Next: Spurs (Away)
Posted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 1:05 pmTottenham Hotspur v Manchester City
White Hart Lane, Tottenham, London
Wednesday 29 January 2014
Kickoff: 1945 GMT
Referee: Andre Marriner
Assistants: S Ledger & M Perry
Fourth Official: Jonathan Moss
TV Coverage in UK: BT Sports 1 HD (Sky 413) and BT Sports 1 (Sky 426)
Coverage starts at 1900 GMT
----
Long gone are the days when we were reminded of our away day woes ... long gone are are the days when we were still trying to gel under a new manager ... and long gone are the days we'd have taken 4 points off our next two games and be very happy ... (ok, ok, some here may still take that) but now a days we are talked about 110 goals scored already and how many in the next game ... talk is of 19 games unbeaten in all competitions, 11 unbeaten in the league, 7 straight wins in the league ... but question today is, can we make it 20 (unbeaten in all), 12 (unbeaten in the league) and 8 straight league wins here?
But let's not get carried away too much here ... this is realistically only the second toughest test Away for us. The first was Chelsea and yes, blame Hart for not having anything to show for it, but even without that we weren't coming away with all three points but only a draw. This game somehow reminds me of our earlier trip to Southampton ... they were around where Spurs are now, they were playing pretty good (as Spurs are these days), and gave us a pretty good game ... I have a feeling we'll see something similar to that game, and coming away with all 3 points will be huge for our title race ...
The Opposition
There are however differences between Saints then and Spurs now ... While Saints had lost last two games before playing us, Spurs have rejuvenated under Tim Sherwood since the departure of AVB. They are still unbeaten in the league under him (if I am not mistaken, off the top of my head) ... Had AVB still been in charge, the ghosts of the 6-0 beating they took at Etihad would have been hovering over them but that has changed. What else has changed is Adebayor is now back in their set-up, and not just back, he's leading them and is back in goals too ... and as gods of football would have it, is dead on to score against us here at some point. I just hope they don't score first and are always chasing the game, which will suit us just fine.
Not sure how brave Sherwood will be against us and still play 4-4-2 or try and get us on the counter? If he matches our formation (and we all know, we're dead on to field a 4-4-2 from the off), it'll be an open game and expect another one of those 5-1s from us ... but if we are not careful enough at the back, and they score the first or god forbid two goals first, they won't be as easy to break down later in the game like Watford.
I see goals in this one at both ends ... and it will truly be a who-can-score-more-than-the-other competition.
Team Selection
Strongest XI out for this one ... the next game ain't till Monday (albeit against Chelsea) but still Monday is better than Saturday, as Spurs have to worry about playing an away game (at Hull) two and a half days later.
Although things didn't go according to plan in the last game as I am sure Pelligrini didn't mean for all of Aguero, Yaya, Dzeko and Navas to play out all 90 minutes in that one, but as it turns out, they all had to, and even Komps and Zaba had to come and do quite a bit of running around ... oh well at least Silva and Ferdy got a good rest.
So expecting the usual back 5, and in the midfield the usual 2, and the creative guys, well the usual 2 (Milner was having groin trouble, so unless he is completely fit and Navas is totally knackered, still see Navas ahead of Milner over on right) ... and then up top, Negredo is probably still healing his shoulder and should rest on and be ready for Chelsea instead of this one, so again the usual 2 there as well ... so here's our usual 4-4-2 for this week then:
Starting XI Prediction
Hart
Zaba - Komps - Demi - Kola
Navas - Ferdy - Yaya - Silva
Dzeko - Aguero
Score Prediction
Spurs 2 - 5 City
Aguero to keep his good form going and score a brace before he's subbed for Jovetic, Dzeko to play out the full 90 and get a brace of his own and show us how he played two years ago there, and one would come from the likes of Navas' pace, or Silva's trickery or a Yaya special ... won't be surprised at all if this ends up 3-7 or crazier ...
Other Games
This is the gameweek where the top of the table topples ... don't expect Chelsea to lose out as they are at home to West Ham (but then not to worry, we'll sort them out ourselves next game) but all others have potential point dropping games. Arsenal play Saints away a day earlier and then there is that little derby affair with Everton visiting Anfield. Now Saints are self-combusting and may not be able to take anything off Arsenal and Liverpool being at home again and in good form might keep the top 4 positions intact and exactly how they are now ... but what's wrong in hoping, right? So here's hoping Ole gets something at Old Trafford (even if a draw), Mata gets injured for long term (so really puts cold water on all their feel-good weekend they've had over there) and all will be topped off if Newcastle beats Norwich away and deposits the Rags back to 8th in the table as well ...
EDIT: PS. Really looking forward to what's going on over at Spurs' forums, given the 6-0 hiding we gave them last time ... CuteMancs?
White Hart Lane, Tottenham, London
Wednesday 29 January 2014
Kickoff: 1945 GMT
Referee: Andre Marriner
Assistants: S Ledger & M Perry
Fourth Official: Jonathan Moss
TV Coverage in UK: BT Sports 1 HD (Sky 413) and BT Sports 1 (Sky 426)
Coverage starts at 1900 GMT
----
Long gone are the days when we were reminded of our away day woes ... long gone are are the days when we were still trying to gel under a new manager ... and long gone are the days we'd have taken 4 points off our next two games and be very happy ... (ok, ok, some here may still take that) but now a days we are talked about 110 goals scored already and how many in the next game ... talk is of 19 games unbeaten in all competitions, 11 unbeaten in the league, 7 straight wins in the league ... but question today is, can we make it 20 (unbeaten in all), 12 (unbeaten in the league) and 8 straight league wins here?
But let's not get carried away too much here ... this is realistically only the second toughest test Away for us. The first was Chelsea and yes, blame Hart for not having anything to show for it, but even without that we weren't coming away with all three points but only a draw. This game somehow reminds me of our earlier trip to Southampton ... they were around where Spurs are now, they were playing pretty good (as Spurs are these days), and gave us a pretty good game ... I have a feeling we'll see something similar to that game, and coming away with all 3 points will be huge for our title race ...
The Opposition
There are however differences between Saints then and Spurs now ... While Saints had lost last two games before playing us, Spurs have rejuvenated under Tim Sherwood since the departure of AVB. They are still unbeaten in the league under him (if I am not mistaken, off the top of my head) ... Had AVB still been in charge, the ghosts of the 6-0 beating they took at Etihad would have been hovering over them but that has changed. What else has changed is Adebayor is now back in their set-up, and not just back, he's leading them and is back in goals too ... and as gods of football would have it, is dead on to score against us here at some point. I just hope they don't score first and are always chasing the game, which will suit us just fine.
Not sure how brave Sherwood will be against us and still play 4-4-2 or try and get us on the counter? If he matches our formation (and we all know, we're dead on to field a 4-4-2 from the off), it'll be an open game and expect another one of those 5-1s from us ... but if we are not careful enough at the back, and they score the first or god forbid two goals first, they won't be as easy to break down later in the game like Watford.
I see goals in this one at both ends ... and it will truly be a who-can-score-more-than-the-other competition.
Team Selection
Strongest XI out for this one ... the next game ain't till Monday (albeit against Chelsea) but still Monday is better than Saturday, as Spurs have to worry about playing an away game (at Hull) two and a half days later.
Although things didn't go according to plan in the last game as I am sure Pelligrini didn't mean for all of Aguero, Yaya, Dzeko and Navas to play out all 90 minutes in that one, but as it turns out, they all had to, and even Komps and Zaba had to come and do quite a bit of running around ... oh well at least Silva and Ferdy got a good rest.
So expecting the usual back 5, and in the midfield the usual 2, and the creative guys, well the usual 2 (Milner was having groin trouble, so unless he is completely fit and Navas is totally knackered, still see Navas ahead of Milner over on right) ... and then up top, Negredo is probably still healing his shoulder and should rest on and be ready for Chelsea instead of this one, so again the usual 2 there as well ... so here's our usual 4-4-2 for this week then:
Starting XI Prediction
Hart
Zaba - Komps - Demi - Kola
Navas - Ferdy - Yaya - Silva
Dzeko - Aguero
Score Prediction
Spurs 2 - 5 City
Aguero to keep his good form going and score a brace before he's subbed for Jovetic, Dzeko to play out the full 90 and get a brace of his own and show us how he played two years ago there, and one would come from the likes of Navas' pace, or Silva's trickery or a Yaya special ... won't be surprised at all if this ends up 3-7 or crazier ...
Other Games
This is the gameweek where the top of the table topples ... don't expect Chelsea to lose out as they are at home to West Ham (but then not to worry, we'll sort them out ourselves next game) but all others have potential point dropping games. Arsenal play Saints away a day earlier and then there is that little derby affair with Everton visiting Anfield. Now Saints are self-combusting and may not be able to take anything off Arsenal and Liverpool being at home again and in good form might keep the top 4 positions intact and exactly how they are now ... but what's wrong in hoping, right? So here's hoping Ole gets something at Old Trafford (even if a draw), Mata gets injured for long term (so really puts cold water on all their feel-good weekend they've had over there) and all will be topped off if Newcastle beats Norwich away and deposits the Rags back to 8th in the table as well ...
EDIT: PS. Really looking forward to what's going on over at Spurs' forums, given the 6-0 hiding we gave them last time ... CuteMancs?