The mancityfans.net football forum

I had predicted a 3-1 win for us, even before I knew what our lineout will be.
Unlike the Northwest, and Midland sides, teams like Fulham, and West Ham, because they like to play football, and thus leave themselves badly exposed, were always going to be one of those bankers for us, because of the quality of player we have.

It also helped that Danny Murphy on whom they depend so much to drive their midfield, is pretty much clapped out by now
(and lets not forget Simon Davies, who 4 or 5 years ago was touted as the new Ryan Giggs)
And Gera, although a talented footballer, is too much 'fancy Dan', and not enough hardness.

Stoke will of course be a horse of a different colour, because they're not going to give us the space, or time.

At least we'll have Balotelli back, to replace Jo, of whom the best that can be said is that he was a distraction

The Original Special One wrote:
At least we'll have Balotelli back, to replace Jo, of whom the best that can be said is that he was a distraction

not sure if that's a good thing..the clodders of Stoke will certainly let him know they are there..just hope he can keep his cool

if everyone is fit for stoke, mancini would have to be insane to change anything from a team thats just won 4-1 away from home. same starting eleven injuries permitting.

colonel_muck wrote:if everyone is fit for stoke, mancini would have to be insane to change anything from a team thats just won 4-1 away from home. same starting eleven injuries permitting.

No Zabba I'm afraid.

Beefymcfc wrote:

colonel_muck wrote:if everyone is fit for stoke, mancini would have to be insane to change anything from a team thats just won 4-1 away from home. same starting eleven injuries permitting.

No Zabba I'm afraid.

suspended? i had chinese commentary on and i'm not too brushed up, if it had been mandarin i'd have known! pablo zabaleta deserves to play against stoke so much i'm gutted for him.

colonel_muck wrote:

Beefymcfc wrote:

colonel_muck wrote:if everyone is fit for stoke, mancini would have to be insane to change anything from a team thats just won 4-1 away from home. same starting eleven injuries permitting.

No Zabba I'm afraid.

suspended? i had chinese commentary on and i'm not too brushed up, if it had been mandarin i'd have known! pablo zabaleta deserves to play against stoke so much i'm gutted for him.

5th Yellow = 1 match suspension.

Think the ref did it purposely.

IanBishopsHaircut wrote:

The Original Special One wrote:
At least we'll have Balotelli back, to replace Jo, of whom the best that can be said is that he was a distraction

not sure if that's a good thing..the clodders of Stoke will certainly let him know they are there..just hope he can keep his cool

yeah, I'm still a tad wary of him coming straight back

But he'll have to learn his lesson eventually
And we can't keep nursemaiding him!

colonel_muck wrote:

Beefymcfc wrote:

colonel_muck wrote:if everyone is fit for stoke, mancini would have to be insane to change anything from a team thats just won 4-1 away from home. same starting eleven injuries permitting.

No Zabba I'm afraid.

suspended? i had chinese commentary on and i'm not too brushed up, if it had been mandarin i'd have known! pablo zabaleta deserves to play against stoke so much i'm gutted for him.

I'd be worried about Micah Richards coming back in against Stoke
Is Boateng injured?

IanBishopsHaircut wrote:

The Original Special One wrote:
At least we'll have Balotelli back, to replace Jo, of whom the best that can be said is that he was a distraction

not sure if that's a good thing..the clodders of Stoke will certainly let him know they are there..just hope he can keep his cool

I would start with Jo again. He was our lucky mascot today !!
Afraid that Mario will get extra attention from Stoke players and we know he can be volatile. Bring him on last 20 minutes if needed. Surely he can only manage a yellow in 20 minutes. Or ??

Dubaimancityfan wrote:

IanBishopsHaircut wrote:

The Original Special One wrote:
At least we'll have Balotelli back, to replace Jo, of whom the best that can be said is that he was a distraction

not sure if that's a good thing..the clodders of Stoke will certainly let him know they are there..just hope he can keep his cool

I would start with Jo again. He was our lucky mascot today !!
Afraid that Mario will get extra attention from Stoke players and we know he can be volatile. Bring him on last 20 minutes if needed. Surely he can only manage a yellow in 20 minutes. Or ??

The problem is, though, if Jo falls over so easily under Fulham tackles, will he even last five minutes against Stoke?
Or will he disappear as soon as the first mark is laid on him?

The Original Special One wrote:

Dubaimancityfan wrote:

IanBishopsHaircut wrote:

The Original Special One wrote:
At least we'll have Balotelli back, to replace Jo, of whom the best that can be said is that he was a distraction

not sure if that's a good thing..the clodders of Stoke will certainly let him know they are there..just hope he can keep his cool

I would start with Jo again. He was our lucky mascot today !!
Afraid that Mario will get extra attention from Stoke players and we know he can be volatile. Bring him on last 20 minutes if needed. Surely he can only manage a yellow in 20 minutes. Or ??

The problem is, though, if Jo falls over so easily under Fulham tackles, will he even last five minutes against Stoke?
Or will he disappear as soon as the first mark is laid on him?

I think if you replaced the name Jo with Mario the sentence would mean exactly the same thing. I vote for Jo, didn't do anything spectacular, did nothing other than hustle more than anyone has in that role in ages, and even marked back quite a bit.

Think Milner will get that berth v Stoke - no passengers next week and I fear Mario and Jo would be just that - Mario last 20 or so if required

The Original Special One wrote:
At least we'll have Balotelli back, to replace Jo, of whom the best that can be said is that he was a distraction

I don't think you should underestimate Jo's part in today's performance.
His very presence meant that, with Tevez dropping between the lines and Silva making runs into the space vacated, the Fulham defenders had the devil's own job in deciding how or who to track because we always had someone in the forward area. Ally that to the fact that we actually had midfield players committing to keeping a high line and going beyond the forwards and we became extremely hard to defend against.

The trick is, can Bobby Manc pull off repeat performances?