On The Domestic Fronts
With just three games in, it's way too early to read into the league tables yet. We started with that loss to Spurs but then won back to back 5-0s against Norwich and Arsenal. I am writing this before we have played Leicester so don't know the result of that yet ... and given that Leipzig won't play their weekend game till after us on Saturday either, it's only fair to compare the first three games each.
They started the season (and their new manager's tenure) with a 1-0 loss against Mainz, then followed it up with an emphatic 4-0 win against Stuttgart, but then in the third game suffered another 1-0 loss to Wolfsburg ... as I said, too early to make any judgements based on these early results.
Before & After
The first international break of the season (the September one) is over; which means we will now be playing every three to four days, till the next international break comes around ... and actually the same would repeat between the next one (in October) and the one after that (in November).
Every mid-week will be filled with either one of the Carabao Cup rounds (where barring a debacle of unheard proportions, we'd be involved in all the rounds, again) or the Champions League group stage games, and this is where it all starts.
While we are playing Leicester in a tough away fixture, their game later today isn't a walk in the park either.
Here are the before and after games for both clubs:
RB Leipzig
Sat 11 | 5:30pm | Bayern München (H) - Bundesliga
Wed 15 | 8:00pm | City (H) - CL
Sat 18 | 5:30pm | FC Köln (A) - Bundesliga
Manchester City
Sat 11 | 3:00pm | Leicester City (A) - PL
Wed 15 | 8:00pm | RB Leipzig (H) - CL
Sat 18 | 3:00pm | Southampton (H) - PL
The Yank Coming to Manc
The 47 year old Jesse Marsch is the American in charge of the opposition this mid-week. When you think of Americans and football (sorry, soccer) the term franchise comes to mind. And keeping up with that American tradition (or fashion), this one perhaps is a true franchise manager.
First big break: New York Red Bulls ... Next stop: Red Bull Leipzig (as an assistant) ... Time to step up and be the main man: Red Bull Salzburg ... Another franchise team lost their manager (Nagelsmann to Bayern Munich) so time to get back to Red Bull Leipzig ... well, this is it ... this is his whole managerial career. OK, ok, maybe I'm doing a little dis-service to him here as before all these Red Bull clubs he was in charge of an MLS team Montreal Impact (for an year) and before that an assistant in the US National Team (also for an year). His playing career before this was also all in the MLS where he played as a midfielder between 1996 and 2009 at three clubs (Chivas USA, Chicago Fire and D.C. United).
I think this is enough searching for him and Google bringing up 'Nagglesmann to Beyern' stories instead when searching for him is perhaps telling in itself.
Pre-Match Thoughts
As I said earlier, I am typing this before the Leicester game so whatever I write here will be a lot of guess work at this stage ... especially as everyone is just returning from the international break. Pep's team selection in that game against Leicester (and his substitutions) will perhaps tell us a lot more about what we can expect team-wise in the mid-week against Leipzig.
Leaving the team selection aside ... the fact that won't change whenever this games comes around is that they are the wildcard in this group and fully capable of at least one upset against the two big-wigs of the group (which undoubtedly are us and that Paris ensemble). They will play four games against us and PSG and I fully expect them to get an odd draw or even a win in at least one of those four fixtures. Let's just make sure we're not at the other end of it.
With PSG playing Club Brugge at the same time, it is a real possibility that they'd dick them for something of a cricket score, so it is imperative that we also win our game (and more so because we are at home). Dropping any points in either of the first two or three Champions League group games mean you're fighting for qualification all the way to the end and that carries into late November and December period when Premier League games are equally crucial. And it always helps with the team rotation if the qualification has been secured early in the first three or four group games.
We were in the final of the Champions League last season, and this is our first run out in this competition since then ... time to put a marker down for this season!
PS. Remember all the fun we had last year in the Champions League pre-match threads? ... Guess what, this time around Liam Delap IS eligible!
As I said earlier, I am typing this before the Leicester game so whatever I write here will be a lot of guess work at this stage ... especially as everyone is just returning from the international break. Pep's team selection in that game against Leicester (and his substitutions) will perhaps tell us a lot more about what we can expect team-wise in the mid-week against Leipzig.
Leaving the team selection aside ... the fact that won't change whenever this games comes around is that they are the wildcard in this group and fully capable of at least one upset against the two big-wigs of the group (which undoubtedly are us and that Paris ensemble). They will play four games against us and PSG and I fully expect them to get an odd draw or even a win in at least one of those four fixtures. Let's just make sure we're not at the other end of it.
With PSG playing Club Brugge at the same time, it is a real possibility that they'd dick them for something of a cricket score, so it is imperative that we also win our game (and more so because we are at home). Dropping any points in either of the first two or three Champions League group games mean you're fighting for qualification all the way to the end and that carries into late November and December period when Premier League games are equally crucial. And it always helps with the team rotation if the qualification has been secured early in the first three or four group games.
We were in the final of the Champions League last season, and this is our first run out in this competition since then ... time to put a marker down for this season!
PS. Remember all the fun we had last year in the Champions League pre-match threads? ... Guess what, this time around Liam Delap IS eligible!
Score Prediction
Expecting nothing less than a professional display, customary by a big team playing at home ...
Manchester City 2 - 0 RB Leipzig
Expecting nothing less than a professional display, customary by a big team playing at home ...
Manchester City 2 - 0 RB Leipzig