next : barca (h)

[Nigels Tackle]

confidence should be sky high after the last couple of results but yaya is going to be a huge miss on tuesday night

my line up

hart

zabba komps mdm clichy

fern1 milner fern2

silva nasri

kun

[Piccsnumberoneblue]

I think may well be the line up. Hope not.
Swap Fern 2 for Dzeko or Bony. I want us to score

[Feed The Goat]

Don't have the 2 Ferns together please

[PrezIke]

gonna be tough with no yaya.

is james going to be fit to play? i thought i read he's out until march?

[Tru_Blu]

Don't have the 2 Ferns together please

Fern1 has got to get it together and stop worrying about Fern2, he is Brazilian and should play as such not like some enforcer which he is not. Without Toure the key lays with him.

[South Stand Balti]

gonna be tough with no yaya.

is james going to be fit to play? i thought i read he's out until march?

According to Cheesy, MP confirmed yesterday that Milner is back training and they are hopeful he will make the squad on Tuesday. Cheesy is a good source (though MP is usually about two weeks out on injuries), so I'm hopeful he will be back.

[AntMcfc]

We're going to get smashed over the two legs regardless. Their loss and our win on the weekend only offer a false glimpse of hope.

[Original Dub]

We're going to get smashed over the two legs regardless. Their loss and our win on the weekend only offer a false glimpse of hope.

The rag is back

[twosips]

They were terrible at the weekend. They are for the taking if we focus.

[AntMcfc]

Sorry for my pessimism, anybody would think that we lost heavily to Barcelona a year ago or something.

[gmercer1]

Sorry for my pessimism, anybody would think that we lost heavily to Barcelona a year ago or something.

Why not slit your wrists now

[blues2win]

Fernando will clearly be in for Yaya. I would play Silva off Aguero and play Milner, if fit, on the Left so as to help Clichy with Messi. We could then bring in Navas and Dzeko as tactical changes if needed. The great thing is not to concede in the home leg. 0-0 would be a decent, if unlikely, result. MDM would just get my nod over Mangala but I hope we don't play too high a line because neither Vinny nor MDM have much pace.

[Peter Doherty (AGAIG)]

Sorry for my pessimism, anybody would think that we lost heavily to Barcelona a year ago or something.

We only lost to them when we had ten men on the pitch. If we keep a full contingent I'm confident it's be close this time.

[phips]

Fernando will clearly be in for Yaya. I would play Silva off Aguero and play Milner, if fit, on the Left so as to help Clichy with Messi. We could then bring in Navas and Dzeko as tactical changes if needed. The great thing is not to concede in the home leg. 0-0 would be a decent, if unlikely, result. MDM would just get my nod over Mangala but I hope we don't play too high a line because neither Vinny nor MDM have much pace.

my worry is that Manuel will go 4-4-2 and i don't see how that can possibly work vs. Barca.

I hope to see Fern 1, Fern 2, and Milner behind Silva, Nasri, and Aguero.

[Im_Spartacus]

Fernando will clearly be in for Yaya. I would play Silva off Aguero and play Milner, if fit, on the Left so as to help Clichy with Messi. We could then bring in Navas and Dzeko as tactical changes if needed. The great thing is not to concede in the home leg. 0-0 would be a decent, if unlikely, result. MDM would just get my nod over Mangala but I hope we don't play too high a line because neither Vinny nor MDM have much pace.

my worry is that Manuel will go 4-4-2 and i don't see how that can possibly work vs. Barca.

I hope to see Fern 1, Fern 2, and Milner behind Silva, Nasri, and Aguero.

We played far more fluid than a 442 yesterday though, which worked because the strikers kept dropping back into midfield, and a defensive midfielder always covered on the flank we were attacking (we only ever committed 1 fullback forward at a time, with Kolarov playing as a winger much of the time)

We seemed to work as a much more cohesive unit with everyone knowing their jobs. The difficulty of course is that Barca have the ability to pull us out of position and create gaps, but I'll be honest, I'm relatively relaxed that we will have learned from last seasons game and will come up with the answers.

[dazby]

If the weekend's results are anything to go by, we can go into the game with a lot of confidence. A clean sheet would be amazing. I think we can score there.

[Blue Since 76]

I think the key lesson from last year is to not turn up looking like a Sunday Pub team who've won a competition to be the cones in a training game. We did the same vs Real and the first time against Bayern. Somehow everyone, fans included, needs to have the belief that we're playing them on merit, not as part of the Make A Wish Foundation.

Barca are worse at the back than we are, but we need to exploit that. We also need to give ourselves a chance in the second leg, even if that means 0-0 here. If Milner isn't fit, I'd be tempted by both Ferns but risk two up top to give us an outball. And unfortunately, regardless of how well Dzeko played on Saturday, that may mean Bony, just so we can lump a ball up to him if need be to receive some pressure.

[sheblue]

Last year we showed them way too much respect, we feared them and were far too timid against them, ultimately that's what cost us. We really do need to get stuck in to them and show no fear. If we do that were in with a shout.

[Nigels Tackle]

Last year we showed them way too much respect, we feared them and were far too timid against them, ultimately that's what cost us. We really do need to get stuck in to them and show no fear. If we do that were in with a shout.

get stuck into them?!

you clearly don't remember the games against them last season where our lads only had to look at barca player to concede a freekick

the game at the etihad was one of the few occasions where i have seen a team win a freekick following a challenge where no opposition player was close to the action... pique on valdes. the swedish ref was a proper cunt in that game.

[Peter Doherty (AGAIG)]

Last year we showed them way too much respect, we feared them and were far too timid against them, ultimately that's what cost us. We really do need to get stuck in to them and show no fear. If we do that were in with a shout.

get stuck into them?!

you clearly don't remember the games against them last season where our lads only had to look at barca player to concede a freekick

the game at the etihad was one of the few occasions where i have seen a team win a freekick following a challenge where no opposition player was close to the action... pique on valdes. the swedish ref was a proper cunt in that game.

I also recall with about 5 minutes to go Messi awarded himself a free-kick. Fucking shameful refereeing.