Crystal Palace (H) - Sat 30 Oct 15:00 | Pre-Match Thread

[Tbilisi]

I think a tight 2-1 win for City, Palace are playing quite well.

Had respect for Palace fans after the pitch invasion in 1990 prior to the cup final but that banner in 2014 from those self righteous bunch of ultra wankers has soured my view of them.

That said Viera seems to be defying the odds, sure he will get a great reception from City fans, his half time talk alone v united in the 2011 semi should see to that.

 

[Zin 'messiah' Zimmer]

Both I'd say. Foden is in awesome form and plays his best footie just behind the 'striker' zones. He has Gundogan's knack of arriving late into the box and he also threads lovely passes into the 'striker', so we need a focal point there hence Mr Jesus.

 

[mccity]

Both I'd say. Foden is in awesome form and plays his best footie just behind the 'striker' zones. He has Gundogan's knack of arriving late into the box and he also threads lovely passes into the 'striker', so we need a focal point there hence Mr Jesus.

Well I doubt we'll see that happen tomorrow, but I can definitely see your logic.

 

[foggy1974]

Feel that Kevs poor form is down to injuries, Martinez playing him with ankle ligament damage could of wrecked his season & feel he's gonner ruin the back end of Kevs career like Vinny & then add in a lack of preseason for Kev.
I'd start him on the bench & look to bring him on after an hour if we're not winning.

Eddy
Walker, Dias, Laporte, Cancelo
Rodri
Bernardo Gundogan
Mahrez Jesus Foden

 

[worsleyweb]

Not many tickets sold today. Quite surprised.

 

[hihosilva]

I would try
Ederson
Walker Dias Laporte Cancelo
Bernardo Rodri Gundagan
Foden Debruyne Grealish

 

[mexico1970]

I wonder if they are going to make us a nice banner like they did for the barcodes?

 

[chesterbells]

Sterlings best form for City was when we played a front three of Sane LW, Aguero CF, Sterling RW. I'd like to see him have another shot on the right-hand side where he might find shooting slightly more natural? I think he's been figured out playing the left, he tries to come inside every time, he doesn't stretch the defenders wide enough. Even his best England performances were when he's played down the middle.

I really feel like he just needs a couple of goals to get back to his best, but I have to admit (even as an avid Sterling supporter) that he just isn't doing it in a blue shirt right now.

At its best that’s the best front 3 I’ve ever seen for City.
Agree that if he’s gonna play it should be on the right.

 

[borassic]

Hm, don't be revisionist now.

I remember a period between 2011 - 2013 when some City fans said they'd prefer Juan Mata over Silva simply because he scored more goals - this was when Mata was at Chelsea. Of course those people were idiots and didn't understand Silva properly, but you can't just pretend it wasn't an opinion amongst quite a lot of City fans that Silva didn't contribute to enough goals. One of the biggest criticisms levelled at Silva was that he was shot-shy and often shirked scoring responsibilities in the penalty area.

And if Grealish were to continue his rate of goal contributions this season over 50 games (the same number of appearances Foden made last season) he'd finish up with 8 goals and 12 assists in May. In terms of raw numbers David Silva finished each season at City with:

10/11 - 6 goals, 15 assists
11/12 - 8 goals, 21 assists
12/13 - 5 goals, 13 assists
13/14 - 8 goals, 16 assists
14/15 - 12 goals, 14 assists
15/16 - 4 goals, 12 assists
16/17 - 8 goals, 11 assists
17/18 - 10 goals, 14 assists
18/19 - 10 goals, 14 assists
19/20 - 6 goals, 11 assists

So in his first season, Grealish is likely to end up with roughly the same number of overall goal contributions as David Silva tended to achieve. Of course David had seasons like 11/12, 17/18 and 18/19 where he really shone out from the rest and contributed to an insane number of goals for someone playing in his position, but as you said he's one of our greatest ever players. If Grealish's legacy at City ends up being "Not quite as good as David Silva" then I'd say we'd have done pretty well out of him.

Silva’s assist for the assist contribution always stood out for me. I don’t think it’s any surprise that Sterling’s drop in form has coincided with no Merlín feeding him those balls in the channel and round the full back.

 

[CookiesForCream]

I’m going for a sloppy 1-1 draw today, where we spunk away chance after chance and they snatch a goal.
If we move the ball quickly we will win. We still have this trait of winning the ball back after opponents overcommit on an attack, we go past their press, and even with an overload, turn about and come back to let them regroup. We do it so often is infuriating. You never see the dippers doing it. They get through on goal and they go for it and more than not, they put it away.
We MUST improve on our chance conversion rate. It could cost us at the end.