The mancityfans.net football forum

FC Porto Vs Manchester City FC Match Preview



In early November a poll was cast on mancityfans.net to ascertain the level of confidence of the fans with regards to winning trophies. The results showed that out of 137 votes only 8 predicted Manchester City would finish the 2011-12 season trophyless. Conversely, 6 posters thought City was good enough to lift the Champions League trophy. With the Champions League dream over and exits from the FA and League Cup, the silverware dream relies on success in the Premiership and Europa League.

Porto suffered a similar fate. A third placed group finish against relatively weak opposition relegated the Dragons from Europe’s premier competition leaving it to defend the trophy it won last season.

A little about Porto. Their fans are called dragons and it takes 52,000 of them to fill their ground Estadio do Dragao. Just as England had a big 4, Portugal has a Big 3. Porto, Sporting Lisbon and Benfica. Although Benfica has won more national titles, Porto has won the most trophies and has been more successful in European competition. In short, the club has a pedigree of success.

This was more than apparent last season. Under the guidance of now Chelsea manager Andre Villas Boas, the dragons went through the season winning a domestic double and the Europa League, losing only in the third round of the League Cup. After all that success, something had to give and AVB was snapped up by Chelsea. However, the entire backroom staff remained giving it stability. Falcao was the only player sold and new manager Vitor Pereira spent 43 million euros strengthening the side.

However, the new signings haven’t gelled quite as quickly as the club would have hoped and the club are currently in second place;5 points adrift of undefeated Benfica. And whilst Benfica qualified top of their Champions League group, Porto weren’t as successful succumbing to APOEL and Zenit St Petersburg. Despite this the club are more than worthy opponents with many dangerous players.

Two players of note are Hulk and Joao Moutinho. Hulk (nicknamed because he looks like actor Lou Ferringo who played the TV character) primarily plays on the right wing but can also operate as a striker. Moutinho is the player who pulls the strings in midfield. Although he doesn’t score many Moutinho has improved his assist rate over the years and controls the tempo of games with a wide range of passing.

City will be in a rare position for this game as there is no weekend match to juggle players for. The Toure Brothers will meet up with the team in Porto and may even be in contention for a start. Even Carlos Tevez is so keen to play in this match he flew back from Argentina to put his name in the hat. However, it’s doubtful he’ll be selected. Roberto loves to rotate his fullbacks so with Kolarov and Zabaleta starting against Aston Villa one would expect Clichy and Richards to begin in this game. This represents a turnaround in selection from Mancini as Kolarov and Zabaleta were consistent starters in the Champions League. If one accepts that Clichy/Richards is the stronger of the pairings then perhaps this is a statement of intent?

Odds. Porto. 2.62 Draw 3.35 Man City 2.50 When the odds are this tight the draw looks a likely bet.

Cheers mate, I wonder whether it really was just the exceptional Falcao/Hulk partnership that did the business last year, because AVB looks out of his depth at Chelsea. Who did they spend their e43m on, was it quality or another boat load of raw south Americans?

I quite fancy us tonight.

Djalma Striker, Right Wing 24 Years
5/30/1987 CS Marítimo Funchal
free transfer

Rafael Bracali Goalkeeper 30 Years
05.05.1981 CD Nacional Funchal
free transfer

Lucho Gonzalez Midfield, Central Midfield 30 Years
1/19/1981 Olympique Marseille
free transfer

Alex Sandro Defence, Fullback, left 20 Years
1/26/1991 Club Deportivo Maldonado
£ 8,448,000

Eliakim Mangala Defence, Centre Back 20 Years
2/13/1991 Standard Liege
£ 5,720,000

Steven Defour Midfield, Central Midfield 23 Years
4/15/1988 Standard Liege
£ 5,280,000

Kléber Striker, Centre Forward 21 Years
02.05.1990 Atletico Mineiro
£ 3,132,800

Marc Janko Striker, Centre Forward 28 Years
6/25/1983 FC Twente Enschede
£ 2,640,000

Danilo Defence, Fullback, right 19 Years
7/15/1991 Santos FC
£ 11,440,000

Some great signings there.

Lou Ferringo is an absolute beast!

Did you know he's 80+% deaf?

Mase wrote:Lou Ferringo is an absolute beast!

Did you know he's 80+% deaf?

You should try telling HIM that.

Yes it will be a tough one, a score draw would be ok.

Nice preview Dazby mate. Liked the bit about 8 fans thinking we'd be trophy-less etc.

Yffi_88 wrote:

Mase wrote:Lou Ferringo is an absolute beast!

Did you know he's 80+% deaf?

You should try telling HIM that.

I don't think I'd like him when he's angry.

Cheers Daz, still no prediction I see ;-0

It still amazes me that we get the hardest group in the CL then we get arguably the hardest tie in the Europa, pitted against the current holders. Not going to be easy.

Beefymcfc wrote:Cheers Daz, still no prediction I see ;-0

It still amazes me that we get the hardest group in the CL then we get arguably the hardest tie in the Europa, pitted against the current holders. Not going to be easy.

Maybe the Europeans don't want us to win this as much as the English with the Prem. Whatever happens, this can be put down to an excellent learning year. The better the opponent, the more you can get from it.....bring it on.

Good preview that. Thanks!

re: tevez. i thought he wasn't listed in our EL squad?

Hulk,Moutinho and the right back (is that Danilo) are the key players to focus on.Something about a lot of their play going through the right back so that will be interesting to watch.It will be a really tough game for us and I hope we have learned a lesson or two from the two defeats at BM and Napoli.This being a two legged match though makes it a little different so maybe we will have a different approach.

I am going for a 1.1 draw

Really not sure about this game...A lot will depend on the team Bob picks and the fitness and energy levels of any returnees he plays. Reckon after 5 games in 15 days (I think), Yaya and Kolo could be on their knees.

Pre match, I'd settle for a 1 goal deficit, hope to get an away goal and do our stuff in the home leg. Those thoughts may change though.

If Falcao was still there, I wouldn't fancy our chances at all but Hulk is as likely to fall over his own feet as he is to do something spectacular. He's like David White with Franny Lee's shot & Darren Huckerby's brain.

is it on tv?

Cheers dazby, was defour the bloke fergie wrote a love letter to when he did his leg? I take it he never recovered sufficiently from his injury for the rags to carry on pursuing him

Ted Hughes wrote:If Falcao was still there, I wouldn't fancy our chances at all but Hulk is as likely to fall over his own feet as he is to do something spectacular. He's like David White with Franny Lee's shot & Darren Huckerby's brain.

And the toughness of giorgos samaras.