Stoke City V Man City - pre match thread

[seanthedrum]

Drop Navas altogether, he's been useless this season, is lightweight gives us no attacking threat and his corners are the worst I've ever seen..
put Silva on the right..or Milner..in front of the right back (preferably Zab) with the other central..even play Zab as a wing half in front of Sagna..just use your imagination Pellegrini..you get paid a kings ransom..to do just that..!!
We need a plan B..or C..we are too predictable slow narrow..and atrociously boring at the moment..we'll be out of the top 4 the pack are catching us..our rivals won last night..and as another poster just pointed out..Spurs are looking good..better than us..we are complacent and a tad arrogant to think we are safe..to finish top 4

 

[rnblade]

Must win situation to keep the chase on!
It doesn't bear contemplating if we lose.
The chasing pack are closing us down rapidly. We can't keep haemoraghing points and goals.

 

[mcfcdjr]

With Newcastle and Liverpool to come if we don't pick up 3 points tonight then I fear come March we may be as many have mentioned more concerned about securing top 4 than the title.

I'm not one for swapping and changing managers but these next 3 games could be a huge factor in who's the boss come August!

 

[supercity88]

I never thought Kolarov a defender, more a wing half..and he's a naturally left sided player, what we need in front of Clichy..
oh and Sagna should never get the nod over Zabaleta unless it's to rest him, as he's better defending and gives us more going forward on the right than Navas all day long..
we need width, that's how we will penetrate those packed defences..we have the players..it's Pellegrini's tactics that are wrong. and highly negative plus we've been chronically boring and predictable...use our old fashioned wide players..!!

What old fashioned wide players would they be? You really want to play Kolarov in front of Clichy? Jesus. I'd hate to see your idea of excitement if you think what we play now is boring and suggest that as a solution.

Sagna plays over Zabaleta when up against tricky and pacey wide players. He's handled both Bayern's and Chelsea's attacking players pretty well when called upon and when you look at our squad this season our best players, the first on the team sheet last season have been absolute shite for the most part.

Kompany? Looks more like Titus Bramble.
Silva? Has lost his usual magic in recent weeks.
Zabaleta? Running around like Micah Richards.

The personnel are fine. We just need to play with the right tempo and it's up to the manager to get the team doing that and if certain players don't then leave them out. Neither Kompany or Zabaleta deserve to be in the side at the moment. We also shouldn't be playing 4-4-2 because it's not been particularly successful in a long time and Dzeko and Aguero isn't a combination that works.

I'd be playing Fernando and Fernandinho in the middle. Milner, Silva and Nasri as a three behind Aguero. There's plenty of options on the bench then to go for the win late on. Keep things solid and play our best possession footballers to tire Stoke out. Chances will come.

 

[FantasyIreland]

Drop Navas altogether, he's been useless this season, is lightweight gives us no attacking threat and his corners are the worst I've ever seen..
put Silva on the right..or Milner..in front of the right back (preferably Zab) with the other central..even play Zab as a wing half in front of Sagna..just use your imagination Pellegrini..you get paid a kings ransom..to do just that..!!
We need a plan B..or C..we are too predictable slow narrow..and atrociously boring at the moment..we'll be out of the top 4 the pack are catching us..our rivals won last night..and as another poster just pointed out..Spurs are looking good..better than us..we are complacent and a tad arrogant to think we are safe..to finish top 4

 

[FantasyIreland]

Win or bust day has arrived..
d day for the blues today, we don't win/lose and Chelsea do... title gone..
can honestly see Barcelona winning both legs, we are so bad, can't expect Toure and Bony to make an instant impact next week,
after being out/not involved for so long..
...after tonight there'll be no more glass half full nonsense if we don't win..!
A defeat could see Pellers getting sacked with immediate effect..they might let him take us into the Barca tie, which the way we are playing, without any spark or semblance of spirit, desire, we are certs to lose..home and away..could be Pellegrini's last game tonight..

You were up early......

 

[6one]

Hart
Zabaleta Kompany Mangala Kolarov
Milner Fernandinho
Silva Lampard Nasri
Aguero

 

[6one]

Will people fuck off saying start lampard!

absolutely this

Why exactly?

His last start in December we won 1-0 with Lampard's goal.

It makes no sense he has not played more minutes given the fuss made to keep him and the crap we've played without him.

Start him get the game won, then take him off. This save for last 20 mins is nonsense if the game is already gone.

 

[RandomJ]

Aguero badly needs a goal in this game. We really need him to get going again if we're to stand any chance of challenging chelsea.

 

[aguero93:20]

Aguero badly needs a goal in this game. We really need him to get going again if we're to stand any chance of challenging chelsea.

This, once he gets one more will follow. Given our lack of goal threat on Saturday we could do worse than go into this game with one aim and one aim alone. Feed Kun.