I think this game is going to suit Rashford. Does well in the big games. Just not sure who to drop.
FA Premier League
Manchester City 2:3 Manchester United
The Etihad
- Kick-off
- Sat, 7 April 2018 @ 5:30pm BST
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Closed
Discussion Your Lineup Prediction
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Probably Mata will be dropped for Rash on the right because of the Sane threat. Also to have runners behind Lukaku for the inevitable hoofball/flick on playsWell apparently Pep will rest key players against us!
Won't make any difference. Its the style of play they are dependant on not personnel.
Which is fair enough, he has a big CL game to play and in terms of the title it's just delaying celebrations for a week.City could play their second team, our approach won't change.
Hope we win no matter how we play.
Did he say that? I doubt that will happen.Liverpool will beat them in the first leg 2-1.
We'll beat them 2-1 to drop the gap 13 points.
They will beat Liverpool 3-1 in the return fixture after extra time.
Spurs will beat 2-1 them and we'll close the gap to 10.
They will then win their next 2 games and seal the title.
We'll beat Spurs and Southampton will beat Chelsea to set up the cup final.
That must be why he spent £200m on a new backline.
You saw how they faired last season right? Demolished by Leicester, Everton, Monaco...
Finished 4th on goal difference...
It took a season to get the players used to playing a different system. Is the lineup that different this season to last? Not really is it, GK and RB the only main changes over the team from last season to this (of the players who have regularly played). They had Delph playing LB for quite a lot of this season.
How many of those players have played the majority of the season? Ederson and Walker and thats it. Mendy Danilo Laporte have hardly featured.
Only makes you wonder how much they can progress next season when they integrate Mendy, and Laporte is a main stay. Not to mention the likes of Bernado Silva
City started like a train last season though - wasn't it like a dozen straight wins? They took to Pep's system very quickly. Most thought they had the league sewn up after a couple of months. But they faded because they had two pensioners as full-backs and a haphazard GK. There's a reason Pep didn't take any chances last summer and made the necessary changes.
I take your point that the changes to personnel haven't been wholesale, but they have been integral.
I'm not talking about last season. The players are well aware of how Pep wants his team to play and they have really got used to the tactics he employs. The ones who couldn't were shipped off last summer and those who remained are well suited to the system. The new players city bought have also performed well.
The blueprint is the same regardless of who plays and of course a weakened team doesn't mean that their whole attack will be second string. Jesus, B. Silva, Sane/Sterling, Gundogan might still feature and they have played good football this season.
Not really because Pep himself had to adapt his system due to the league. They don't play exactly the same as they did last season. They also had to develop Sane and Sterling (Sane only became a regular midway through last season)
The goalkeeper situation though yes integral, but its has not been 200m worth of changes, since half of that hardly played (Mendy and Laporte) also Bernado Silva.
Ah okay, so I take your point regarding personnel not affecting the style of play, but with the exception of Liverpool, all of City's defeats this season have come when he rotated the team. Shakhtar, Wigan, Basel...I'm optimistic by nature but I can't see any other scenario except parking the double decker bus and trying to grind a 0-0 draw.
Moyes is that you?
Hopefully this trend continues against us. It all depends really. If Jose sets up his team to play proper football and tactically outplay the city side, then we have a chance. Bus parking is useless, hoofball is pointless. Those teams who won against them worked harder than city and if our 'big' players decide to turn up, we can salvage something out of the fixture.I expect Pep to rotate very heavily, maybe changing 7-9 outfield players from the team that plays Liverpool. We're going to see a side with Yaya, Danilo, Laporte, Bernardo Silva, maybe even Foden or Diaz. Guardiola showed in the League Cup last year that he wasn't going to play a strong team just because it was a Manchester derby and the incentives to rest players this weekend are far, far greater than they were in that match last year.
I think United will win and probably should win given the teams that will line up.
Exactly what we did there last year.You know who I wish we had for this game? Pre-injury Alan Smith.
Remember his 3 sliding tackles in the space of 2 seconds vs Chelsea in 05-06? him kicking Terry in the bollocks?
That's the type of spirit we'll need to show in order to win this game, hopefully Scott can show similar attitude.
Hoping we start with a midfield of Matic, Scott and Fellaini.Last edited:
Pep gave us a lot of respect too. Fact is, City would hate to lose this game just for pride, so expect a cagey approach from both sides.
It depends on the Liverpool game really. If Man City lose that game or even draw to leave things in the balance Pep will have no choice but to rest players in the derby game. If they win convincingly then he will go full-strength again on Saturday and rest some players in the 2nd leg.How many players had Pep signed? Eve if they play a so called second string of players, they effectively have 2 players for every position anyway with the volume of players they’ve signed in the last 2 seasons.
Pep might do that if they win 4-0 or something. But if they win 2-0 or 3-1 at Anfield then Pep will rest players and try to field the strongest team he can for the second leg. Doing anything else would be criminal given that they're up 16 points in the league with 7 matches to play and Liverpool is a good high-intensity side that can score goals.
Herrera barely played this season, I'm not even sure if he is fully fit.
no Herrera or Pogba then
If Herrera was playing to the level we've seen from him last season, then absolutely, but that is not the case.
Pogba is not the player for this type of game as far as I'm concerned. Not with our current "philosophy", nor with his form and attitude on the pitch.Last edited:Can't see beyond a City win but if we're going to lose let's play with the panache that Utd are noted for
You're mad if you think that midfield can win us the game. They'll run rings around us. Too slow and immobile.
You might have forgotten that Ederson was replacing a goalkeeper that Guardiola bought himself.
And their left back situation is obviously a worry, coaching hasn't turned players like Delph, Danilo and Zinchenko into top players. All 3 have been error prone and a weakness in the team. Mendy would be a welcome addition in the team based on his back-ups performances.
I know it might be sacrilegious, but Guardiola isn't Jesus Christ. He upgraded his backline and they have become massively better as a result; Ederson especially.
The midfield won't win us the game from an attacking perspective, but it'll do a job defensively and will show the right attitude. We are not a team who is reliant on our midfield to win us the game, we are not a dominant side.
Rashford/Sanchez or Lingard can win us the game, I expect Lukaku to barely get a sniff on goal but he'll harass their defenders and will give them something to worry about.
The post is talking about how they went from 4th last year to running away this year. It clearly isnt just a 200m back line. Maybe follow the conversation then you can see no one is calling Pep a God.
Simply pointing out that only Walker and Ederson have really played in that spending on the back line. And the key players who stepped up from last season are Sane and Sterling as well as obviously Ederson being a key signing.
The points you make about Delph Danilo and Zinchenko only go to make my point. A 200m new back line didnt win them the title
by that rationale you'd hardly consider Fellaini fit would you? Herrera did play the last 20 mins or so against Swansea
in these games you have to play your best players and I'd play a 3 of Herrera, Matic and Pogba
as for Fellaini, he should never start ahead of Pogba as he has half his ability - unless we are planning on playing hoofball and we witnessed how good that was against Sevilla. Is Fellaini even fit?
that's my opinion anyway but each to their own
Who said a new back line won them the title? Are you even following the conversation?
It all started with a poster saying that there's a chance that City will rest a lot of key players. Then someone said that it doesn't matter because it's their style of play and not their personnel. Which is obviously nonsense because their personnel is very important to their style of play.
If Bravo was in goal this season instead of Ederson then I can say with 99% confidence that City would not win the league this season. That doesn't mean that Ederson won them the title; other players still have to step up.
City won the title this season because their signings improved their backline and existing players had a better understanding of the way Guardiola wanted to play. I've seen players like Yaya Toure, Danilo, Mangala play this season and they haven't been turned into world beaters by 'style of play'.
City look a worse side without certain players in their team which includes some of their new backline. Guardiola is not a miracle worker that can win 90% of his games with sub par players.
My point was out of the new players they signed for their back line, which you said costs 200m, only 2 of them have been regulars this season. Ederson and Walker. Their style of play and adjustment to the system has been more important than the new signings, except in the case of Ederson where that was totally a necessity to the way they play.
Which is completely irrelevant, since someone said that City resting key players wouldnt matter which it obviously would. If they play Bravo in goal their chances of conceding will rise massively, if Walker is rested their right side will be much more vulnerable, if Silva or KdB are rested then their ability to hold possession will be worse off. If Sterling or Aguero are rested then their chances of scoring go down massively.
I have already explained in my posts that followed this. Try reading those.Are you having a laugh
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Player Ratings
Total Average Rating
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Lowest Rated Player
Compiled from 554 ratings.
Score Predictions
185,190,135
- Man Utd win
- Man City win
- Draw
Detailed Results
- 18% Man City 1:1 Man Utd
- 16% Man City 1:2 Man Utd
- 10% Man City 2:0 Man Utd
- 8% Man City 2:1 Man Utd
- 8% Man City 0:1 Man Utd
- 7% Man City 0:2 Man Utd
- 6% Man City 3:1 Man Utd
- 6% Man City 0:0 Man Utd
- 6% Man City 3:0 Man Utd
- 3% Man City 0:5 Man Utd
- 2% Man City 2:2 Man Utd
- 2% Man City 1:3 Man Utd
- 2% Man City 1:0 Man Utd
- 2% Man City 5:0 Man Utd
- 2% Man City 4:0 Man Utd
- 1% Man City 3:2 Man Utd
- 1% Man City 0:3 Man Utd
- 1% Man City 4:1 Man Utd
- 1% Man City 2:3 Man Utd
- 0% Man City 4:5 Man Utd
- 0% Man City 5:3 Man Utd
- 0% Man City 4:4 Man Utd
Match Stats
- Man City
- Man Utd
- Possession
- 65% 35%
- Shots
- 20 5
- Shots on Target
- 6 4
- Corners
- 8 4
- Fouls
- 17 9
Referee
Martin Atkinson
Man Utd Lineup
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replaced by Scott McTominay
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replaced by Victor Lindelof
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replaced by Marcus Rashford
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