Wolves v MAN CITY – No Tévez, Balotelli To Start?
28 Oct
Typical City. A phrase that many loyal supporters of the Blues would like to dispel from our vocabulary. A phrase that has characterised Manchester City over the past few years. A phrase that, in part, emanates from our incomparable ability to snatch defeat from the claws of victory, our capacity to grasp failure from the jaws of success. And it’s games like this, a potentially tricky away trip to Molineux to face a pugnacious Wolves side, that will determine whether we can finally shake off that unwanted moniker.
After what on paper look like a heavy home defeat at the hands of Arsenal, this trip to the Midlands should represent a perfect opportunity to get back on track, restore confidence to group and to maintain pressure on those sides around us in the table. But in reality, our loss to the Gunners wasn’t as disheartening as it may have seemed. The Blues performed admirably in the face of adversity, recovering well from the premature loss of Dedryck Boyata, and earning plaudits from the media for the way we approached the contest.
All the talk during the week has been along of the lines of putting that Arsenal defeat to one side and focusing on this match. The players have declared that confidence is still high, and the belief within the squad remains strong. And now it’s time to put those actions into words.
Wolves represents a good test of our credentials. They are a side who, by all accounts, have been playing well this campaign, but just not picking up their just rewards. They battled well against Chelsea before succumbing to a moment of brilliance, whilst they ran Manchester United close in midweek. Their squad contains a mix of physical players, including the likes of Stephen Hunt and Karl Henry, the latter of whom rivals our own Nigel de Jong for the title of the Premier League’s most unpopular player, and those who possess genuine quality, namely Republic of Ireland’s Kevin Doyle and Matt Jarvis.
With regards to City’s team selection, my good friend Roberto Mancini is devoid of the services of captain and talisman Carlos Tévez, after the Argentine picked up a thigh injury against Arsenal and has flown back to his native country for treatment. At the moment, he is touch and go for the Derby, although my gut instinct is that he will be risked, no matter what. His absence creates an opening up front for either Emmanuel Adebayor or Mario Balotelli. The Italian has only just returned from injury himself and would possibly be better served on the bench, coming on in the second half.
Ivorian centre-half Kolo Touré is set to return from injury and will claim the captain’s armband, whilst Micah Richards should retain his place after a sterling performance against Arsenal. Jérome Boateng is likely to shift to left-back in the continued absence of Aleksandar Kolarov, who should be fit for the Derby.
This is the team that I feel Mancini will select:
Hart
Richards K. Touré Kompany Boateng
Y. Touré de Jong Barry
Silva Milner
Adebayor
Subs: Given, Zabaleta, Lescott, Vieira, SWP, A. Johnson, Balotelli
Key Battle
Kevin Doyle v Vincent Kompany
Kompany is set to be reunited with Kolo Touré after the former Arsenal man was sidelined with injury for a couple of weeks. Mancini will hope that the duo can rekindle their frugal partnership that has seen them concede only a handful of goals, but they will be up against a tough opponent in Doyle, whose workrate and aerial ability have caused problems for many a defence over the years. The highly talented Irishman is vastly underrated, and is sure to test out the City rearguard.
Prediction: Wolves 1 – 2 MAN CITY - I don’t think it will be the greatest of spectacles, but our extra quality should see us return to Manchester with the three points. Goals to be scored by Steven Fletcher, David Silva and Mario Balotelli.
What a cracking introduction! Very impressive, but nothing short of what I have grown to expect from you Steven – after that simply stunning start (great use of alliteration there I hope you notice!) I can now call you a blogging maestro!
Hahaha
I like this preview, and its good how you also say about the plaudits City recieved from the Arsenal game, especially after Cesc came out and said they woould have beaten us even with 15 men.
This will be a tricky test for City and we do need to prove ourselves and keep our footbhold on the top four. It’ll be a good, but tight game and one I expect to win 1-0 with Adebayor scoring the goal
I also love this sentence, it sounds like something I would say….” The highly talented Irishman is vastly underrated, and is sure to test out the City rearguard.”
Keep up the good work Steven and I look forward to reading your review
very well written blog as usual, I must point out that united fielded a very week team against wolves in the carling cup on Tuesday. Amos in goal was having only his second senior start, macheda who is yet to become a permanent fixture lead the line had his full home debut. You should with the players you can call on be able to win this game easily by a fairly significant scoreline. However i think it will be much closer either a draw or city winning by 2-1 or an equivalent 1 goal score line.
Wolves WILL beat City 2-1!
Our need is more desperate than yours, and even though you beat us 3-0 at Molineux last season, we have a good record against Man City. See you all at Molineux!
i’m not expecting much from this match and i think you’ll win 2-0 but the most i will hope for is a 1-1
Where are all the comments?!?!
What do you mean? This is the the 6th comment and all are showing…