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Have assumed that Ade and Kolo will have to join up with their national squads a couple of weeks before the tournament kicks off so (if they both make the final) these are the games they'll be missing....

Saturday, 26 December 2009
Man City v Stoke, 15:00
Monday, 28 December 2009
Wolverhampton v Man City, 15:00
Saturday, 9 January 2010
Man City v Blackburn, 15:00
Saturday, 16 January 2010
Everton v Man City, 15:00
Tuesday, 26 January 2010
Stoke v Man City, 19:45
Saturday, 30 January 2010
Man City v Portsmouth, 15:00

Nothing too scary there IMHO....

I hope Santa is fit to play by then. Im looking forward to seeing him in action once he is upto speed. I noticed McGivern's loan is only until The new year as well - so I would expect him to be used as cover.

(Actually forget the McGivern thing, he's on loan 'til the end of January so will miss them all.)

Hughesthedaddy wrote:Have assumed that Ade and Kolo will have to join up with their national squads a couple of weeks before the tournament kicks off so (if they both make the final) these are the games they'll be missing....

Saturday, 26 December 2009
Man City v Stoke, 15:00
Monday, 28 December 2009
Wolverhampton v Man City, 15:00
Saturday, 9 January 2010
Man City v Blackburn, 15:00
Saturday, 16 January 2010
Everton v Man City, 15:00
Tuesday, 26 January 2010
Stoke v Man City, 19:45
Saturday, 30 January 2010
Man City v Portsmouth, 15:00

Nothing too scary there IMHO....

None of those should be classed a tough fixtures (maybe Everton) so nothing to panic about.

We really could use Kolo's mental strength v Everton imo. RSC should be adequate cover for Ade v those lot though.

In fact he's ideal to help defend v Stoke's rugby tactics.

razor400 wrote:
None of those should be classed a tough fixtures (maybe Everton) so nothing to panic about.

It's 6 matches (+FA Cup) that could account for a vital 14-18 points at a tough part of the season where our South Americans mightn't be at their best.

It's not going to be easy to play Wolves away on a Monday, 2 days after Stoke, it's not going to be easy to play in Stoke on a Tuesday night in January.

What we will have is the option to buy cover if we're having problems with injuries when Toure and Adebayor leave.

ronk wrote:

razor400 wrote:
None of those should be classed a tough fixtures (maybe Everton) so nothing to panic about.

It's 6 matches (+FA Cup) that could account for a vital 14-18 points at a tough part of the season where our South Americans mightn't be at their best.

It's not going to be easy to play Wolves away on a Monday, 2 days after Stoke, it's not going to be easy to play in Stoke on a Tuesday night in January.

What we will have is the option to buy cover if we're having problems with injuries when Toure and Adebayor leave.

i agree with that assessment. that will be a key stretch of the season where the points collected will be required and not nice to have. No room for error in those matches.

We should be at least 15 points clear at the top by then, so I am not stressing.

I am more concerned that RSC will have to compete in 6 matches on the trot, that’s like one and a half seasons games for him ( poor cnut ) .

Imagine if Nedum decides to go ahead and play for Nigeria?

Does that mean Richards or McGivern are the only cover options for Kompany (assuming he is fit) and Lescott?

Florida Blue wrote:Imagine if Nedum decides to go ahead and play for Nigeria?

Does that mean Richards or McGivern are the only cover options for Kompany (assuming he is fit) and Lescott?

I dont think Ned can play for Nigeria now can he?.

gillie wrote:

Florida Blue wrote:Imagine if Nedum decides to go ahead and play for Nigeria?

Does that mean Richards or McGivern are the only cover options for Kompany (assuming he is fit) and Lescott?

I dont think Ned can play for Nigeria now can he?.

I think he still can, as he hasn't represented England at senior level, and you can play for another country at any age now, providing you've not played at senior level.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 083006.stm

Can't see Ned doing it though, him and Hart are future England internationals imo.

bluej wrote:

gillie wrote:

Florida Blue wrote:Imagine if Nedum decides to go ahead and play for Nigeria?

Does that mean Richards or McGivern are the only cover options for Kompany (assuming he is fit) and Lescott?

I dont think Ned can play for Nigeria now can he?.

I think he still can, as he hasn't represented England at senior level, and you can play for another country at any age now, providing you've not played at senior level.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 083006.stm

Can't see Ned doing it though, him and Hart are future England internationals imo.

Thanks for that Bluej.

bluej wrote:

gillie wrote:

Florida Blue wrote:Imagine if Nedum decides to go ahead and play for Nigeria?

Does that mean Richards or McGivern are the only cover options for Kompany (assuming he is fit) and Lescott?

I dont think Ned can play for Nigeria now can he?.

I think he still can, as he hasn't represented England at senior level, and you can play for another country at any age now, providing you've not played at senior level.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 083006.stm

Can't see Ned doing it though, him and Hart are future England internationals imo.

This discusses Ned directly
http://goal.com/en/news/1863/world-cup-2010/2009/08/30/1470084/manchester-city-defender-nedum-onuoha-considers-nigeria-approach-

IMO there is absolutely zero chance of Nedum electing to play for Nigeria at this stage in his career.

He has a genuine shout of being a full England international and you only have to listen to him talk when on England U21 duty to see that he feels truly English (irrespective of where he was born, he has lived his whole life more or less in the UK).

Different for lads like the Etuhus who, let's face it, didn't have anywhere near the necessary quality to get near full England colours. Nedum on the other hand has the talent to do so, is at the right club for the profile AND has his own personal cheerleader (Pearce) in the coaching set-up.

If he'd still not been capped come the qualifiers for the world cup in 2014 then maybe he'd consider it as he's a bright, ambitious lad. But the chances of him electing to play at this stage for the Super Eagles....well, there's more chance of it snowing here in Cairo

Don't forget the Carling Cup Semis are in January too!

ant london wrote:IMO there is absolutely zero chance of Nedum electing to play for Nigeria at this stage in his career.

He has a genuine shout of being a full England international and you only have to listen to him talk when on England U21 duty to see that he feels truly English (irrespective of where he was born, he has lived his whole life more or less in the UK).

Different for lads like the Etuhus who, let's face it, didn't have anywhere near the necessary quality to get near full England colours. Nedum on the other hand has the talent to do so, is at the right club for the profile AND has his own personal cheerleader (Pearce) in the coaching set-up.

If he'd still not been capped come the qualifiers for the world cup in 2014 then maybe he'd consider it as he's a bright, ambitious lad. But the chances of him electing to play at this stage for the Super Eagles....well, there's more chance of it snowing here in Cairo

Ant, he does not have that long to wait, the choice must be made while his 21, since he played youth levels for the England National Team. So it is now or never for the Super Eagles.

Florida Blue wrote:

ant london wrote:IMO there is absolutely zero chance of Nedum electing to play for Nigeria at this stage in his career.

He has a genuine shout of being a full England international and you only have to listen to him talk when on England U21 duty to see that he feels truly English (irrespective of where he was born, he has lived his whole life more or less in the UK).

Different for lads like the Etuhus who, let's face it, didn't have anywhere near the necessary quality to get near full England colours. Nedum on the other hand has the talent to do so, is at the right club for the profile AND has his own personal cheerleader (Pearce) in the coaching set-up.

If he'd still not been capped come the qualifiers for the world cup in 2014 then maybe he'd consider it as he's a bright, ambitious lad. But the chances of him electing to play at this stage for the Super Eagles....well, there's more chance of it snowing here in Cairo

Ant, he does not have that long to wait, the choice must be made while his 21, since he played youth levels for the England National Team. So it is now or never for the Super Eagles.

They've changed that rule this summer.

Florida Blue wrote:Imagine if Nedum decides to go ahead and play for Nigeria?

Does that mean Richards or McGivern are the only cover options for Kompany (assuming he is fit) and Lescott?

Or Ben Mee, or Gareth Barry.

IMO we should have enough of a squad to deal with those fixtures during the Africa thingy.

We'll be without Toure for a while but not Adebayor.

Have Togo even qualifed for the tourny?

I vaguely remember something about the World Cup groups been used as the same groups for qualification to ACoN.

MaineRoadMemories wrote:We'll be without Toure for a while but not Adebayor.

Have Togo even qualifed for the tourny?

I vaguely remember something about the World Cup groups been used as the same groups for qualification to ACoN.

True enough, can't see Togo going far (if qualified) but Ivory Coast have a shout of going all way, although my knowledge of African football is looking at the results and watching the teams that make the World Cup.

This is another reason why we should have a winter break imo.

DoomMerchant wrote:

ronk wrote:

razor400 wrote:
None of those should be classed a tough fixtures (maybe Everton) so nothing to panic about.

It's 6 matches (+FA Cup) that could account for a vital 14-18 points at a tough part of the season where our South Americans mightn't be at their best.

It's not going to be easy to play Wolves away on a Monday, 2 days after Stoke, it's not going to be easy to play in Stoke on a Tuesday night in January.

What we will have is the option to buy cover if we're having problems with injuries when Toure and Adebayor leave.

i agree with that assessment. that will be a key stretch of the season where the points collected will be required and not nice to have. No room for error in those matches.

Possibly just as important will be the 2 matches after they get back. Hull away and Bolton home (midweek immediately after Hull).

Looking at last year it's easy to see the damage done to our campaign around February. We lost to Stoke, beat Middlesbrough and lost Portsmouth before managing a draw Liverpool and then losing to West Ham. We almost went out of the UEFA Cup against Copenhagen too.

Change those 3 losses into wins (not unrealistic) and we'd have been 12 points better off going into the end of the season, that would have been enough for one point behind Everton and ahead of Villa on goal difference.

There are other places the points could have been made up but it's easy to target a few spells last year that did a huge amount of damage to our campaign. Most importantly, they don't seen like all that difficult targets in terms of ambition.