This is how we lined up on last Wednesday
Foden - De Bruyne - Mahrez
Gundo - Rodri - Silva
Cancelo - Dias - Stones - Walker
Ederson
Problems were there in the first half of that first-leg, and some of which we sorted in the second half ... these were three fold in my opinion ...
- The most obvious one was Cancelo ... just wasn't as effective (he usually isn't on the left as he is on the right) and then his yellow also didn't help. Zinchenko coming on sorted that and I think that's how Pep starts the second leg now. Also the fact that it was Cancelo who started against Palace today and Zinchenko only played 20-25 minutes at the end.
- De Bruyne wasn't as effective further up the field and in second half he dropped a lot deeper a lot more and effectively ran the game from there ... so I think dropping him deeper in midfield and pushing one of Gundogan or Bernardo into that false nine role (or even Foden to move central and one of the other two to take his place on the wing) will sort that ... but no change of personnel is required as such for this, just shifting the players around a bit already in there will do the job.
- The third issue was Rodri ... he was poor on the ball especially in that first half, a little nervous early on maybe and certainly not as confident as Ferna always is. Gave the ball away a few times and also played a few poor passes and losing possession in his position is always dangerous. I think today's early substitution of Ferna while leaving Rodri on for the whole game points to Pep possibly thinking of starting with Ferna on Tuesday now. Rodri can come in the sceond half if Ferna is too tired or has taken one for the team in one of his classic 'tactical' fouls ... or simply to shore it up alongside him later on depending how the game stands.
So not too much that needs changing ... just a little tinkering perhaps ... Zinchenko and Ferna to start in place of Cancelo and Rodri (from that first leg line-up) and a little shuffling of players, which can be a straight swap between Silva and De Bruyne ... or possibly Gundo moving up and Silva going on that left ... or Foden coming central and Silva or Gundo moving where he was ...
I think this is how we will line up on Tuesday now
Foden - Silva - Mahrez
Gundo - Ferna - De Bruyne
Zinchenko - Dias - Stones - Walker
Ederson