Fulham v City Pre Match Thread

[kippaxblue76]

Dzeko needs to start this one, between him and Negredo, he's the more effective goal scorer away from home plus has the advantage of having a particularly good record against Fulham.

If the game is close or 0-0 after 60 then bring on the beast.

Dzeko at this point has earned the right to play back to back games again.

He's earned the right to fuck all, apart from his goals last night his overall play was bobbins.

 

[MC ID]

Every Fulham attack is going to be attempting to exploit our right hand side, the fact Boyata is naturally a CB might help us though. He'll sit back and if Fulham resort, like most teams have, to punting high balls towards our defense having Boyata there might actually help us. I know it's a long shot but silver linings and all that.

I think Pellegrini is the kinda of manager who'll prefer to be so good up front that Fulham won't actually have chance to exploit that area, and we are the best in England at doing that so happy days.

 

[Dizzie]

Dzeko needs to start this one, between him and Negredo, he's the more effective goal scorer away from home plus has the advantage of having a particularly good record against Fulham.

If the game is close or 0-0 after 60 then bring on the beast.

Dzeko at this point has earned the right to play back to back games again.

He's earned the right to fuck all, apart from his goals last night his overall play was bobbins.

What are you talking about? Dzeko played great yesterday he held the ball up well, made some good passes out wide and scored 2 well taken goals.

 

[greasedupdeafguy]

100% this will be the side

...........................Pants..................

Milner..............Komp...............Demi.........................Clichy

.....................Yaya................Fern.......................

Navas......................Silva.....................................Nasri

..............................Negredo.......................

 

[blinkblue]

100% this will be the side

...........................Pants..................

Milner..............Komp...............Demi.........................Clichy

.....................Yaya................Fern.......................

Navas......................Silva.....................................Nasri

..............................Negredo.......................

Yep. I think Hart may become number 1 again soon though.

 

[Gabriel]

Every Fulham attack is going to be attempting to exploit our right hand side, the fact Boyata is naturally a CB might help us though. He'll sit back and if Fulham resort, like most teams have, to punting high balls towards our defense having Boyata there might actually help us. I know it's a long shot but silver linings and all that.

I think Pellegrini is the kinda of manager who'll prefer to be so good up front that Fulham won't actually have chance to exploit that area, and we are the best in England at doing that so happy days.

Agree in essence, but that has not always worked in the league away from home. We'll just have to take our chances when the come.

 

[Dax777]

I see nothing from his playing that suggest Hart is back to his old pre 2013 form. So unless there is something fantastic in practice he is doing, we should return to our current #1, Pants.
We only played one Striker up front because Jovetic got sick. I expect a return to 2 up top. Simply put, that is how MP plays. He might adjust every now and then to accommodate great teams, but by and large, 2 up is our formation. So expect Negredo/jovetic or Negredo/dzeko. My guess based on performance is the latter.
Middle picks itself. Starting 4 is: Nasri, Silva, Yaya, and Dihno.

On defense Demechelis Returns to the Starting 11 next to Komps and Clichy moves to Rightback if healthy and Boyata if Clichy is still on the mend. No, it is unlikely MP will play Milner at RB. He simply isn't one.

So here is your likely team
...........................Pants
Clichy.....Komps...MDM...Kolarov

Silva...Dihno....Yaya........Nasri
-------Jovetic------Negredo-----

Bench: Hart, lescott, Milner, Navas, Boyata, Dzeko, Garcia

 

[bellsouth]

I'd start with Dzeko, Negredo has played more games than any other City players this season, he needs a break.

 

[birchwoodgingerste]

Dzeko needs to start this one, between him and Negredo, he's the more effective goal scorer away from home plus has the advantage of having a particularly good record against Fulham.

If the game is close or 0-0 after 60 then bring on the beast.

Dzeko at this point has earned the right to play back to back games again.

He's earned the right to fuck all, apart from his goals last night his overall play was bobbins.

i agree his hold up play was awfull the beast must play..

 

[i went to rotherham]

Dzeko needs to start this one, between him and Negredo, he's the more effective goal scorer away from home plus has the advantage of having a particularly good record against Fulham.

If the game is close or 0-0 after 60 then bring on the beast.

Dzeko at this point has earned the right to play back to back games again.

He's earned the right to fuck all, apart from his goals last night his overall play was bobbins.

"Apart from his goals last night" it would have ended with extra time and penalties !!

 

[LoveCity]

I'd start with Dzeko, Negredo has played more games than any other City players this season, he needs a break.

And Dzeko has scored 4 more goals away than Negredo this season.

There's an argument for Dzeko starting away and Negredo at home during Aguero's absence. Possibly Jovetic partnering either if we want 2 up front.

 

[aguero93:20]

Dzeko needs to start this one, between him and Negredo, he's the more effective goal scorer away from home plus has the advantage of having a particularly good record against Fulham.

If the game is close or 0-0 after 60 then bring on the beast.

Dzeko at this point has earned the right to play back to back games again.

He's earned the right to fuck all, apart from his goals last night his overall play was bobbins.

"Apart from his goals last night" it would have ended with extra time and penalties !!

Sorry, but Hart could have scored Dzeko's first

 

[AzRim]

He's earned the right to fuck all, apart from his goals last night his overall play was bobbins.

"Apart from his goals last night" it would have ended with extra time and penalties !!

Sorry, but Hart could have scored Dzeko's first

Fortunately, he plays for City not for Leicester.

 

[kenzie115]

100% this will be the side

...........................Pants..................

Milner..............Komp...............Demi.........................Clichy

.....................Yaya................Fern.......................

Navas......................Silva.....................................Nasri

..............................Negredo.......................

I'd prefer Kolarov at left back, Fulham aren't exactly going to look to attack us much so the onus will be on us to break them down. Kolarov's much more useful in this aspect than Clichy.

 

[cheddar404]

Dzeko needs to start this one, between him and Negredo, he's the more effective goal scorer away from home plus has the advantage of having a particularly good record against Fulham.

If the game is close or 0-0 after 60 then bring on the beast.

Dzeko at this point has earned the right to play back to back games again.

He's earned the right to fuck all, apart from his goals last night his overall play was bobbins.

What are you talking about? Dzeko played great yesterday he held the ball up well, made some good passes out wide and scored 2 well taken goals.

This is true. I more often than not find him a disappointment but he played very well last night.

 

[aguero93:20]

"Apart from his goals last night" it would have ended with extra time and penalties !!

Sorry, but Hart could have scored Dzeko's first

Fortunately, he plays for City not for Leicester.

and he played for City not for Sporting Lisbon too, came close there.

 

[celf]

hart

milner
VK
Kolarov
demichelis

yaya
fern
silva
nasri
navas

dzeko


city to win 2-1 with goals from dzeko and silva

 

[MillionDollarDream]

I can't believe we still get the "but aside from his 2 goals he was shite"

1. Are biggest issue is scoring goals away
2. Negredo isnt scoring goals away and thanks @CityWatch for this stat. 11 goals home 2 away
3. Dzeko is scoring AWAY 3 goals home 6 away (credit to @CityWatch)
4 . Dzeko has played well last 2 games he's been on, time for him to not have such a start/stop campaign so he can build momentum so he can continue to score(WHICH WE REALLY NEED AWAY) and generally get into the rhythm of the game.
5. His scoring record against Fulham... AWAY
6. Where are we playing Fulham........? AWAY

And of course Beast has played the most games should be given a rest, like Joe Hart getting dropped... It's not because he's terrible he's just wasn't doing his job real well... Because at the end if the day a ST's job is to produce goals.

Beast's problem is NOT SCORING GOALS AWAY, when we need those results.

You can hold up play all day and link and high five and smile and work hard all you want to and lack goals and the Match Day Thread and Post match will be back to title lost scenario. Worker smarter not harder in this scenario.

We need results, we need goals.

Dzeko brings those AWAY. Dzeko in, Dzeko to start.

 

[aguero93:20]

I can't believe we still get the "but aside from his 2 goals he was shite"

1. Are biggest issue is scoring goals away
2. Negredo isnt scoring goals away and thanks @CityWatch for this stat. 11 goals home 2 away
3. Dzeko is scoring AWAY 3 goals home 6 away (credit to @CityWatch)
4 . Dzeko has played well last 2 games he's been on, time for him to not have such a start/stop campaign so he can build momentum so he can continue to score(WHICH WE REALLY NEED AWAY) and generally get into the rhythm of the game.
5. His scoring record against Fulham... AWAY
6. Where are we playing Fulham........? AWAY

And of course Beast has played the most games should be given a rest, like Joe Hart getting dropped... It's not because he's terrible he's just wasn't doing his job real well... Because at the end if the day a ST's job is to produce goals.

Beast's problem is NOT SCORING GOALS AWAY, when we need those results.

You can hold up play all day and link and high five and smile and work hard all you want to and lack goals and the Match Day Thread and Post match will be back to title lost scenario. Worker smarter not harder in this scenario.

We need results, we need goals.

Dzeko brings those AWAY. Dzeko in, Dzeko to start.

38 goals in 13 away games aint bad, we need to defend better, dzeko doesn't do the graft.

 

[Chris in London]

Another point to bear in mind on the Dzeko/negredo thing is that we have 2 home games in 48 hours at the end of next week - Dippers at home on Boxing day and then palace at home on Saturday 28th.

If Negredo is to start both those games - and there are strong arguments that he should - the case for starting Dzeko on Saturday become more powerful. If we overplay Negredo we increase the risk of losing him to injury. With Aguero out for 4-8 weeks and Jovetic not yet back from injury, we need another striker down like we need a hole in the head. There are lots of options to rotate in January between the league and the FA and Cap One cups but if we lose another striker over the Christmas period the come January we are really going to be up against it.

Start Dzeko on Saturday is my shout.