City v Sunderland Pre Match thread

[jimmygrimblesboots]

having some banter with a couple of mates who are mackems and they actually expect to win , their supporters expectation could work for us on wednesday ,but our abysmal record at a club that has an annual relegation struggle is really inexcusable. Maybe the League Cup win is the turning point , i think they deserve a chorus of "sunderland,sunderland show us your cup" to rub it in.

 

[carlos tevez is a blue]

These corners are the best.

 

[adrianr]

A couple of seasons back we developed a corner that was taken short, usually to Milner who then returned the ball to the corner taker and helped drive us into the box and in behind. We havent continued with this at all in the last 2 seasons that I can recall, but I know at the time I used to think "at last, we have found our route to creating danger from our corners". We seem to have gone back to the direct delivery looking for one of our dominant options in the air (Kompany, Dimechellis, Mangala etc), unfortunately this will only work if we actually clear the first defender, which seems to present many of our takers with an issue ?

Our most popular corner technique under Pellegrini seems to be the flick on at the near post. Problem is when the flick on isn't executed it just hits the first man.

I'm not sure why involving another element is the better idea for corners but I'm sure Pellegrini has his reasons. That said, wasn't there that article a while back about Mancini being presented with research on the increased dangers of in-swinging corners, compared to his favoured out-swinger; We switched tactic and subsequently went on to score the most goals from corners in the league? Something along those lines anyway.

For a team that will now frequently field Kompany and Mangala, along with Fernando, Yaya and Dzeko, we should probably be far more potent at set pieces than we are.

 

[aguero93:20]

having some banter with a couple of mates who are mackems and they actually expect to win , their supporters expectation could work for us on wednesday ,but our abysmal record at a club that has an annual relegation struggle is really inexcusable. Maybe the League Cup win is the turning point , i think they deserve a chorus of "sunderland,sunderland show us your cup" to rub it in.

I don't blame them for thinking so, when you see our record in this fixture, it's abysmal! :D

 

[allan harper]

We always go to the pub near the ground at Sunderland but we are getting up there early tomorrow so we are thinking of going into the town centre for a drink, anyone know how far the ground is from the town?

 

[wythenshaweblue£££]

I've decided to invest 5 quid in each of the following bets:
Adam Johnson to score first and Sunderland to win 1-0 @100/1
Jack Rodwell to score first and Sunderland to win 1-0 @300/1

It should alleviate the inevitable pain and frustration if this fixture plays out as normal.

This is by far the best post of the thread I'm gna back this if it wins i owe u a drink.

 

[mikeybuffalo]

Thought we get this started ASAP since its only less than 3 days away!

Hopefully we can get the SoL hoodoo out of our system just like we did the Southampton away one today, but possibly without Vinny! Come on City!!!

What's happened to Nastasic?

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

I thought Cattermole was truly excellent against Chelsea.

Altidore, is also an absolute beast, and I think he could cause us a few problems with his bulldozer style, especially, if Vinny is missing.

They put a lot of effort into the game the other night but I think Sergio's movement is made for playing between Brown and O'Shea.

They took it in turns to compete with Costa.

Willian got a lot of joy out on the right hand side and I recall Navas having likewise, once the buffoon which was Micah Richards was replaced at half time last season.

A very tough game.

 

[Italian Manc]

Thought we get this started ASAP since its only less than 3 days away!

Hopefully we can get the SoL hoodoo out of our system just like we did the Southampton away one today, but possibly without Vinny! Come on City!!!

What's happened to Nastasic?

Pellers:

""Unfortunately Nastasic has a muscle injury in his thigh. I don't think he will be able to work for a week or more."

 

[Hungarian blue]

The day when we finally don't lose 1-0 against them surely gets nearer every day. :)

Remember that at least on three occasions there were huge referee issues as they favoured the home side quite blatantly, I just hope this time it won't happen. After that Aguero incident, we should be 'safe' at least for this game, so there is always hope. We still got plenty of quality in forward positions and Sagna seemed always decent as a centre back at Arsenal. Then again I remember that I was optimistic last year too. :)

I'm really concerned about Vinny though. With Silva it was 3-4 weeks initally and now we can only hope he will be fit against Roma (but we would need him against Everton just as much), a same scenario with Vinny could kill us, especially now that Mangala is out.