Manchester City V Southampton pre-match thread.

[WickyWain]

tried to write a team sheet, ended up not even having Navas on the bench, assuming I can put Aguero there.

Complicated when everyone's fit, many decisions for Pelle to get right, don't envy him.

It's a nice problem to have though!

 

[M18CTID]

That last game at Maine Road and the away tickets was ridiculous.
What City should have done was given Southampton tickets for the Gene Kelly and said ''when you sell out, we will give you some for the North Stand'' and if that was the case, give them a block by block - and give them a deadline of when to sell them by.
Then when it was clear there were plenty left, release them to City fans.

What the club did was give Saints the Gene Kelly only and sold the Maine Stand to Blues from the off, which is against the rules (and understandably).
I do recall the Saints didn't even sell Gene Kelly, my understanding was 800 of the 1000 were sold - which makes me wonder why City didn't do as I suggested as most people with a brain knew they wouldn't bring that many up.
Why City were subsequently fined is beyond me when not one Saints fan who wanted to attend the game was denied the opportunity of doing so. Though I doubt quoting hindsight is much of an evidence to present. With a bit of thought the whole episode would have been sorted.

What further dented the numbers of Saints fans buying tickets for that game was that they had an FA Cup Final against Arsenal the following week so some that might have gone to Maine Road for the game against us would've given it a miss due to the added expense.

800 out of 1000 sounds about right - I remember looking over to the Gene Kelly that day and noting that it wasn't full which makes the decision to punish City bizarre. The Saints fans benefitted though because I recall one of the sanctions being that we had to offer them half-price tickets the following season when we moved into the new ground. They brought thousands and were rewarded with a 3-1 win!

 

[Mad Eyed Screamer]

That last game at Maine Road and the away tickets was ridiculous.
What City should have done was given Southampton tickets for the Gene Kelly and said ''when you sell out, we will give you some for the North Stand'' and if that was the case, give them a block by block - and give them a deadline of when to sell them by.
Then when it was clear there were plenty left, release them to City fans.

What the club did was give Saints the Gene Kelly only and sold the Maine Stand to Blues from the off, which is against the rules (and understandably).
I do recall the Saints didn't even sell Gene Kelly, my understanding was 800 of the 1000 were sold - which makes me wonder why City didn't do as I suggested as most people with a brain knew they wouldn't bring that many up.
Why City were subsequently fined is beyond me when not one Saints fan who wanted to attend the game was denied the opportunity of doing so. Though I doubt quoting hindsight is much of an evidence to present. With a bit of thought the whole episode would have been sorted.

What further dented the numbers of Saints fans buying tickets for that game was that they had an FA Cup Final against Arsenal the following week so some that might have gone to Maine Road for the game against us would've given it a miss due to the added expense.

800 out of 1000 sounds about right - I remember looking over to the Gene Kelly that day and noting that it wasn't full which makes the decision to punish City bizarre. The Saints fans benefitted though because I recall one of the sanctions being that we had to offer them half-price tickets the following season when we moved into the new ground. They brought thousands and were rewarded with a 3-1 win!

It was deffo 800 - I had a letter in the Pink the following week pretty much saying what I said above, asking why didn't City do as I suggested in just holding back on the Maine Stand tickets until it was clear they weren't going to sell out the GK stand.
I remember the last line on the letter was ''Southampton and their fans were (correctly) arguing that their fans had the right to receive 3000 tickets. Just a shame only 800 of them took up their right to buy them.....''

 

[carlos tevez is a blue]

Milner's expecting a tough game.

 

[aguero93:20]

Milner's expecting a tough game.

Is he also expecting it to be between two teams, played over two halves of 45 mins, that being 90 mins in all and played on a pitch of grass?

 

[Sigh]

Milner's expecting a tough game.

He is; and he's going to make sure he gets a good nights kip! Proper servant.

 

[gmckennasell]

if for some unknown reason jovetic is actually fit , i would give him some game time , the glimpses i have seen from him , he looks a top class player , and we need an alternative up front , because negredo has lost his form completely , dzeko scores one in ten chances (although he is playing for the team now , rather than himself), and aguero has decided to save himself for the world cup , so step up mr.jovetic , win us the title.

 

[aguerooo93]

Hart

Zabaleta - Kompany - Demichelis - Kolarov

Yaya - Fernandinho

Navas - Silva - Milner

Negredo

Bench: Pantillimon, Clichy, Lescott, Garcia, Nasri, Aguero, Dzeko

We need Milner on the left to track back and help deal with the threat of Lallana on the Saints' right-wing. I'd go with Navas to open up the game and give it width. If that game plan doesn't work or we want to narrow the field we can bring on Nasri to pass it through them at around 60-70 minutes when they're tired and more mistake-prone. Hopefully, Aguero can get some game time in so he's in prime match condition for the trip to Anfield next week.

 

[IWasHere]

Hart

Zabaleta - Kompany - Demichelis - Kolarov

Yaya - Fernandinho

Navas - Silva - Milner

Negredo

Bench: Pantillimon, Clichy, Lescott, Garcia, Nasri, Aguero, Dzeko

We need Milner on the left to track back and help deal with the threat of Lallana on the Saints' right-wing. I'd go with Navas to open up the game and give it width. If that game plan doesn't work or we want to narrow the field we can bring on Nasri to pass it through them at around 60-70 minutes when they're tired and more mistake-prone. Hopefully, Aguero can get some game time in so he's in prime match condition for the trip to Anfield next week.

Can't see both Millie and navas starting tbh, one of them will and jovetic will replace one of them if he's fit. Kun could be back for the dippers btw

 

[Bluemanc100]

I am sure I was in Gene Kelly for that game................ but could be wrong, enjoyed the day but the result was a pisser

Then went to the real last game of the season midweek in the youth cup............. that was more emotional :-(