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Swansea City v Manchester City
Liberty Stadium, Swansea, Wales

Wednesday 1 January 2014
Kickoff: 1245 GMT

Referee: Phil Dowd
Assistants: S Ledger & P Bankes
Fourth Official: Kevin Friend

TV Coverage in UK: Sky Sports 1 HD (Sky 401), Sky Sports 1 (Sky 407) and Sky 3D (Sky 170)
Coverage starts at 1230 GMT

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Past stats don't matter but a draw at Stoke away this season and yet another 0-1 loss at Sunderland would raise an eyebrow ... yes, yes, I know this is a different team, they are playing differently and Manuel is no Mancini ... and the past may not matter but how our past two visits there went (a loss and a draw) ... this one will make viewing nervous for us supporters anyway ...

Only good news perhaps is Swansea's own form and the loss of fire power up front due to injuries to their main players ... and of course we know they are not managed by Tony Pulis so they will play and let play as well.

Team News:

Silva is out due to the silly yellow against Palace ... Nasri will be our main creative midfielder.
Hart is OK after that knock, has stitches but is OK to play so will keep his place I guess.
Zaba is fine, and rested well too, so should come back in at right-back.
On left-back Kolarov should come in place of Clichy as he was rested against Palace and seems to be Pellegrini's first choice.
Negredo limped off at the end of Palace but I hear he's fine too. Dzeko who played all 90, and given next game is FA Cup again Blackburn, I guess Pelligrini will start Negredo against Swansea and Dzeko against Blackburn.
Milner who too was subbed for a knock, I am not sure but he should be OK too I guess ... and given Silva is out he will start in midfield.
Demichelis is still out and Nasti played and got some game time so should be in for him. Lescott will be left on the bench again and will probably start in Nasti's place on the weekend.
Yaya is well rested, and Ferdy was taken off early too so both should come in front of back four.

So team pretty much picks itself up, except not sure if he will pick Navas for third straight game within 8 days, when he played 90 in each of the last two. But given Silva is out, I think he will be played, at least to start with and might get replaced early ...

Starting Lineup Prediction:

Hart
Zaba - Komps - Nasti - Kola
Ferdy - Yaya
Navas - Nasri - Milner
Negredo

Score Prediction:

Swansea 0 - 2 City

Oh, forgot to mention ... we must win this as other around us WILL probably win their games ... Arsenal is at home playing Cardiff, so is Liverpool playing Hull at home and Everton will play Stoke at home again ... only Chelsea is away to Southampton where they may drop points but all others winning will mean we better win too else we have seen how much the position changes because every one is so close together. And our next game in the league is also away to Newcastle ...

Pretty much expect that team too unless Silva is OK. Agree with Negrado - looked like cramp to me.

I wasn't aware Milner went of with a knock though, i assumed it was because we'd see. Confirmation that he cant play RB ;-) . Like you, I'd expect him to be ok.

1-3 to us though, they will give us some trouble at the back but it will be a far more open game and this formation does seem to sit well away from home.

Important to start the new year with a win then we can focus on the cups and make a few changes before meeting the other Welsh side.

I have mates in South Wales and dont want to drop points there again boys!

Thanks for the preview AG7.

Thanks for the preview. Bit worried about the weather. The forecast is either heavy rain or heavy showers. Either way coupled with high winds. Not exactly conducive to good football.

Hart
Zaba kompany Nasti Clichy
Milner fern
Navas Yaya Nasri
Beast

I prefer Milner more central and a fresh Yaya can cause havoc further forward. I still have that away day fear lurking but expect us to win this one.

South Stand Balti wrote:<null>

I'd like to see the same formation as quoted by South stand balti with one exception, get a defender on in place of Nasti.

Nige wrote:
I'd like to see the same formation as quoted by South stand balti with one exception, get a defender on in place of Nasti.

Is that because Nasti won everything against Palace ? He had a very good game.

zuricity wrote:
Is that because Nasti won everything against Palace ? He had a very good game.

I disagree Zuric. Nasti was our weak link. But hey ho, first game back n all.

Can rodwell not play at center half good in the air quick and great with the ball ??

Twobob wrote:Pretty much expect that team too unless Silva is OK. Agree with Negrado - looked like cramp to me.

I wasn't aware Milner went of with a knock though, i assumed it was because we'd see. Confirmation that he cant play RB ;-) . Like you, I'd expect him to be ok.

1-3 to us though, they will give us some trouble at the back but it will be a far more open game and this formation does seem to sit well away from home.

Silva is fine, but suspended, 5 yellows.

Slim wrote:

Twobob wrote:Pretty much expect that team too unless Silva is OK. Agree with Negrado - looked like cramp to me.

I wasn't aware Milner went of with a knock though, i assumed it was because we'd see. Confirmation that he cant play RB ;-) . Like you, I'd expect him to be ok.

1-3 to us though, they will give us some trouble at the back but it will be a far more open game and this formation does seem to sit well away from home.

Silva is fine, but suspended, 5 yellows.

Balls - of course there was a 'heated debate' about that - D'Oh!

zuricity wrote:

Nige wrote:
I'd like to see the same formation as quoted by South stand balti with one exception, get a defender on in place of Nasti.

Is that because Nasti won everything against Palace ? He had a very good game.

His composure in the first half in a one-on-one situation where he just took the guy out and gave a way a free kick was excellent. Then his top notch man-marking skills to give Chamakh a free header from a corner were a delight to see. Then his great ability to deal with a long ball over the top when Kompany had to clean up for him showed us another side to his game.

But apart from that, yes, he had a great game.

aaron bond wrote:
His composure in the first half in a one-on-one situation where he just took the guy out and gave a way a free kick was excellent. Then his top notch man-marking skills to give Chamakh a free header from a corner were a delight to see. Then his great ability to deal with a long ball over the top when Kompany had to clean up for him showed us another side to his game.

But apart from that, yes, he had a great game.

Well i'll download a copy of the game, to check particularly the Chamakh reference, but i won't get to it before the weekend. Too busy .

zuricity wrote:

aaron bond wrote:
His composure in the first half in a one-on-one situation where he just took the guy out and gave a way a free kick was excellent. Then his top notch man-marking skills to give Chamakh a free header from a corner were a delight to see. Then his great ability to deal with a long ball over the top when Kompany had to clean up for him showed us another side to his game.

But apart from that, yes, he had a great game.

Well i'll download a copy of the game, to check particularly the Chamakh reference, but i won't get to it before the weekend. Too busy .

Taking Chamakh out in a 1 on 1 tackle was standard fare and good defending - he attacked the ball but also blocked the man to make 100% sure that Chamakh wasn't going to advance under any circumstances - IMO he had no other choice in that as he was snuffing out a break to give our defence time to get back and reform. Ok he gave away a free kick but it was far out and better dealt with than the initial risk - Pellegrini will have shaken his hand for that because it was belt & braces and was the right thing for him to do under the circumstances. He gets picked because of that attribute.

aaron bond wrote:
His composure in the first half in a one-on-one situation where he just took the guy out and gave a way a free kick was excellent. Then his top notch man-marking skills to give Chamakh a free header from a corner were a delight to see. Then his great ability to deal with a long ball over the top when Kompany had to clean up for him showed us another side to his game.

But apart from that, yes, he had a great game.

Failing to deal with the ball over the top was cowardly

Herb wrote:
Taking Chamakh out in a 1 on 1 tackle was standard fare and good defending - he attacked the ball but also blocked the man to make 100% sure that Chamakh wasn't going to advance under any circumstances - IMO he had no other choice in that as he was snuffing out a break to give our defence time to get back and reform. Ok he gave away a free kick but it was far out and better dealt with than the initial risk - Pellegrini will have shaken his hand for that because it was belt & braces and was the right thing for him to do under the circumstances. He gets picked because of that attribute.

I wasn't sure if he was refering to another earlier incident. Didn't he also get a booking for the one to which you refer?

What was particularly disappointing was that he did exactly the same thing against Chelsea and didn't get easy with it because of Hart's terrible mistake. What are the coaches up to or is he uncoachable? DONT LET THE BALL BOUNCE. It's amazing how players make the same basic errors time after time. Players whose stock in trade is cutting inside and shooting are allowed to score goals all the time by cutting in and shooting. No attempt made to show them outside at all. A bad example was shown in the Villa Palace game. Into injury time one man break. If the defender shows him outside he's no one to cross to. Instead he was allowed to cut inside and scored with an admittedly excellent shot.

blues2win wrote:What was particularly disappointing was that he did exactly the same thing against Chelsea and didn't get easy with it because of Hart's terrible mistake. What are the coaches up to or is he uncoachable? DONT LET THE BALL BOUNCE. It's amazing how players make the same basic errors time after time. Players whose stock in trade is cutting inside and shooting are allowed to score goals all the time by cutting in and shooting. No attempt made to show them outside at all. A bad example was shown in the Villa Palace game. Into injury time one man break. If the defender shows him outside he's no one to cross to. Instead he was allowed to cut inside and scored with an admittedly excellent shot.

He does normally show the opposition the outside.He's very good at that. He was however burnt by Robben at the Etihad , when perhaps with a one in a million chance Robben struck the ball with the foot he uses for standing on.
As far as not letting the ball bounce goes , tell that to kompany , he managed to wellie the ball first time last week over Joe's head. Each situation is different, i think you'll find our players do both, sometimes not let the ball bounce , sometimes let it bounce.Depending on the circumstances.