CITY v CHELSEA

MUST WIN GAME.

Ederson
Walker/Danilo, Stones, Otamendi, Laporte
Fernandinho, 
KDB, Bernardo
Sterling, Aguero, Sane

Is Laporte now our first choice LB in the absence of Mendy? Top performance last game, but I wonder what everyone else thinks. TD didn’t you used to say he was positionaly nieve even as a CB? has he changed your mind now?

Ederson
DannyLowe Otamendi Stones Laporte
Fernandinho Gundog KDB
Sterling Aguero Bernardo

Ederson
Walker Otamendi Stones Laporte
DS Ferdinand KDB
Stirling Sergio Sane

31Ederson
2Walker 5Stones 14Laporte 35Zinchenko
8Gündogan 25Fernandinho 17De Bruyne
20Bernardo Silva 10Agüero 7Sterling

Zinky up against Pedro/Hazard. Big game for the lad.

I worry about Zinchenko at the best of times, but against hazard it could be a disaster

Another well worked free kick, straight from the training ground

How’d he miss that?

This is going rather well!

That makes up for it

What a goal 

4-0 Wow

What am I watching here?

Can't believe what I'm watching

Come on City

What a day to be out with the Family, haha and I've seen Sergio's miss

Not a single attack after the 4th goal, its been all Chelsea. Weird game

Apart from the first 15 mins, Chelsea have been pretty decent. Ederson’s had to be right on it. It makes the score line even more remarkable. The perfect example of how to beat the high press.

Good practice for the defence,

Now let's see Sergio get his hat trick

Great shout Nijinsky, that equals Shearer’s hat trick record. Just a matter of time before he beats it.

What about that for a goal?

Roll on the Cup Final now 

Utterly brilliant. The passing out from the back round their press was perfect. Barely noticed Zinky, which is a good thing, and a well-earned clean sheet for Ederson.

Just hope they keep their manager for the Cup Final

Yes saw he was straight down the tunnel and didn't shake Peps hand.  Don't like to see that, not Peps fault his team was shit.

Shows the team are like the manager...No Class

Did anyone watch the Stirling interview on American TV. 

When he was walking back to the tunnel some bloke seemed to be putting his arm round Stirling's shoulder. He looked decidedly unimpressed, anyone any ideas what that was about

Blue Radley wrote:Utterly brilliant. The passing out from the back round their press was perfect. Barely noticed Zinky, which is a good thing, and a well-earned clean sheet for Ederson.

I noticed Zinky.  He was playing a blinder on the left side, linking up with the wide play going forward. Mind you, I only got to see the second half (my eldest daughter's fella had the Six Nations on, so I got to see England giving France a bloody good hiding as well) and it seemed like Chelsea were more content to give Walker a hard time, which thankfully he seemed to be up to for once.

Nijinsky wrote:Just hope they keep their manager for the Cup Final

This is Chelsea we're talking about. They sacked a manager for WINNING a cup, they're not going to hold on to Sarri after that embarrassing drubbing and I'm expecting a press release in the next half an hour saying they've drafted in Maureen...

blisteringblue wrote:Yes saw he was straight down the tunnel and didn't shake Peps hand.  Don't like to see that, not Peps fault his team was shit.

No, but it was Pep's fault that they were made to pay heavily for being shit...  Meh, whatever, it serves them right for having the cheek to beat us in December.

Nijinsky wrote:Did anyone watch the Stirling interview on American TV. 

When he was walking back to the tunnel some bloke seemed to be putting his arm round Stirling's shoulder. He looked decidedly unimpressed, anyone any ideas what that was about

I don't get American TV up here in sunny Saddleworth, so I've no idea what you're talking about. If you find a video, slap it up on here so we can take a look at it.

Well we never saw that coming, a great all round team performance and even Zinchenko looked the part, even contributing an assist for Sterling.
Sterling was again unplayable at times and Azpilicueto just could not live with him.
Sergio just seems to get better and better as the season goes on, he missed a sitter and could have squared it instead of trying to score with another but another hat trick none the less and he is on fire.
KDB still looks a little off the player he was last season but the defending was much better as Chelsea put us under pressure for prolonged periods in the first half when we sat back. 
The way we played out around and through their high pressing was brilliant and their game plan failed miserably.

Well, it seems I was wrong about Maureen getting drafted in as Chelsea's new manager... Looks like he's getting a pundit job in Russia.

https://www.reuters.com/article/soccer-russia-mourinho/soccer-mourinho-to-get-his-own-tv-show-in-russia-idUSL5N2062N0

Well anybody that saw that performance cannot fail to agree that it was one of the most scintillating performances they have ever seen. Bearing in mind the pressure on the team before the game and the (potential) quality of the opposition, it was a team performance without a single weak link that can only be applauded.
Surely that can't be denied, can it?

Ladies and gentleman, please now let me introduce you to Mr Garth Crooks.

On a weekend when ManUre played the mighty, mighty free-falling Fulham and only put 3 goals past them and Loserpool faced the irresistible force that is Bournemouth, and again wracked up a whole 3 goals, you'd assume that his team of the week would be a shoe-in for at least 5 or 6 City players. Well you'd be wrong.

Just when I think the  blinkered, uneducated ramblings of the fat, pompous average player can't surprise me anymore he comes up with this:

Team of the Week:

Burnley - 1 player
Cardiff - 1 player
Spuds - 1 player
City - 2 players 
ManUre - 3 players 
Loserpool - 3 players 

What the fucking fuck?

And the BBC still insist they're not biased!

I know it shouldn't wind me up, but unfortunately it still does.

He obviously doesn’t watch every game, just bases his team on MOTD highlights. Bernardo should be in ahead of Wijnaldum, Stones and Laporte ahead of Smalling, and Ederson was brilliant not just with a couple of big saves but with the ball at his feet too. I did see the Burnley game though, and Heaton was immense. We’ll never get the credit we’re due, last season’s 100 pts and 106 goals barely gets a mention. Imagine if The Dippers or The Rags had done it?

I will give Wijnaldum a pass in this week, his finish was tasty...  very tasty..

and not offside in a break from the current Liverpool tradition.

when you look more closely, he's doing a disservice to Raheem dropping him into midfield, he should replace Firmino up top.
Aguero yes, clearly.
Marshy'al with his immense 40 yard run and (not even chipped) finish past the fulham keeper as 2 defenders tried their best to get out of hisway will always get him in there.
Pogba scored a penalty, so will be a defo in there  ) (think Kane in the world cup here).
Wijnaldum I agree with this week
Eriksen not so, did very little in a game where Leicester were unlucky not to equalise or get more points.

How the hell does Smalling get in, keeping the mighty Fulham at bay must be hard graft these days?

Heaton, Bamba, Robertson had good games, not often you get a stellar performance from a defender, maybe Zinchenko had a shout this week?

I'm not sure Ederson would get in TOTW for making two saves in a game where he wasn't all that busy, when Heaton played out of his skin to ensure Burnley got a rare victory.  Not that I'm defending Garth Crooked...

Completely disagree about Ederson not being busy Leo. Chelsea weren’t too bad in the first half, and Ederson was integral to nullifying their press. His composure with the ball at his feet is amazing and, more than any other keeper I’ve seen, should be judged on more than just his shot-stopping. That said, I did make the point that Heaton was outstanding. The problem with these team of the week things is that they’re judged on micro-moments - one good save, a nice finish, a great tackle - and not the overall performance over 90 minutes. For that reason I’d have Bernardo over Wijnaldum by an absolute mile this weekend. Nice finish though!

I didn't see the first half, unfortunately.  I did get to see the second half and I don't recall Ederson having much to do.  Given we walloped four past them in the first half, I just assumed he'd been at least as quiet.  But apparently not.

No worries Leo. If you get a chance to see a re-run of the first half, some of the passing in our own box was insane. Not just Ederson, but the whole back 4 plus Dino. It’s high-risk stuff but must have demoralised their front 3 to see their whole game plan picked apart so brilliantly. Then try to imagine doing it with Joe Hart in goal. Love Joe, club legend, but he just wouldn’t be able to do it.