The Secret Scout

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3453662/Manchester-City-midfielder-Brandon-Barker-versatile-winger-enjoys-running-ball-needs-involved.html

Spot on with his assessment. I've followed Barker for a number of years now, but this assessment, regardless of whether there really is a Secret Scout, is accurate.

I watched Barker against LFC the other week and he was sensational, yet against United, he looked completely disinterested.

He really needs a kick up the arse, as he's the one youth player that could have and should have been filling Navas' boots whilst out injured, but his inconsistency is holding him back. I wonder if the fact that Viera is no longer there is contributing to this?

Whatever it is, if he doesn't find that form, week in week out - then he'll be another 'nearly' player that will be sent on loan.

Shame - as the kid has bags of potential.

Has he been out on loan anywhere blue?

If not, it may do him good to get him out somewhere for the experience of playing league footy week in week out.

Yeah, he went to Rotherham, but only for a short time.

Maybe you're right - but I think with all these International Youth Cups, they'd be reluctant to send him out on loan now. He reminds me a bit of Pedro and Tello when they played for Barcelona. Quick, drift inside onto their favourite foot and not afraid to shoot...it'd be a real shame if he's allowed to just drift away from the academy.

And...with Roberts playing wide right and Barker wide left - that's a lot of attacking talent, both players like to take players on, both like to get into the box at pace.

Wouldn't surprise me to see him starting on Sunday, alongside, Maffeo, Humphry's, Angelino, and the two Garcia's.

I count 6-7 first team players there....is that a sign? TLMLF being captain?

Yes, Aguero and the likes did train as well...but I'd like to see:

Willy
Maffeo, Humphry's, DeM, Angelino
Garcia, TLMLF, A Garcia
Sterling, Kelechi, Barker

Can see Kolarov starting....and Sagna if fit.

Aguero better not even be on the coach

I'd rather Mangala started ahead of Dimi...

Is he now fit again?

From the presser at lunchtime:

Manuel Pellegrini has confirmed that there will be a number of youngsters involved in City’s FA Cup fifth round tie at Stamford Bridge.

The Chilean underlined his disappointment that the match couldn’t have been played at least a day earlier to give his squad more recovery time before the Champions League Round of 16 clash in Ukraine.
However, the 62-year old has backed his young guns to give a good account of themselves in London on Sunday afternoon and also updates on the injury situation concerning some of his senior players.
“Sagna worked today after ten days out, Mangala is injured - Nasri, De Bruyne and Bony are also out," he told journalists at City Football Academy.
“Bony has started working on the pitch these last two days. He needs at least one week more.
“Tomorrow we have a squad list - I have to talk to the doctor and the players who’ve recovered.
“We have just 13 players available to play - we have to play Champions League on Wednesday - we’ll see the best team we can play on Sunday.
“We couldn’t play on the Saturday for some reason, so we put out the best team we can.
“Young players have the option and they must take their chances. We normally have some young players in the cup - one or two maximum. I hope with the team we play against Chelsea, we hope they make the performance that we know they can.”
Manuel also put forward his belief that changes to the way the FA Cup is scheduled could aid English teams in European competition.
When he was asked if he believes that replays should be scrapped, he said: “Something must change because the Capital One maybe is a cup for the first part of the season and you always play Wednesdays, it’s no problem.
“The FA is more difficult - you must start postponing games to get there as it’s at weekends.
“Something is not correct with the cup - if you continue the final, you have to postpone three Premier League games and then fit them in later.
“You don’t have time to play those games if you continue in Europe too.
“We always try to play with a strong team in every competition as they are all important - especially the FA Cup. We had two difficult draws against Premier League teams away and won 3-0 and 4-0.
“It’s not so difficult to change one day of one game - if they can do it in other leagues, they can do it here.
Although City have a Capital One Cup final and a Champions League knockout round game to negotiate, Pellegrini stopped short of describing this week as decisive in the season  but he did call it an important one.
“It’s not a break point - it’s an important week as we can win the first title and we can make one step further in the Champions League by reaching the quarter final for the first time,” he added.
“For me always the priority is the next game but we must make an exception now because of so many injuries. After that, we have to play a really important 180 minutes against Kiev.”
“We never think about four trophies - we go game by game. We must focus our mind in the present.”

Will he risked Sagna? Mangala is out. Can you see him risking Vinny?

13 players? 

Wouldn't surprise me to see Aguero on the bench, along with Silva.

blueboy wrote:Is he now fit again?

An unfit Mango is better right now than a fit Dimi...

City should play 11 kids....keep all the 1st team at home.

Aguero, Vinny and Silva better not be on the bench....far more important games for City to contend with coming up than this one.

i really do not want to see us play a team of kids & prioritizing a cup we are still a few good players away from winning. By all means start a couple of them but a 5 or 6 -0 drubbing will do no good for the youngsters or the confidence of the players having already lost their last 2 matches.

I think MP has made it clear, 4 trophies aren't possible. They have to prioritise one and with us in the final of the C1C, next round of CL and still in with some kind of shot at the PL title - or at least ensuring CL football next season, he won't risk players for Sunday.

Therefore - whatever players who are NOT going to start against Kiev and by that I mean TLMLF (who shouldn't start), they should play alongside 5/6 kids.

There's also the '2 fingers up to the FA' for not supporting us in moving the fixture, especially now it's on TV. What better way to say "fuck you".

Either way, we lose 5-0 it diminishes the FA Cup if a top 4 team decides to field a kids team, or we win, get a draw, it highlights the strength of our academy players.

Either way - the CL and PL come before the FA Cup for me and we're already in a final in the next few weeks.

We only have 5 injured Uniturd have 13. Pathetic state of affairs allowed to happen by selling players,buying shit and loaning out too many
No excuses Manuel. I'm sure the likes of Barca, RM, Bayern, PSG can manage to fight for 3 or 4 trophies without having to play a team of kids