West Brom (A) | Pre-Match Thread

Match Result Prediction

  • Total voters
    407
  • Poll closed .
Status
Not open for further replies.
bluetonium said:
Probably won't be too different a game to Cheltenham in all honesty. They'll try and win free kicks, and kick us hard.

We have to take it that the scumbags have enough to beat Sheffield United so up to us to get revenge on this lot and show everyone who the table looks exactly half way through the season. Though some media outlets will probably still have united as hint top of games played even if they fail to win a game again this season.

Sad to say that we don't have the luxury of waiting for Mendy to find his form, the biggest issue therefore is whether playing cancelo at left back and walker on the right is wise given that is both our right backs playing the same games. Alternatively Zinchenko, fine with me, and we need to be on the front door and unlock their defence early to nullify their game plan.

Can see Rodri starting in front of the defence, leaving us with probably Gundo, Bernardo, Foden, Sterling and another in front of him. If Jesus fancies it then he's the one.
Click to expand...
I'd probably prefer us to be on the front foot
 
Eddie
Cancello
Dias
Stones
Zivchenko
Ferdy
Gundo
Bernie
Sterling
Jesus
Foden

Wint this, make up for the draw earlier on
 
Easy selection for pep

Eddy
Cancelo Stones Dias Zinchenko
Bernardo Rodri Gundogan
Sterling torres Foden
 
.............Ederson
....Stones....Dias....Zinchenko
........Cancelo...Rodri
...Bernardo..........Gundo
Sterling......Jesus.......Foden

City 2-0
Dias, Sterling
 
Cancelo looks like the player we might need to help unlock WBA. They will defend like Cheltenham but we cannot afford to get caught out like last time. We owe them a beating. No complacency or mercy.
Be ruthless and put the fcuking chances away. No point moaning when we create so many opportunities and yet fail to score. It’s criminal.

0-1 only because they are going to be a fleet of parked buses.
 
We played well against Chavs and Rags but we have reverted to missing guilt edged chances again , we all know what BFS will do , his tactics are not rocket science , play our strongest possbile team and nick a 1-0 win. We are not going to return to our free scoring ways of the last few seasons so clean sheets are going to be vital.
 
SWPISHOME said:
Definitely this. Laporte at left back is a great move.
Plus that's the strongest front 5 we can field at the minute.
Click to expand...
Can easily switch to a back three in possession as well to give us an extra man in midfield or up top.
Not sure we’ll risk Laporte for another full 90 given he has been out for over a month, though there is also the competing demand that he needs minutes and match fitness as well
 
BringBackSwales said:
Funny how Ilkay Gundogan has gone from being the second most slagged off player in here to an essential starter. Maybe those inexperienced clueless managers Guardiola and Low know something after all?
Click to expand...
Or maybe Ilkay is fitter and in better form than at any time in his City career. He’d be the first to admit he wasn’t great last season
 
MAG said:
View attachment 8834



Premier League Stats

The only stat that matters is the one from last month ... they came to Etihad and went away with a 1-1 draw ... everything that came before that is pretty irrelevant.


View attachment 8835



Since that 1-1 of course we have turned our fortunes around and now are on a ten game winning run (in all competitions) ...


View attachment 8836



Pre-Match Thoughts

Let's debunk this whole who's on top at Christmas and who's on top at New Year myth first ... and I'll tell you why do it now ...

The basics: 20 teams in the league, you play the other 19 twice over the season, 38 games to the title ... usually, around the Christmas mark teams have played around 18 of their games ... and then by New Year it's 20 games played each so neither is exactly a half way mark but either is kind of taken as that, and thus press likes to throw around all these who's top at Christmas and who's top on New York stats depending on whatever suits their agenda that year ...

This game on Tuesday now is OUR half way mark this season ... actually this is our Boxing Day - the 19th fixture ... If you want to consider what a traditional Christmas table would look like this season, it'd be at the point when our last league game finished against Villa (and before United and Liverpool played their midweek games) yes, when all three had played 18 games each ... and yes we were top of the table at that point (so the actual Christmas table) - Merry Christmas!

OK forget the other two (red teams) for a minute ... let's just focus on ourselves. This is our 19th league game (and yes again a chance to go back top - while others around us remain on 19 games each as well, but that's just now how scheduling is this season so the actual table will be skewed a bit by the time gameweek is over). But if you are to dissect it purely on half way point and 19 games each ... winning this one would put us seven pts ahead of Liverpool and one ahead of United. Even if we are to drop points here (which I hope we don't), but even then we'd be four or five ahead of the Scousers and only one or two behind United (but that's just the worst case scenario) ... so we're rightly the favourites for the title as things stand.

This is also where we are starting our reverse fixtures ... we have played everyone else each once except Everton, due to that postponement ... so because of that we'd now end up having played West Brom twice in our first half of the season (and will play Everton twice in the second half) but that is not unique and it has happened a few times before with scheduling and TV picks etc.

It is then inevitable that we'd look back at what happened in the first game this season, and that is the most relevant one to look at as well as the teams are largely the same and so are the managers ... well, that brings me to yet another anomaly in this particular one ... last time we played Bilic's West Brom ... and now what we'll face is Allardyce's West Brom ... different philosophies and although the Bilic's one played more like a Big Sam team but still this will be even harder to break down. The press keeps telling us that their team is lacking in quality but we saw it first hand, if you work hard enough you can make up for it over the ninety minutes as in the end it's just 11 v 11 on the pitch (and we have sampled that against Cheltenham Town just now) ... on top they have had a full week off with no FA Cup tie for them on the weekend so surely Sam would have used that time on the training ground to drill in his ways some more ... Aguero now staying out for a bit longer for us and with KdB missing, we're poorer for it that we were back then ... so add all of the above and it's going to be a tough test.

But ...

Having said all that, we're on a different level altogether than when we last played them all those ten games ago. The ten games that we have won in a row since ... and I'm sure Pep would remind everyone of that last time we dropped points (which were against them) and would want to rectify it this time ... plus all that above of being at top of the league half way through the season (and then staying there for the second half) would surely be very much in Pep's mind.



Match Prediction

West Brom 0 - 2 Manchester City

No I am not turning into Lawro ... but a 2-0 win for us makes sense. They'd park a bus or two and play the classic Allardyce way ... we'd keep the usual Dias-Stones clean sheet at the back; then score one eventually, and then probably will score another and that'd be that.

C'mon City ... let's keep going - it's all about extending this winning run that we're on now!
Click to expand...
I don’t normally read the prematch thread first post but that was a great analysis, I think I might read subsequent first posts for future games as well.
 
Think it will be a messy game.
They will play with 2 defensive blocks and Kev is missing for us.
We need to prove we can create and break down teams when Kev is out.
If we can do this then i think we will be worthy favourites for this season's title.
Very interesting part of the season coming up for us
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top