City v Southampton pre match thread

[zabisgod]

Don’t see the need to rest anybody at the moment. Games against the saints and West Ham we should hopefully be looking at having the games tied up around 60th minute that’s when we can give kdb kompany etc a rest. Let’s hope the scum drop at least a couple of points this week.

 

[Jazzman]

In general I think we should not be resting too many players, this is not an easy opponent. We have to remember that 3 points against Southampton are worth exactly the same to the end result as 3 points against the rags. And I think we have bigger goals than the derby, as much as I'd love to win it. So the priority must be to keep the winning streak going as long as possible, and therefore we need to do everything we can to win against Southampton.

 

[Newtoncc]

As a few have stated, we should play strongest teams for both next 2 games, then week off (Shaktar all reserves) before big 2 games, we should use subs more than we did Sunday, get some game time to Bernado,Gunders, Yaya, Jesus(or Aguero), longer term we have a hectic Christmas and will need these guys firing.

 

[Cobra]

Sane has 3 according to https://www.premierleague.com/stats/top/players/yellow_card

1. Nicolás Otamendi Manchester City 5 (served)
2. Fernandinho Manchester City 4
3. Vincent Kompany Manchester City 3
3. Leroy Sané Manchester City 3
5. Gabriel Jesus Manchester City 2
5. Benjamin Mendy Manchester City 2
5. David Silva Manchester City 2
8. Danilo Manchester City 1
8. Raheem Sterling Manchester City 1
8. Kyle Walker Manchester City 1

Sane was booked vs West Brom in the League Cup, so he's also on 4.

 

[Rammyblues]

One game at a time but for me only change would be Jesus starts instead of Aguero.

 

[its a Barm]

In general I think we should not be resting too many players, this is not an easy opponent. We have to remember that 3 points against Southampton are worth exactly the same to the end result as 3 points against the rags. And I think we have bigger goals than the derby, as much as I'd love to win it. So the priority must be to keep the winning streak going as long as possible, and therefore we need to do everything we can to win against Southampton.

100% agree with you on this, points on the board are more important than resting players.

 

[MarsLlama]

One game at a time but for me only change would be Jesus starts instead of Aguero.

I agree, might not kill us to start Gundogan either if KDB needs a rest. Ilkay has gotten two crucial assists in very limited gametime recently (for Otamendi in Naples and for Sterling to win the Feyenoord game).

Some people seem to think rotation is about playing a full-strength team one week and playing Bravo, Danilo, Mangala, Zinchenko, Touré, Gundogan, Bernardo and Foden the next week. It isn't, and if we tried to rotate like that we'd probably find ourselves in a scrap for fourth wondering what the hell happened. What we need to do is take players out for one or two games at a time as and when they could do with a rest, making just one or two changes from our regular starting XI at a time. We've seen how hard it is to win with wholesale changes (Wolves, Feyenoord, West Brom) because even though the quality of the players is still high, the cohesion and the familiarity is lacking.

With that in mind I would play our strongest XI, but if a change needs to be made, I would make it Gundogan or Danilo. In my opinion, those are the ones who impact performance the least. To me, Jesus isn't rotating because he's roughly on par with Sergio.

 

[Cityfan]

In general I think we should not be resting too many players, this is not an easy opponent. We have to remember that 3 points against Southampton are worth exactly the same to the end result as 3 points against the rags..

In terms of points total it is true, in terms of position, it is not necessarily true, if the rags are within a few points of us , depriving them of points is as important as gaining points, we don't deprive them of points by taking three off Southampton.

 

[Deleted member 81382]

Ederson
Danilo
Kompany
Otamendi
Delph
Fernandinho
Gundogan
Bernardo
Sané
Jesus
Aguero

Start Fernandinho and Sané to pick up bookings so they only miss West Ham, if neither get yellows then rest them against WHU anyway (can't risk them missing the derby)
Start Kompany but rest him against West Ham so he's ready for united.
Give Walker and Sterling a rest as they've played a lot of minutes.
Start Silva and KDB on the bench as they looked a bit off the boil against Huddersfield.

We need these 7 key fist team players (Walker, Kompany, Fernandinho, De Bruyne, Silva, Sané, Sterling) fresh and available for united and Spurs.

That's what I would do anyway but then again football is easy on paper and Pep knows best so I trust his game management.

I'm going for a comfortable 4-0 win to City.

 

[Tricky_Trev]

We have to remember that 3 points against Southampton are worth exactly the same to the end result as 3 points against the rags.

Technically that's only true if the rags lose at Watford. Otherwise a win against the rags is more valuable.