Manchester City @ Portsmouth [R]

[CityBlues]

Manchester City

@

Portsmouth

When: Sunday November 11th, 2007
Where: Fratton Park
When: 16:00 GMT
11:00 AM EST
US TV: Fox Soccer Channel 12:00 PM Delay

Thoughts?

[Razcle]

And Pompey are who exactly?

[thecitizen]

Portsmouth dude....and that game is going to be hard.

I'm truely worried about this game, because if we aren't playin top par football, we are going to lose being they have top scorer Benjani, and our defense can't pull a Chelsea in this game.

We are going to have to pull out an early goal I think and strike first if we wanna win this game. Every game I've watched Portsmouth in, if they strike first, they are great momentum builders.

This is going to be away too, so we gotta be worried. I'm personally scared by this fixture, but if we do end up with the 3 points from this game... then we are definately going to finish in the top 5 of the table, because Portsmouth is a talented team.

[Lynne_mcfc]

Definitely a difficult one, usually is, a grind of a game. :) Let's hope we can win this one, even by one goal. :D Michael Johnson is out for about four weeks. SGE will have a bit of adjusting to do. His team pick will be interesting, as long as Samaras is still not a feature!

I thought Setanta Canada were showing the match, but now I can't see it on the schedule!


Come on City

[Lynne_mcfc]

How are you doing CB? Full recovery yet? I don't think you should watch this match! :)

[chinesefootballfan]

Portsmouth dude....and that game is going to be hard.

I'm truely worried about this game, because if we aren't playin top par football, we are going to lose being they have top scorer Benjani, and our defense can't pull a Chelsea in this game.

We are going to have to pull out an early goal I think and strike first if we wanna win this game. Every game I've watched Portsmouth in, if they strike first, they are great momentum builders.

This is going to be away too, so we gotta be worried. I'm personally scared by this fixture, but if we do end up with the 3 points from this game... then we are definately going to finish in the top 5 of the table, because Portsmouth is a talented team.

I agree completely. I would be happy if we come out with a draw. I think the chances of winning are low for this game. Portsmouth is quite strong and Man City is the visitor for this game.

However, we've done well historically vs Portsmouth with a record of 36W-16D and 24L. If we do get the 3 points in this game, it will help us to secure 3rd and 4th spot for at least another 3 rounds of fixtures.

[Manchester City]

Geovanni to the rescue. I would like to see him start one match along side Elano and Petrov, with Garrido pushed forward, Corluka allowed to run on attack every now and then, and Richards at CB. I believe that combination would make our attacks devastatingly surgical and recoveries on counters much stronger.


------------------- Hart -------------------
------------ Richards -- Dunne -------------
-- Corluka ----------------------- Garrido --
Geovanni -- Hamann --- Elano ---- Petrov
------------ Bianchi ---- Vassell ------------

*I still want us to show a 2/2-4-2 formation to see how well we perform with two forward.

That said, Mpenza will most likely play our usual lone striker and Ireland and Dabo (because SGE's choices have been that odd as of late) will run at midfield.

[CityBlues]

How are you doing CB? Full recovery yet? I don't think you should watch this match! :)

I'm coming along. Still have a cast on my left hand. I was pretty drunk last night, so everyone will have to disregard and excuse my previous thread title of, "Manchester Cuty @ Pompey." It IS Portsmouth, and I don't even know where I got the obscure Pompey from other than watching too much FSC. I have fixed the thread title for everyones enjoyment.

My jaw is back in alignment finally, got my stitches out last week, so I am on the mend almost 100%

I agree that this game could very well be a nail biter. I am nervous.

[CityBlues]

And Pompey are who exactly?


Sorry

[ForzaGrifo]

Geovanni to the rescue. I would like to see him start one match along side Elano and Petrov, with Garrido pushed forward, Corluka allowed to run on attack every now and then, and Richards at CB. I believe that combination would make our attacks devastatingly surgical and recoveries on counters much stronger.


------------------- Hart -------------------
------------ Richards -- Dunne -------------
-- Corluka ----------------------- Garrido --
Geovanni -- Hamann --- Elano ---- Petrov
------------ Bianchi ---- Vassell ------------

*I still want us to show a 2/2-4-2 formation to see how well we perform with two forward.

That said, Mpenza will most likely play our usual lone striker and Ireland and Dabo (because SGE's choices have been that odd as of late) will run at midfield.

My take on the starting XI:

-----------------Hart------------------------
Corluka-----Richards------Dunne-----Garrido

Ireland-----Sun---------Hamann-----Petrov--

---------------Elano------------------------
--------------------Bianchi----------------

[MVF]

Will be an attacking game i think.

Portsmouth will try and open us up.

I predicted a win though ..

[Lynne_mcfc]

I'm coming along. Still have a cast on my left hand. I was pretty drunk last night, so everyone will have to disregard and excuse my previous thread title of, "Manchester Cuty @ Pompey." It IS Portsmouth, and I don't even know where I got the obscure Pompey from other than watching too much FSC. I have fixed the thread title for everyones enjoyment.

My jaw is back in alignment finally, got my stitches out last week, so I am on the mend almost 100%

I agree that this game could very well be a nail biter. I am nervous.

Good to hear that your recovery is almost complete. The jaw alignment thing, that's probably why you've been drinking lots, can't manage the solids! :D No excuse though for the typing error and using Portsmouth's affectionate name. :rolleyes:

Most of us are nervous about this game. My blood pressure will be sky high.

[gdub171]

This is a better indicator of our team strength than that Chelsea game. Portsmouth is great at home in with their tiny stadium and they've been a very tough team all around in league. I am thinking we can draw here since we are pretty evenly matched (our great defense, their great offense). Should be 2-2 or 3-3, but if we're lucky we could pull a win out.

Redknapp has these guys playing better than Everton and Newcastle (possibly even Liverpool). Blackburn and them are our main challengers for the 5th spot.

[whitestones]

Although I do really like Man City, I think Pompey has the upper hand here, considering City's away record is a poor 1-1-3 (as compared to the 7-0-0 home record)

also im looking forward the Kranjcar/Corluka duel (they are former Dinamo Zagreb and current Croatian National teammates)

[thecitizen]

Although I do really like Man City, I think Pompey has the upper hand here, considering City's away record is a poor 1-1-3 (as compared to the 7-0-0 home record)

also im looking forward the Kranjcar/Corluka duel (they are former Dinamo Zagreb and current Croatian National teammates)

The away part of this match is what scares me most, because I think we are both evenly matched in our respects, but City doesn't usually do good away unless they are facing a lower ranked team.

Pompey have the excellent striking, so we HAVE to play good defense if we want a shot in this game. I predict a real grind of a game and I won't be suprised if it ends up a draw. If we were home, I think we would have a little more advantage just because the Eastlands is our saving grace this year.

Overall, I want to see Benjani, even though I don't want him to score. Benjani is a great player and one of the best finishers I've seen. We have to be scared of him.

We need an Elano phenomenon this game.

Pompey Record : W W W W D W

City Record: D W W W L W

[cromagnum]

ye that matchup of kranjcar corluka should be interesting..both have been in excellent form this season..i just hope none of them get hurt because we need them both next saturday..i have a feeling though corluka will get the better of kranjcar..

[catenaccio_L'pool]

also im looking forward the Kranjcar/Corluka duel (they are former Dinamo Zagreb and current Croatian National teammates)
This is going to be the slowest duel in EPL :D ... will be very interesting though.

[gdub171]

Although I do really like Man City, I think Pompey has the upper hand here, considering City's away record is a poor 1-1-3 (as compared to the 7-0-0 home record)

also im looking forward the Kranjcar/Corluka duel (they are former Dinamo Zagreb and current Croatian National teammates)

Looking further into the records speak for themselves... I think right now Citeh are a bit underrated away and a bit overrated in their home form. We've been winning quite a few 1-0 games against easier opponents at home, while away our only losses came against Blackburn (decent game, had a shot to win) and Arsenal (should've tied the best Prem team). Fulham 3-3 was interesting, but we did come back late. I would argue that we've faced a better road lot with fewer games to gauge our performance.

This will be a good test, and I hope we're up to it.

[Manchester City]

Starting squad:

Hart
Corluka
Dunne
Garrido
Richards
Elano
Fernandes (finally we get to see the young man's quality)
Hamann
Ireland
Petrov
Vassell (strange, but may prove to be a good decision)

[Manchester City]

Half-time:

Above-grade defending from our lads (especially Richards and Garrido) offsets what has been a fairly dismal attacking performance thus far from our midfield heart. Fernandes finally has a shot-on-goal (and another off-target) in the books, with Petrov shooting twice, and Elano finishing off the few chances we created.

Portsmouth seems to being laying back at Fratton, with very little urgency--or anxiety--to score, despite their shot total. Benjani has been running, though, and without Richards in the 44' we may very well be done one at half.

Holding hopes that SGE makes some adjustments to counter Pompey's 4-3/1-2 (Kranjcar playing forward for much of the match) that has been causing our back line so much trouble.