Sporting CP (H) - CL Last 16 - Wed 9th March, 20:00 | Pre-Match Thread

[alexmcity]

surely a youth player is getting his CL debut in defense tomorrow then, I can't see any other way to make up a defense. zinchenko stones and laporte the only ones who can play

Ferna next to Laporte at CB with Stones at RB. Gundo/Rodri at DM.

 

[City_Sean]

Ederson
Ferna Stones Laporte Zinchenko
Gundo Rodri Bernardo
Jesus Delap Sterling

Thats my guess.

 

[alexmcity]

I hope he stays for another season too but part of me thinks going into another season with just Rodri and a 37 year old Fernandinho is a bit risky. If Rodri gets a bad injury, it has the potential to derail our season in the same way as Laporte getting injured did in 2019/20. The problem with bringing in someone as good as Rodri is they're going to want to play most weeks. Some tricky decisions to make in the summer.

No one is as good as Rodri mate. Rice is very good, but his passing ability, a key quality for a Pep DM, is quite inferior to Rodri's.

 

[alexmcity]

Ederson
Ferna Stones Laporte Zinchenko
Gundo Rodri Bernardo
Jesus Delap Sterling

Thats my guess.

Grealish will start, imo. He needs more minutes to find his very best form and establish himself in the first XI.

 

[Vester]

Think we should line up like this:
Ederson
Egan-Riley Stones Mbete Zinch
McAtee Fernandinho Gündogan
Jesus Delap Sterling

But I expect Delap, McAtee and one of Egan-Riley/Mbete to be on the bench with Mahrez/Grealish Silva and Rodri starting.

 

[stan bowles]

Playing Stones or Laporte seems highly risky to me. Fern and one of the youngsters it should be.

 

[Deleted member 81382]

No one is as good as Rodri mate. Rice is very good, but his passing ability, a key quality for a Pep DM, is quite inferior to Rodri's.

I agree on Rice, he's being overhyped.

Someone like Frenkie De Jong would be ideal in the sense that he could play as a DM for us but also as an 8 so it wouldn't necessarily be a straight choice between the two.

 

[Vester]

Pep says Mbete will play

The quote was "tomorrow he will be in the the team and maybe we'll need him". Or with other words, he will be in the squad, but not decided if he will start yet. Maybe he will, maybe he wont. I hope he does:)

 

[kaz7]

Joao Cancelo is out with illness
Wednesday's game will come too soon for Nathan Aké, who was also forced off against Peterborough in the FA Cup at half-time due to injury.
"I think the next days but tomorrow is too risky, and with Ruben [Dias] out for a long time, we can't lose another centre-back. After this game, we will have recovery, but we can not lose Nathan. It's too risky the doctor said," the managed revealed earlier.
Pep Guardiola also revealed that Joao Cancelo will be unavailable on Wednesday due to illness.
Kyle Walker remains suspended after being sent off against RB Leipzig in December, with UEFA handing the England right-back a three-match ban.
"We have just 14 players available, we have a few problems with Kyle suspended and Joao is sick and can't play," Guardiola said on Tuesday.

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[BlueNirvana]

never a better chance to play some of the kids but we all know what pep is like