Manchester City Football Club vs. Paris Saint Germain Football Club City of Manchester Stadium Wednesday, December 3rd 2008 7:45 PM GMT 2:45 PM EST 11:45 AM PST LIVE on Fox Soccer Channel in the US 2:30 PM Moving on from the derby loss lets looks ahed to PSG visitng us this week. We have secured advancement into the knockout stage of the UEFA Cup tournament which makes this match a little less important than our following fixture this weekend against Fulham at Craven Cottage. We are sitting at 14th spot in the table with 17 points and we need to get 3 at Fulham. That said, who do we play against PSG? I would love to see Sturridge get some playing time, opinions?
I too would like to see Sturridge start. Other than that, keep the line-up as close as possible to what we've already seen.
I have to admit. I enjoying watching PSG and support the club's exploits in Ligue 1, but tomorrow it is all City! City 3-1 over PSG.
my line up would be: GK: K Schm RB: Zabs CBS: TBH + Glauber or Nedum LB: Ball DM: Didi (c) LM: Vassell or Elano CM:Gelson RM: Castillo or Vassell CF's: Danny S and Jo Subs: Hart, Dunne, Kompany, Elano, Caicedo
I'm sure that PSG are worthy of our best players and I think we need the playing time together. So, for me, almost no changes to the recent squad, but bringing on Sturridge for Vassell, a more potent striker to get us an early lead and give our hearts and blood pressures a break. Edit: Just had a look at MCFC web-site, and we have injured players that probably won't be available, so it will be a changed line-up (according to the article below, MH was looking to rest players anyway, but winning the group is still important): http://www.mcfc.co.uk/default.sps?pageid=115&pagegid={DBD12D53-8346-431D-A04F-5D0F8664DE80}&newsid=6623444&siteid=&pageno=&newscategory=&frommonth=10&fromyear=2008&tomonth=12&toyear=2008 Our U18s have won again. Come on City
don't worry, we are sending our B team... or at best our A' team like we have done so far in this cup. It's a shame that Robinho's injured though, I would have loved to see him pull tricks against our defense, it's not everyday that you get to play a player of his calibre. But likewise, our pearl we got this summer, Sessegnon is himself out for the game, which is a shame because he alone dynamited Lyon's whole midfield and defense two weeks ago. Anyway, I do think our first team would be more than able to rival City's, but we have a limited squad, and right now the Ligue is much more important. Especially since L1, outside of the Ogre Lyonnais, is such an... egalitarian (to avoid saying weak) league, that if you get three wins in a row you'll find yourself on the podium, but tie or lose three games and you end up in the back. Two seasons ago, the difference between 3rd and 7th was a single point. Last season, from 3rd to 8th, it was like 5 points only. If we pull our strings right, we can catch the right train and stay up front by the winter break. Our best case scenario for the last three games in '08 would be to do better than Marseille, who are facing tougher opponents, and thus finish the first half of the season in front of them, which would be for their fans an even bigger humiliation after we beat them 4:2 there, considering our last seasons so, let's see what our boys pull off. A draw wouldn't be that much of a surprise, if they shut down the game and keep the ball away from the opponents, they can make it as boring as a Ligue 1 match for all of you to enjoy btw, I read that there has been heavy snowfall and icy conditions over Manchester today, that might continue into tomorrow, leading some to speculate over the possibility of reporting the game. Could it be that bad?
Well I'll take a draw, we can caost through the Santander match now and see where we are at in the knockout rounds.
Well the old saying is be careful what you wish for you just may get it.. We got amazing defense today, but in return hardly any offense( a couple chances yes, but not great ones)Good to get a point though.. Hopefully we can rebound at the cottage on saturday,.. One final thought, does anyone else think Dunnes temper is getting shorter? Yes Dunne played against Kezman a few times when he was w/chelsea, ad they have a history,but he could've gotten at least a yellow card or worse for the shoving ..we don't need him missing anymore games.
I can't believe the number of stray passes that were made. We just didn't seem committed to the match (42nd minute and we have a shot on goal). Joe Hart is my MOTM, we could so easily have lost this one had it not been for some of his good saves. Too many heart (no pun) stopping moments when our defence seemed to be caught out. Garrido showing us that he can take a great corner. We didn't seem to have very much forward movement. For the most part, it was a boring match and we showed no real desire to win it. Do we miss SWP - yes we do. Great to see Sturridge have the full 90 mins, but didn't really get into the game. Evans replacing Jo on 65 mins. Elano is in the overflowing treatment room!. All I can say is, phew! we didn't lose this one. MH has his work cut-out to get the team playing and winning matches (and injuries to key players to sort out). The December fixture is busy, and only one of the five teams is below us in the table! We are a poor 15th (we've played 15 matches and only have 15 points! = 1 point/match).
Hi Philly I didn't see the push, but I saw Dunnie put his hands on Kezman's chest - who knows what the verbal exchange was between them. I don't think his temper is shorter, maybe it's the 'ungentlemanly' tackles that get to him, he still plays with a cool head and more often than not, makes good, decent tackles.
Hart lost it with Kezman too after he slid into Joe's legs. We were just dealing with a dirty player. Also, I think we may be putting too much weight into this match. We were clearly more relaxed because we are already through to the knockout stages of the cup, I am not too worried about this mediocre result. It was boring and our players weren't really connecting but we were playing mostly reserves. I think it was good to get guys like Sturridge and Evans minutes. Look for a beefed up squad at Fulham.
Certainly hope so CB, these December matches are crucial. MH's comments: http://www.mcfc.co.uk/default.sps?pageid=115&pagegid={DBD12D53-8346-431D-A04F-5D0F8664DE80}&newsid=6623566&siteid=&pageno=&newscategory=&frommonth=10&fromyear=2008&tomonth=12&toyear=2008 Elano could miss Saturday's match through injury.
Vote for your MOTM, the polls close soon: http://www.mcfc.co.uk/default.sps?pagegid={996BBD59-7623-4F98-B60F-1289A151B214}