Southampton at home preview.
I'm not looking forward to this game, it will be difficult and Southampton will set like Everton did last Saturday. Long will cause problems, Tadic too. Southampton have lost Mane and Wanyama in the summer, they're not as strong but still difficult to beat. City look lost for confidence. I'd love to return to winning ways but I'm fearful. It's the worst game for City and I wouldn't rule out a 0-0 draw. City need to start scoring again. That will put pressure on the opposition and less pressure on our fragile defence.
Zabaleta was substituted on Wednesday night, I haven't heard anything on his injury and won't know until Pep's press conference. His injury didn't look good so I don't think he'll be in the squad, even if the injury isn't serious. Sagna injured too and with a lot of games to play, either Maffeo could play (not likely) Clichy moves to right back (didn't happen on Wednesday night so probably won't happen again) or Otamendi moves to right back. I think City will operate a 3 at the back, like they did against Everton. If Kompany is fit to start (has Guardiola fallen out with him? Papers are suggesting so) then he may move to the right of a 3 men defence, if not, Otamendi. Stones in the centre and Kolorov to the left. I don't think Clichy will start. I wasn't impressed with Clichy's defending against Everton for the Lukaku goal and Guardiola seems to prefer Kolorov. That's the defence sorted, Bravo will start in goal, he's only suspended for the European matches. Sterling will occupy one side of the wingers on the right, Nolito the other and Fernandinho will be in the centre. I expect Aguero will return (that's if he hasn't fallen ill with Pep too, Iheanacho may start then) and be up top. Gundogan and Silva will centre the game and De Bruyne will slip in behind Aguero. the formation can change to five at the back, four at the back and when attacking there will be at least five players up front. We struggle for goals so I'd like to see some shots and some goals. And if we get penalties, score them. We'll make mistakes in this game, we always do, so it's up to the team to make sure they either limit the mistakes or make the mistakes not costly. For example, score first. We did this at Stoke away earlier in the season, went 2-0, gave a silly penalty away, went 2-1, sured up the back line and hit Stoke hard in the last five minutes and won 4-1. I'd love to see something like that again. The wingers are key to this game, I'd like to see Sane given some minutes too and Sterling is my key man. When Sterling is on form, we perform. He played lovely in Barcelona and really tried. Our attacks started with Raheem and De Bruyne looked threatening. Defenders become so preoccupied with them, that players like Silva and Gundogan get chances and space. This doesn't even include defenders trying to stop Aguero. If we can peg Southampton in, score first and go at them, we should win. If we aren't clinical, Southampton (like Everton) will get a result and even a win. So we need to be wary and cut out stupid mistakes. Score prediction is 1-1, I'm feeling pessimistic.
Team prediction -
Bravo, Otamendi, Stones, Kolorov, Sterling, Nolito, Fernandinho, Gundogan, Silva, De Bruyne, Aguero.
