Everton (h) pre-match thread 13/01/2015

[paulchapo]

Fearing the worst with that line up but hoping for the best....had many years doing that so not much different lol!

 

[Blueband Brother]

I am an advocate of the Navas (on right) and Sterling ( on the left) set up. It gives the team balance offensively and defensively and we have been stronger/better when these two have played. The worrying thing in the squad is obviously the backline/ injury crises: Dimechelis and Otamendi will have to play well to deal with the quality and movement of Everton. I am also curious about Zabaleta's fitness as I would have thought he had a chance to play. Sagna even though he has been an absolute (unsung) hero and one of the stalwarts in the team needs a rest.

If I want to be extremely negative about Aguero is that he tends to look downwards in the final third and wants to do everything himself at times and most times it does manifest into brilliant individual goals in also rather important moments but many times it compromises the team's attack. That was not the case on Saturday. He was very eager and conscious of his attacking partner Iheanacho, always looking to link up with him and coordinate, I suppose this applies to the other players as well as Iheanacho seems to be able to work in tandem with all the attacking players. But my impression from that Norwich game was that Aguero sees Iheanacho as a genuine partner he can work with upfront and the way he celebrated iheanacho's goal showed altruism and enthusiasm about the youngsters talent. So that means that it is a bit disappointing that Iheanacho did not start but only eleven players can start, even Silva is on the bench.

A big call by the manager but I will say that the main issue for the team remains on defense and if we can hold up with Sterling and Navas doing to invaluable and often unrecognized defensive work of tracking back to support the full backs, hence giving the team balance, hence 5-0 at the start of the season, then I think we will win. The team is more than capable of getting the three points but it all starts with defense.

 

[Sky Blue]

Exactly the team I'd pick! 2-0 City

No complaints from me....

Manuel is taking the piss now and I genuinely believe he might not make top 4 this season!

Behave yourself....

 

[Cheadle_hulmeBlue]

i think delph should have been in the team, would of been nice to see nacho

 

[stony]

They won't even have to run. Barry is one of the slowest players in the league but can still comfortably run past Yaya.

I bet the pair of fat arsed fuckers couldn't sit next to each other on a bus.

 

[1kinkladze]

The traffic is kaos .

 

[theres only one carlito]

Good, hope it's delayed KO - been stuck in traffic for over two hours now and I'm gonna miss the start!

+1 traffic is mental.

 

[jimmygrimblesboots]

Not true - we've had plenty of success with Yaya+Fernandinho this season. The problem is Fernando is way lower on mobility and ball skill than Fernandinho. Also gives us little in terms of box-to-box transition.

we have also been played off the park against dippers,spuds and the mighty stoke , and a lot of our victories have been down to last minute or individual goals , sorry i disagree , yaya hasnt got the legs anymore , i would prefer to see delph in the middle tonight instead of navas on the wing ,but if we have 3pts by in the bag by around 9.30pm , i will be very happy to be proved wrong. COME ON CITY , the quadruple is on !!!!

 

[stablemcfc]

Fernando and Touré in front of Demichelis and Otamendi... we'll get completely run over. I really hope our strikers can save us with some world class performances tonight.

To be fair we played Fernando & Toure in front of Demichelis once before this season...

..Against Liverpool.

Spurs beating, Fernando in a 2 in front of MDM, Liverpool Fernando in a 2 in front of MDM, Stoke Fernando in a 2 in front of MDM. Don't want to claim there's a pattern but.. They're the only matches this season we've had that combo.

In fact this is almost the exact team we had against Liverpool bar Otamendi in for Mangala & Clichy for Kolarov - which I do think are damage limitation differences. Main issue for me is we have no one who can hold onto the ball (Silva), whilst being very open to the counter with the complete lack of legs in midfield (Toure/Fernando) & lack of legs at the back (MDM) - it looks like it could be a fairly end to end match if KdB plays his usual game, but our front 4 does look strong, I'm pleased Navas is starting as we're a better (more balanced) team with him in.

Saying all that it looks like it could be high scoring, so I'll plump for 0-1.

 

[Manc in London]

Be interesting to see how Sterling gets on without Kolarov going past him on a regular basis. May give him the opportunity to take a few risks knowing that he has a FB behind him. We also have plenty of pace up front.

Saying that, I am not optimistic about tonight. The midfield and centre of defence is a worry.