinder by the way.

 

[cibaman]

These two statements are just about correct. I prefer to say that Spurs thoroughly outplayed us. Let's have it right: no-one else has. That's no consolation, of course. My feeling for the season is that we've been throwing away points in all sorts of games. Whether it's down to a new system that players are not comfortable with (or are simply not capable of implementing) remains to be seen. The record of conceding more goals in the first fifteen minutes of matches - more than Hull, ffs! - is simply mind-boggling, in a team of this quality. But is probably related to the learning curve, and the fact that Pep has made far more changes to his team than any of the other top five. Back to Burnley, since that's what this thread's supposed to be about. Let's hope they're angry about Anfield. If they are, I can see four-nil. If well, basically, they think it was ok, this could be another home draw and two more points chucked away à la Southampton, Everton, Middlebrough.

We're not being outplayed all over the pitch. But in many games we've struggled in certain areas. Whether its been the dodgy defending or the games when we've struggled to convert chances, or create them. Hence teams like Burnley will approach the game genuinely believing they can get something. Until we start playing as a complete team, the opposition will be motivated to raise their game.