Pre Match Thread | City v Chelsea

[bluemoon98]

Wonder if mp will play zaba? Has trouble with hazard every time he plays and got sent off last year for targeting 'coffee'.

I was impressed with sagna vs west brom and isn't as bad as he is made out to be. Played against the likes of bayern Munich away (?) last year and handled it pretty well. Plus chucking zaba in when he had no minutes against WBA unlike the rest of the South Americans showed he may not play.

If he doesn't next play next week when will be play if sagna carries on impressing?

 

[Oldf**t]

The City choir should give a rendering of "We want Eva!" loud and clear. Jose will foam at the mouth.

 

[Armaan]

Wonder if mp will play zaba? Has trouble with hazard every time he plays and got sent off last year for targeting 'coffee'.

I was impressed with sagna vs west brom and isn't as bad as he is made out to be. Played against the likes of bayern Munich away (?) last year and handled it pretty well. Plus chucking zaba in when he had no minutes against WBA unlike the rest of the South Americans showed he may not play.

If he doesn't next play next week when will be play if sagna carries on impressing?

Sagna is very good defensively, it's further up the pitch that he's not much effective. I'd rather have Sagna defending Hazard than Zaba tbh.

 

[citytill1die84]

A lot of Chelsea fans seem to think they will play Matic and Zouma in front of the back 4 so I would go like for like and put Nando and Dinho in DM for extra protection. Last season Kompany and Mangala dominated Costa so I would keep the same CB partnership. Sagna is probably the safer option at RB as Zaba usually has a nightmare against Hazard. Sterling on the left will cause Ivanovic all kinds of problems. Going forward, Touré, Sterling, Silva, Aguero should be too much for them to cope with imo.

....................................................................
...............................Hart................................
....................................................................
Sagna..........Kompany..........Mangala..........Kolarov
....................................................................
.................Fernando.......Fernandinho................
....................................................................
..........................Yaya Touré............................
....................................................................
...................Silva...............Sterling...................
....................................................................
............................Aguero...............................
....................................................................

Quality side :-)

 

[Chi-town blues]

Welmoaning chant for Jose.

 

[Keeper!]

Just ignore him, that will piss him more than anything

 

[Vzla Mcfc]

Quality side :-)

I second this. It looks a side that has the proper combination of silk and steel that would deter Chelsea's counter attacking threat but not stifle our own attack. Both ferns will allow yaya to go forward and do what he does best without compromising our defence.

Many members on here seem to think that Fernando is completely useless, but I think otherwise. I don't think he is a top footballer by any means, but I think he is more than capable of shielding the back 4 as long as he is playing in the right system.

I just have a gut feeling he is gonna turn out like Javi Garcia, completely shit in his first season with us but held his own and actually did quite well in his second.

 

[MadchesterCity]

Quality side :-)

That's my side aswell assuming Fernando is fit

 

[mcfcfc]

Wonder if mp will play zaba? Has trouble with hazard every time he plays and got sent off last year for targeting 'coffee'.

I was impressed with sagna vs west brom and isn't as bad as he is made out to be. Played against the likes of bayern Munich away (?) last year and handled it pretty well. Plus chucking zaba in when he had no minutes against WBA unlike the rest of the South Americans showed he may not play.

If he doesn't next play next week when will be play if sagna carries on impressing?

if sagna will start on sunday i think we may see zabba play for first time this season vs watford .....after chelsea we have everton away next week no way i will risk playing zabba as a starter down there after no minutes(if sagna start vs chelsea of course)

 

[sh249]

Hopefully, the back four will stay the same - I don't see any reason to rush Zabaleta back in, and would expect Sagna to do a decent job on Hazard. I don't know if Clichy is expected to be fit, but again, I would incline not to rush him back (even though I'm still suspicious of Kolarov as a defender).

Assuming he's looking sharp in training, you'd obviously expect Aguero to come in for Bony. Then it essentially boils down to a choice of Navas, Nasri or Fernando for the final spot. While I can understand the thinking of bringing Fernando in, and wouldn't be unduly worried if we did, I'd stick with Yaya and Fernandinho in the middle and back them to get the better of the Chelsea midfield, much as they did last year. If we defend as aggressively as we did that day, I'd expect us to have few problems with just those two in the centre, with little fear of there being acres of space behind them. Navas or Nasri - not really concerned either way. That Chelsea will probably defend quite deep means there won't be much space behind for Navas to look to get into; at the same time, the fact that he plays so wide may, in itself, help to create space in the middle for Silva. But Nasri has also had plenty of success against Chelsea, and I get the impression he might feel he has a point to prove. Either way, if we play with the same energy, urgency and aggression as Monday night, I expect us to win.