At a time when we could really do with our first three points of the season, a trip to face one of Europe’s most feared sides (and this year’s favourites for the Champions League) in Manchester City is far from ideal.
City’s immaculate start to the season was halted last Saturday after a 1-1 draw at Wolves, so that combined with the absence of Kevin De Bruyne could give us hope, although I’m expecting a real backs to the wall game.
Anyone who didn’t like our ‘negative’ approach to the Chelsea game can expect more of the same. I’m expecting 10 behind the ball and Rondon as our outlet on the break – however it would be nice if we can get one or two up in support of him when the chances arrive.
More of a 5-2-3 opposed to a 5-4-1 may be wise for this one? I’m not suggestive we give City as good as we get (going toe to toe would mean for a massacre), but we need to show a little more ambition on the ball and can’t leave Rondon quite so isolated.
Lascelles is back, but being without Shelvey and Ritchie will reduce our already slim chances. The former is the one player who could set us up on the counter with some cutting long passes, and the latter is a workhorse and someone you’d expect to follow Rafa’s tactical plan to the letter far better than the likes of Atsu or Murphy.
Sergio Aguero has scored EIGHT goals in his last two home matches against us (and 14 goals in his 11 league appearances against Newcastle). That stat says a lot about who the main danger man may be tomorrow, but there’s so much more to city with Sterling, both Silva’s, high flying wingers (Sterling/Sane/Mahrez) and marauding full backs in Mendy and Walker all to watch out for offesively.
Preferred XI
Here’s the team I’d like to see, followed by the side I expect Rafa to go with:
As highlighted earlier, I’d prefer to see more of a 5-2-3 opposed to a 5-4-1, meaning our wingers (likely to be Kenedy and Murphy) are slightly higher up and able to support Rondon in attack as and when we get the ball.
With Shelvey out and Hayden banned I can’t see beyond a Ki and Diame partnership, and Lascelles is almost certain to return in defence after recovering from an ankle problem.
I can see him coming in for Schar. Fernandez was our stand out player against Chelsea and looked a very good communicator too, and Clark has been an ever present so far this season, so Schar may be nudged out the team after a poor showing against Forest on Wednesday.
Dubravka will return in net and you’d think he’ll have to have a blinder if we’re to come away from this one with a result.
Predicted NUFC XI – (5-4-1) – Dubravka– Yedlin, Lascelles, Fernandez, Clark, Dummett – Murphy, Diame, Ki, Kenedy – Rondon
The Opposition
Here’s a few ‘ones to watch’ in the City squad:
Sergio Aguero – Eight goals in his last two home matches against Newcastle and a hat-trick in his last game at the Etihad..
Benjamin Mendy – Already has several assists this season. Powerful, a brilliant crosser and someone our right winger/Yedlin will have to keep a real close eye on as he bombs forward.
Raheem Sterling – Picks up some great position in and around the box. May not have looked his best for England during the World Cup, but regularly finds the net in a City shirt.
Bernardo Silva – Has been in superb form for City over pre-season and has taken that into the first few weeks of this season. He and David Silva will pull the strings and look to unlock our banks of four and five.
Predicted Man Cuity XI – (4-1-2-3) Ederson – Walker, Kompany, Laporte, Mendy – Fernandinho – Gundogan, D. Silva – Sterling, Aguero, B.Silva.
Team news
Rafa Benitez has confirmed that Jamaal Lascelles is back, however Jonjo Shelvey and Matt Ritchie have both been ruled out.
Isaac Hayden is out once again following a three-game ban but Kenedy is available after missing the last league game vs parent club Chelsea.
For City, the only notable absentee is Kevin De Bruyne following a recent knee injury.
Match Prediction
A City fan told me this week that the only way to get a result is to have a go, but finding the balance is so difficult – especially when we don’t quite have the personnel to really hurt them at the top of the pitch.
Sit deep and look to ‘stay in it’ and they’ll pick us off. Go for it and we may score, but we’ll almost certainly be outscored.
I see us camping in our own half, trying to use Rondon and Murphy/Kenedy on the counter from time to time, but ultimately being undone. They’ve got bundles of quality and are relentless.
Prediction: Man City 3-0 Newcastle
Howay the lads!
We’re going to get a good old fucking
Stuart79(Quote)
The likelihood of 3-0 is almost zero now. The 3 stooges (Owen, Merse and Lawro) and now Olly have all gone for that score.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I suspect Schar might be in for Clark but the rest looks right. I don’t mind the non-swearing. I, like many, write on here like I am talking down the Pub not like I am having tea with your Granny 🙂 I can do either 🙂 I hope you are not thinking of the children as my estimate of the average age on here would be about 50 (of course Icedog has pushed that number up a bit).
Eric Sykes(Quote)
So now I can’t even call Jabba a fat greedy ****
meh, spoilsports .
kimtoon(Quote)
Gonna get thumped tomorrow I reckon, even all out defensive tactics won’t save us .
My virgin bill has gone up again so I’m ringing to either cancel or severely reduce package.
with football and movies dropped. Sad but it’s no longer an acceptable price.
kimtoon(Quote)
Have to figure out what is actually a swear word. Olly, do you have a dictionary of what is acceptable?
B*ll*cks?
Cr*p
Bl**dy H*ll
It gets difficult when you try to save the children and get PC. I will give you some examples from living in the US.
You will not hear the word h*ll on regular TV, they have replaced it with Heck. D*mn is never said, but can be used in a movie title like The Damned United or for a Band like The Damned. But for everyday they say DARNED. You cannot even say Oh My God. Some crazies think it is talking the Lord’s name in vain and you have to use Oh My Gosh.
I AM NOT CRITCISING YOUR POLICY. JUST SAYING SOMETIMES NOW I DON”T EVEN KNOW WHEN I AM SWEARING. Of course there are ****** and sod which are not even thought of as swear words although their literal meanings say they are.
To finish. A commentator here, Lee Dixon, said that Manuel Sarri might want to go for a *** at half time. He had to apologize at full time for using a word that some may find offensive.
For the most part I do know what to avoid (f-word and c-word) but I am sure I will still be censored now and again.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Another blog which I think has been closed used some sort of identifier software and would send comments to moderation if you wrote Scunthorpe in a post.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Wow: I just wrote that last post and the software replaced the “offending” letters in a football team’s name with ****. Good, now I know it is automatic I won’t have to worry about being banned.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I got kicked out of class once for saying sod that. Teacher went all red in the face and angry. Bizarre. Think he must have been repressed, if you know what I mean.
Shamrock(Quote)
What is this stuff about Rafa not inviting Ashley to watch training? It makes no sense and is almost Trumpian in seeing problems that do not exist. It is what Trump does when referring to Fake News. The real Fake News is to stuff pumped out by the Murdoch owned Fox News pushing propaganda about Donald’s latest hare brained idea or paranoid tweet. They flip the narrative on its head and blame the ones questioning the insanity. I think Bishop must have been taking classes at Trump University (which was fined 25 million dollars and shut down for peddling BS and ripping off its students).
Eric Sykes(Quote)
so if I say ffs, is that ok ?
kimtoon(Quote)
Apparently yes 😀
Well at least when City put half a dozen past us tomorrow I know I can say that.
kimtoon(Quote)
The way Kenedy has played the last 2 games I’d consider dropping him and playing Perez or Muto instead – we are going to need workrate against City and I haven’t seen much of that from Kenedy against Cardiff or Forest.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy: I am worried about everything tomorrow. Are our centre halfs mobile enough? They are tall and physical but is that what we need against City’s hummingbirds doing their intricate one touch triangles, flicks and dribbles? They’re all tiny, buzzing around and we are not really built for that.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
We don’t tend to get many spankings under Rafa. I think it’ll be 2/3-0.
Stuart79(Quote)
Although I will be putting £50 on a win as the odds are massive in a two horse race.
Stuart79(Quote)
I don’t really like Clark on the left, he’s not a natural lb .
A pain that lascelles isn’t fit, we need his leadership really. I know Schar is used to playing centrally in a 3 man and he has said that he was telling the others where to go v Chelsea and by and large we did really well until a poor ref saw fit to give them a pen. OG’s are just bad luck but it came from a free kick that again the ref should not of given.
All the same, I see today as a no win what ever we try tbh, they simply have too much all over the pitch for us to cope with. Should we get anything today it will of been a great day at the office.
The international break gives us a chance to heal some niggling injuries and for Rafa to work with some of the newbies on tactics and formations.
There has been rumblings on social media about our youngsters and new buys being not good enough. Feel that’s a bit unfair as they have had hardly any time to intregate into the squad properly yet.
I personally thought Sterry looked pretty good as does new boy Muto and Schar looked ok . End of the day we need to remember what we’ve spent or haven’t.
kimtoon(Quote)
I think I’m sort of indifferent to the City match. We may draw, we may get a good pasting, very unlikely but we may just win… we will play super defensive and almost every pundit will have a go at our tactics.. then it will be over… any one of City’s matchday squad, including their bench will be worth more than our entire squad, and their bench will likely be worth more than the £350 million that was supposedly offered for our entire club, lock, stock and barrel…
Then people in general will call us all delusional for wanting to compete …
Dubai Toon(Quote)
Kim – Lascelles is fit. I just cannot see us getting anything other than a stuffing today. Is that a ***** word?
georgio(Quote)
DT – they’ll call us worse than that for not competing!
georgio(Quote)
Cheers Georgio, didn’t realise he was fit now, wonder if he’ll start him then.
Dubai, I’m with you, in fact I’m rapidly losing interest altogether mate . If we start every season not being able to compete with even the smallest teams in the PL and our best manager in yonks is away come may, then really why bother. My ambition and hopes for the club simply aren’t being matched by the owner. He’s like one of them **** landlords you see on watchdog, leaving his tenants living in a building not fit for purpose yet charging the earth in rent.
My virgin bill just went up again so I’m gonna ring them up to see what reduction I can get or I’m binning the add ons and just keeping broadband which is good to be fair.
Might get a now tv stick instead and just get a pass as and when for our games.
kimtoon(Quote)
Don’t know why the word pass is blocked !!!unless I typed **** instead lol
kimtoon(Quote)
P a s s is not a swear word !
kimtoon(Quote)
Whey, this site is ****** :grin
kimtoon(Quote)
Cant say class. C. L. A. S. S wtf
Shamrock(Quote)
**** this. Site has gone to **** as well as the club.
Shamrock(Quote)
Ha I can say **** but not c l a s s
Take that stupid monitor **** down people!
Shamrock(Quote)
It is a bit of a p i s s take when words like mas sive get blocked out.
Nanny state bull **** imo.
Stuart79(Quote)
OH OK. I have to say it like this.
****.
***.
****.
****.
Capital letters. Sorted. Now.
What about Class.
Shamrock(Quote)
Ha!
This then? ClAss.
This is pathetic. Going to lose readers and commenters fast I reckon.
Shamrock(Quote)
Sham it’s the last 3 letters that’s being picked up in C.L.A.S.S which is seen as a swear word. Which is why I couldn’t get P.A.S.S showing in my post.
Same with M.A.S.S.I.V.E which has *** in it I guess. 😆
kimtoon(Quote)
Oh deary me, matchday comments are gonna be fun.
kimtoon(Quote)
Did you see that pass from Shelvey 😆 😆 😆
kimtoon(Quote)
??
Im nkt convinced there will be many match day commments.
Shamrock(Quote)
How to lose your punters Olly!
georgio(Quote)
Oh I don’t know Sham , it could be hilarious reading if nowt else.
kimtoon(Quote)
It could end up being more rude than before the embargo on swearwords which would really be funny.
kimtoon(Quote)
I see BT’s PL live is concentrating on NUFC this evening. Asking fans for their views on the club and owner.
This is the kind of analysis of NUFC and exposure Jabba will hate.
Stuart79(Quote)
Pool winning already
kimtoon(Quote)
They’re gonna be inundated with calls, texts and tweets
kimtoon(Quote)
Not a new thread, but opposition opinion this week is a decent read..
https://www.nufcblog.co.uk/2018/09/01/the-opposition-opinion-man-city-a-that-cowardly-approach-rarely-prospers-against-us/
Olly Hawkins(Quote)
that Maddison of Leic is a player we should have signed,good m/f
icedog(Quote)
It wouldn’t surprise me if that off the back of sky’s Debate and the positive response Howeys comments got.
Maybe a few ears pricked up and they realised that actually, they don’t know what toon fans think or want – Jermaine Jenas and Michael Owen don’t actually represent or speak for us just coz they once played for us.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Ice – yeah he’s a tidy young player and not frightened to run at the opposition. Moved up from the Championship with a big fee but he certainly doesn’t look out of place does he?!.
I can see him being involved with England in the not too distance future. Chilwell is another I could see in the England squad in that left wing back position.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Soccer Saturday lads having a pop at Rafa’s tactics again. Merse still saying we’d rather win a cup and get relegated 🙄 give me strength
kimtoon(Quote)
I still think the best to be blocked is Scu nthorpe.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Olly, just read Tom’s opposition view, he may think it’s cowardly but a thrashing can destroy confidence so it’s not just about goal difference is it.
Of course he wants us to attack, it makes cities job a lot easier. There is artistry in good defending just as much as good attacking.
End of the day, there is little parity in the PL now financially and pretty much everyone below top 6 are also rans. Do we line up with an attack ethos and wait to be squatted aside by the top clubs or try and make them work for it by defending first and foremost ? The latter for me, the time to attack is against the clubs around us.
He talks about Huddersfield having a go, but fails to take on board they have spent well as have many other so called lesser clubs.
Until we have an owner who helps us to progress this is what we are. Sad?, well yes , cowardly, no, not in my opinion.
kimtoon(Quote)
Kimtoon: I had a bit of a rant on the last thread about how crazy it is to want us relegated because there is a good chance we will stay down which means we will not be winning every week anyway. It is pretty simple really. If you lose 100 million of TV money a year then you get worse players and being in the Championship you see worse players from other clubs. There is a reason the TV Companies pay an average of 10 mil for the Championship and 130 mil for the PL.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Testing to see if it is Yank developed swear blocker – ****
Eric Sykes(Quote)
So, it seems i8t allows british swear words like **** through but blocks a-s-s
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Gayle scores for Baggies again
kimtoon(Quote)
aye mate, though part of me does wonder why we are even bothering as the PL simply isn’t a level playing field anymore. Actually the championship is a bit like that now too.
kimtoon(Quote)
Scum losing and Max power sent off.
kimtoon(Quote)
Kim – I know we disagree on this, but I wanted to see more against Chelsea at home. But away to City, I have no problem with that defensive approach. Huddersfield may have had a go – but regardless how much they spent, they left 6-1 losers – I don’t believe that hurt any less coz they had a go.
It may not be exciting watching for the City fans getting end to end action – tough t*ts.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Kim – yeah, and from the sounds of things Mitrovic is playing well for Fulham too.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sky got a little bit stung by the supporters on social media when there seemed to be a constant pro Ashley rhetoric for a while. They were asking around for “anti” Ashley NUFC media people to go on Sky to add some balance.
Stuart79(Quote)
The Mackems show what can happen when you have a disinterested owner and go down to the Championship. We all know it is promotion or bust for them this year. They seem to have a decent manager but have no money even with the parachute payments. Even if promoted they have to get out of the Championship against some similarly sized teams like Stoke, Derby and West Brom.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
It seemed a bit of a set up by Keys to forward his anti-Rafa agenda. Even though he is in the middle east the papers still quote him and he had Wise, Peter Reid and Allardyce on. Big Fat Sam really didn’t take the bait but it was a Keys set up all the same. Then the spin and anti-spin take over and it takes on a media/twitter life of its own.
Perhaps BFS is looking to rejoin NUFC.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Anyone notice that every fee kick L/Pool give away they kick the ball away,how long are they going to get away with that,a good tactic like
Icedog(Quote)
Watch Man City today as well Ice. If we ever get the ball and try to break they will foul us. Probably not as much of we are 3-0 down but they will if we keep it close.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I am watching the cricket and recording Chelsea. How are Bournemouth playing them compared to us?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Strange goings on with that Ref Bobby Madley. First up, I always thought he was about 45 and it turns out he is 32. Then gets sacked as PL Ref for a remark he made on social media about being able to beat a disabled person in a race. Now shacked up with his Norwegian girlfriend after leaving his wife and Reffing in Norwegian football. Is keeping schtum about the details of his case because of the payoff he received form the Ref’s association after he lost his “six figure salary” according to The Mail.
So they sack somebody supposedly for cause and then give him enough money to start again in a different country with his new girlfriend and pay him hush money. Very strange.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Mitro scores
kimtoon(Quote)
Aye, them newly promoted sides aren’t like normal promoted sides. They’ve spent big and will be comfortably be mid table. That pushes us down.
I can’t see how we stay up this season, I really can’t. Oh well, actually I wouls see a chink of light if Jabba through £80m at it in January but that would depend on where we were in the league come January. But history suggests we will spend nothing and go down…. Again!
Stuart79(Quote)
C’mon hoots boys back in it 2.1
kimtoon(Quote)
Isn’t that 4 this season? Tied Joselu for whole of last season?
Rafa will take some stick if this carries on as it was not like the fans were not saying give Mitro a go.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/chi-onwurah-calls-probe-financial-15097337#ICID=ios_ChronicleNewsApp_AppShare_Click_Other
would love this to happen .
kimtoon(Quote)
So Gayle scores a brace and Mitro scores his fourth of the season… I see Ings scores and misses a pen…
Dubai Toon(Quote)
mitro gifts hoots boys a pen
kimtoon(Quote)
get in
2.2 now
kimtoon(Quote)
Sterry and Longstaff are on the bench. Rondon up front. Almost the team suggested by Olly I th8nk, apart from Perez playing.
Dubai Toon(Quote)
Chelsea 2 up v b/mouth
kimtoon(Quote)
Considering how much West Ham spent in the summer, and their world class manager, they are struggling against Wolves. Still goalless.
Dubai Toon(Quote)
looks ok that
https://twitter.com/NUFC_Index
kimtoon(Quote)
Ha ha.. Wolves score
Dubai Toon(Quote)