If they'd entered the last 10 minutes needing a single goal to win the tie, they might have have risked it, but Pocettino would have looked at the rest of the team's performance and concluded "they've lost it and we're two goals down. Leave him be." It's a pity, because the team could have used some bottle out there and Mbappe is slightly more likely to supply it than Neymar. I wouldn't like to have Pocettino's job come pre-season: there's a mentality there that needs confronting, and something tells me that confronting it will lead to serious turmoil. Tuchel's comment - "Am I still a manager or am I a politician in sport, a Minister for Sports? Where is my role as manager in such a club now?… I only love football. And in a club like this, it is not always just football.” - has an even sharper edge now.
I don't know what Pep will do, but I do know what I think he should do. Sat 5/8 PL v Chelsea = Ederson (for many reasons) {Man U play Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday! Title race almost certain to end} Fri 5/14 @ Newcastle = Steffen (if PL title clinched, extremely likely) Tue 5/18 @ Brighton = Steffen (or Carson ) Sun 5/23 PL v Everton = Ederson (fine-tuning) Sat 5/29 CL Final v Chelsea = Ederson
Some assumptions: Man City will win the Premier League no matter who starts in goal the final four games. Ederson should start v Chelsea as preparation for the CL Final (v Chelsea). Steffen actually played the last two Chelsea matches (3-1 PL win, Ederson out with Covid, and 1-0 FA Cup loss). Ederson should play v the Tuchel Chelsea and get the ground-level view. He should also play in this potentially PL Title-clinching match. Ederson can use a bit of rest (Newcastle/Brighton - nothing to gain by playing, might get banged up unnecessarily) - but not too much (needs to play Everton before the CL final to regain match sharpness).
I take it his best bet now is that City wins against Newcastle and he gets the following game against Brighton?
Quite possibly, but City might still back into the title (with a Man U loss) before the City-Newcastle match, allowing Ederson to get proper rest.
The question for Pep would be why change GK with the CL final looming. It's not like Ederson gets a massive workout during the games. Obviously injury is a concern but he could get injured in practice games as well as in the actual games. I think Pep sticks with Ederson to keep him sharp these last few games.
I assume with 3 matches in 9 days that Steffen will get one, probably the Brighton match. I also assume there will be similar squad rotation elsewhere. For example, I expect Eric Garcia to get another match appearance so that he reaches the magic number for a field player of 5.
Understood, but Ederson really only needs the lead-in Everton game to ensure sharpness for Chelsea, he doesn't need the Newcastle and/or Brighton matches for that purpose.
Real talk now: the hair hurts him. Big time. Got to shave it off. You could see it hindered him when he made that boneheaded mistake against Chelsea in the FA cup.
This definitely seems like a "Thank you, Carson" start, which was a pretty predictable thing to do with one of these last matches.
City do have only 21 players eligible for a medal, and no other possible field players have a chance. Maybe both Steffen and Carson will get one now.
I did: Take a standard "What the ********?", multiply by a level of disbelief or incredulity, and then you have "What the ACTUAL ********?".
Has to be a way to thank Carson, but it does kind of give Steffen the big f u at the same time. The guy needs to go elsewhere next year to a place that he can play day in and out. I'm not sure what his level is at this point though.
https://www.mancity.com/news/mens/n...ter-city-team-news-stats-and-tactics-63756609 The 35 year-old keeper has been on loan from Derby County for the past two seasons and has become an influential voice in the dressing room. His reward will be a first Premier League appearance for almost 10 years. ----- Settle down y'all