MAN CITY v FC Timişoara: Preview – Starts for JO and BOYATA
25 Aug
Why doesn’t Ashley Cole like playing at Stamford Bridge?
Because he prefers playing away from home!
Now, you would be forgiven at this point for thinking you had clicked on an incorrect website, hoping to read about Roberto Mancini’s decision to hand first starts of the season to Dedryck Boyata, Patrick Vieira and Jo, but instead, reading yet more gossip about Ashley Cole’s love life. But please bear with me.
That quirky opening immediately brings to mind ‘cheating.’ Whether it was Cole cheating on the nation’s sweetheart Cheryl or the thick kid in school cheating in an exam, no-one likes a cheat. And to be perfectly honest, I would feel as I was cheating you if I was to replicate my preview from the first leg of this tie and post it again now, albeit with a few subtle changes. Unlike many other blogs, I’m committed to keeping my content fresh, creative and entertaining, so please forgive the brevity of this preview, but I’d rather my blog focused on the quality, rather than quantity.
Despite the erstwhile leg of this tie, which we were forced to watch on highly unreliable internet streams, no-one knows a great deal about our visitors on Thursday. I can’t profess any in-depth knowledge of their tactical decisions, which key players are missing through injury or who their famous supporters are, but suffice to say that City should not be taking them lightly. We have a slender 1-0 advantage from the first leg and thus, it slightly concerns me that my good friend Roberto Mancini is taking this match with the air of a complacent victor.
According to my source, the team expected to start against FC Timişoara is the one below, with Boyata, Vieira and Jo all making their first appearances of the campaign. As far as I’m concerned, we should play a stronger team, hope to score an early goal and then we could rest some star players. Nevertheless, this side has more than enough quality to run out victors, but with City, nothing is as easy as expected!
Hart
Richards Boyata Kompany Zabaleta
SWP Vieira de Jong Silva
Jo Adebayor
I would hope therefore that the bench would contain the likes of Carlos Tévez, Yaya Touré, Adam Johnson and Gareth Barry, but let’s just hope that the players on the pitch can further our dreams of taking our seats at the Aviva Stadium for the final of the Europa League.
Prediction: Despite my concerns, I’d expect City to run out comfortable winners, with a scoreline of MAN CITY 3 – 0 FC Timişoara. Goals to be scored by David Silva, Adebayor and Adam Johnson.
Saw the game via one of those dodgy links and thought that City were very comfortable…in the second half, it was more like a game of keep ball at times and after a first half of soaking up whatever they had to offer, we put on both Johnson and Balotelli which stretched them no end and in the end it really was like watching a game played at walking pace…with Silva and SWP on the wings and the biggest pitch in the league, I expect us to run out easy winners…
Me too, I would be shocked if we didn’t win by at least 2…
Interesting opening, do I detect a dig at other unnamed football bloggers?
Also where is the Aviva stadium?
What was the Lansdowne Road Stadium in Dublin.
I wou;d be shocked and disappointed if we didn’t win by 2 because it is clear that we far outstrip them in terms of quality.
The opening… it is true, unfortunately, that some bloggers feel the need to just copy and paste. I have even seen the BBC do the same – it is quite disappointing when, for example, a match preview for a game against Spurs is the same one used 3 years ago with the only changes being that of the manager’s and players names.
Fairly standard blog, I would be very surprised if city didnt win.
Hey Plattsy, guess whose sofa I slept on on Tuesday…
Carl Peters, remember him? Great guy.