[center]Sunderland AFC v Manchester City
Wednesday 26th December
3pm ko – Live on numerous Eastern European Streams
Referee: Kevin Friend[/center]
This is my first ever forum posting never mind my first preview so any feedback will be gratefully received. Must admit to feeling a little apprehensive posting under the guise of bobby - haven’t been able to set up a profile yet so he’s kindly lent me his* - especially with the quality of preview he puts out each week currently imagining it being akin to the feeling that young Jack Rodwell might be feeling as he eyes up the Yaya sized hole soon to materialize in our engine room. Admittedly the big man hasn’t been at his best recently but he’ll be missed while he’s away and the sooner the Ivory Coast gets knocked out of that tournament the happier I’ll be.
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[/center]*However if the feedbacks really bad I’ll deny all knowledge of this and he’ll cop the flack!
[center]The Last Game[/center]
A brief look back at the Reading game and on the whole I was encouraged by our start, thought we looked a lot like the city of last season in the first half, moving the ball quickly and putting together some nice passages of play, we still seem to be struggling in the very final third though, often the last pass is just a fraction out and it still shows, however as champions do we plugged away and got what we deserved from the game with another late winner courtesy of Mr Consistency Gareth Barry. I’m not sure where I saw this phrase so I’m sorry I can’t credit the genius that produced it but it goes “When Gareth Barry is playing you wonder what all the fuss is about…… and when he’s not, you realise.” Whoever this came from I salute you, Gareth is a fine player and somehow it seems to be ignored by the majority of our red supporting journo’s, when David Silva rates you amongst the most important players in the side then you’re well worth your place.
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[/center]Alongside Gareth in the middle Javi Garica is showing signs of improvement, I think the tempo of the Premier League has hit him hard to be honest, if you’re not naturally quick and Garcia definitely isn’t, you need to know the game and the way it plays, but I think he’ll come on as he gets more time on the pitch.
I must credit Karim Rekik’s performance at the weekend as I thought he had a solid outing considering he was making his City debut playing out of position and without Kompany to guide him through the game. The way Nastasic continues to perform I sometimes think he’d make me manage to make me look a decent defender if I got to play next to him, the boy looks a quality signing already.
Boxing Day
The “random” fixture generator has provided us with another festive season trip to the North East and I feel like I’ve only just thawed out from the last one. Last year in a game we dominated Sunderland managed to run up the other end and nick an offside winner at the death, so just a point would be an improvement on last year. However with Sunderland sitting 4 points off the drop zone at the time of writing, a very unhealthy looking goals for column you would be looking for us to take all 3 points; especially if we continue to look like we’re getting back to our best.
[center]City[/center]
Whilst I think you’d need the foresight of the Ancient Mayans to predict Mancini’s team selection I don’t think he’ll take Sunderland lightly, it was a shrewd move to put Rekik in for the Reading game giving those coming back from injury a bit more time – it should in theory prove the easiest of our festive fixtures – and whilst he gave an impressive display I don’t think we’ll see him back until the Watford game. Injuries permitting I would expect just two changes to the side that started against Reading, with Clichy in for Rekik and Kompany coming back in for Kolo (if fit.) The front two despite not quite managing to hit the back of the net last time out look to be gelling well again and I think Yaya will be deployed in a slightly more advanced role this time. It didn’t quite work out against Reading as he struggled to have a real influence on the game although I’d say this was mainly owing to the fact that Reading opted to play a shifting 8-1-1/6-3-1 formation and I’d expect Toure to get a little more space to operate in with us being away from home. I won’t dwell too long on David Silva as it’s all been said a million times before but he looks to be close to hitting the heights again, and it’s no coincidence that our performances are starting to improve too, the little man is a delight to watch and will hopefully going easy on Christmas Dinner.
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Sunderland[/center]
If the Sunderland that came to the Etihad in October is the same side we meet on Boxing Day I’ll be delighted, they looked totally bereft of any idea going forward bar the long ball at Steven Fletcher and hope he can produce a miracle. If that’s the case again then you would think that our biggest danger would be Lee Cattermole’s wayward tackling so here’s hoping he’s serving a suspension and doesn’t get the chance to kick Silva. Still you can expect O’Neill will spend the next few days firing up his squad to take us on and with Seb Larsson on set piece duty I for one hope we’ll be spending a large part of Xmas day practicing clearing corners.
Whilst I’d love to see Titus Bramble get a run out (genuinely thought he was doing time at the moment) I’d expect Sunderland to remain mainly unchanged too, Mignolet seems to have a good reputation although I must admit I haven’t seen anything from him to warrant it so expect him to put in a big performance on Wednesday. O’Shea and Cuellar are seasoned pro’s but neither are particularly mobile so you would like to think if we can shift the ball around a little up top we should make chances. At fullbacks you’d expect to see Rose and Larsson, as a fullback myself (admittedly a poor one) it is a specialist position and I don’t like to see midfielders shoe horned in just to get them on the pitch, as Stewart Downing showed us it’s very easy to exploit an inexperienced full back and I’d expect Zabaleta and Clichy to have some joy going forward down the flanks, particularly as neither of Sunderland’s wide men, most likely AJ and James McClean seem to be the best at tracking back. Colback and Gardner are most likely to be paired in the middle of midfield again, both our reasonable footballers but won’t set the world alight and we should cope with them well enough. Up top we will be looking at Sessegnon and Fletcher, Sessegnon on his day can be a handful for any team and Fletcher clearly knows where the net is with 8 goals so far this term in a struggling team. If Sessegnon and their wide men get close to him and offer support he could prove a nuisance.
[center]A Blast from The Past[/center]
No look at Boxing Day’s opposition would be complete without a nod to one of my first City heroes, the great Niall Quinn, a true gent and not a bad centre forward either. He’s someone I’d love to see back at the club in some capacity, maybe even as a second goalkeeping coach.
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Also a mention to another former blue hero of mine with Sunderland connections Tony Coton, a man who has used my shower, sat in my favourite armchair and also provided the best moment of my primary school years when he was beaten from the penalty spot by my barefoot dad! Moving to the present, the most recent City Sunderland connection is Adam Johnson and hopefully he will continue to show the form that led to the Eastland’s door. I liked Johnson on his day, but those days were few and far between and I came to see him as a little bit of a luxury, someone to bring on when the goings good, and not someone you can rely on to perform week in week out, something that seems to be starting to show now (although no doubt we’ll always be blamed for ruining the career of England’s next great left winger by the press.)
[center]The Transfer Window[/center]
Obviously not really the time or the place for transfer talk but with the window so close I can’t help it and I’m really looking forward to seeing which paper can come out with the most outrageous story about us. It’s difficult to try and predict what we’ll do this January but the commercial deals signed by PSG and Arsenal have shown that complying with financial fair play should be as easy as signing a massive sponsorship deal with the owners national airline so money should be available. I’d expect Mancini to push hard to get his hands on some of it, and although the talk surrounding the new decision makers is of conservative transfer dealings. Roberto will point to the poor displays in Europe as well as the goals of the Dutchman playing in Trafford and point out that he was given Scott Sinclair instead. If the board would like another title he’ll need some reinforcements.
On a personal level coming in I’d love to see the on-off-on-off De Rossi rumour to be most definitely on, he’d slot nicely into the middle and let Yaya roam further forward, and I also hear good things about Isco at Malaga and with their recent financial troubles as well as his relatively cheap buyout clause he might prove gettable.
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[/center]As for outgoings, I don’t think we’ll see a lot of movement, Guidetti on loan to someone looks likely (Sunderland or Aston Villa have been mentioned) but we don’t have enough cover at the back for Lescott to get a move and no matter how many times they print the story I don’t think the papers will secure Balotelli’s transfer to either of the Milan clubs.
[center]Prediction[/center]
I’m going to go with 2-0 City; despite what the English Media would have us believe as apart from our European mix ups we’ve looked solid at the back and I think we’re now slowly starting to look a real good side going forward. I can see the key to this game being the speed of our play going forward, if we zip the ball about we’ll have too much for Sunderland and one last thing….. Attack the ball when defending set pieces please Blues.
