City v Liverpool (Home) Pre-Match Thread

[Lancet Fluke]

Big Sam has offered (sort of) to join City as defensive coach. He reckons neither us nor Liverpool can win the league because defensively we 'don't care enough'.

Probably get all kinds of shit for saying this but I totally agree with him on that. Don't necessarily think it means we can't win the league but it makes it a lot more doubtful than it should be IMO.

 

[bellsouth]

This game has got draw written all over it

 

[cookster]

Disagree. They will be blood and thunder in our faces from the off.

Just hope we have learned how to counter this tactic.

If they are conservative then they will get bummed.

Their defense is not good.

Completely agree, they will come out of the traps on fire and press hard. If we start like the 3 previous league games they'll run right over us.

Got to start well but I'm not confident. The dippers seem to know our weaknesses better than we do. It's a while since we beat them in the league.

 

[Stoned Rose]

This is a game we need to win imo.

Set the tone, beat a rival, send a message and lose that 'city are shit against decent sides' tag.

I'd go 4 at the back whether VK is fit or not. These ****s are fucking lethal on the break and we'll need all the cover we can get.

Unfortunately Liverpool are tailor made for 'City away'. They'll do what every team does and sit deeper than usual, and try to soak us up. The problem being is that they are very well equipped to hand out serious bummings on the break.

Guardiola 'should' show some brains and set us up to deal with that, rather than gambling that we'll score more than them. I'm 99% sure he won't however.

I think there'll be pure goals in this.

3-3.

 

[kemlyn17]

Surprised at the negativity here. Maybe we look at our own weaknesses and opposition strengths too much. I look at your attack and our defence and think Christ we could get a beating here, but somehow, the defensive concentration levels are better against the better teams. Teams that play quickly and have technical players cause us problems, you have loads. On the other hand we are devastating going forward if you leave space. Klopp doesn't always play that high energy high press, Anfield last season being the best example, but we normally start fast and try and get ahead. Even against Arsenal, once we scored, we dropped and just picked them off at will. You have better players than us, have home advantage and the pessimist in me says you beat us, but I think this comes down to who is more clinical.

 

[Edwin Edwin]

Can't afford another sloppy start like in the previous 3 games..L'pool are notoriously fast starters in games and with us being the complete opposite,we could find ourselves chasing the game inside 15 mins.
Ederson,Walker,VK/Danilo,Otamendi,Mendy,
KDB,Fernandinho,Gündogan,Bernardo,Jesus,Sane.

 

[mancity2012_eamo]

Surprised at the negativity here. Maybe we look at our own weaknesses and opposition strengths too much. I look at your attack and our defence and think Christ we could get a beating here, but somehow, the defensive concentration levels are better against the better teams. Teams that play quickly and have technical players cause us problems, you have loads. On the other hand we are devastating going forward if you leave space. Klopp doesn't always play that high energy high press, Anfield last season being the best example, but we normally start fast and try and get ahead. Even against Arsenal, once we scored, we dropped and just picked them off at will. You have better players than us, have home advantage and the pessimist in me says you beat us, but I think this comes down to who is more clinical.

The pessimism is probably due to the fact you start fast we haven't so far.
You have been clinical compared to us. We have no problem creating lots of chances but our strike rate in comparison to dominance has been relatively poor.

First goal will be crucial.

 

[Mike N]

This is a huge game for us and Pep needs his time to perform. We only showed up for Chelsea at home and shot ourselves in the foot but Pep has to start showing that he can manage the pressure of a home big game. Forget about the referee, we have an excellent team and must win, there are no excuses.

 

[jimmygrimblesboots]

Although Yaya lacks the mobility he once had he is vital for this game he doesnt give the ball away and will frustrate Klopps headless chickens , if we can keep a clean sheet for the first 20-30 minutes we will win this , becasue the Dippers will play like their arses are on fire for the first 15 minutes , so lets get our superior footballers on the ball and teach these f*ckers a long overdue lesson.

 

[BlueDeadHead]

Seems to be a few headaches for Pep this weekend notably:

Do we go 3-5-2 or 4-3-3
Who plays if Kompany doesn't Stones
Yaya, Fernandinho (BOTH) or an unlikely recall for Gundogan
Jesus or Kun or both
Who replaces Sterling- Sane in a straight swap or Kun with Jesus moving to the left (KDB)
Walker or Danilo

I have a terrible feeling that we're a little under cooked for this one and with Liverpool flying we could be in trouble.

My two cents.