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Boro v Manchester City (A) 1-1


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Manchester City v Middlesbrough

Saturday 5th November

City of Manchester Stadium

 

Sawasdee! Two in a row! I must have the golden touch! I partied well into the night last weekend, and have been recovering since. I'll take the pain for a repeat this weekend though! Let's get to it.

 

The Form:

 

Boro 2-0 Bournemouth. Finally, a home win! Gibbo strengthening his shout for an England call up, Chambers put in a shift, Gaston's goal - Wow. There's even been talk of a call up for Forshaw after he apparently impressed an onlooking Gareth Southgate. Always good to get another clean sheet too.

 

Man City 3-1 Barcelona (Champions League). After putting 4 past West Brom last weekend, City came from behind to put Messi & Co in their place. Gundogan is starting to show why City bought him, 4 goals in his last 2 games from midfield! Hopefully they'll be feeling a bit overconfident against us.

 

The Opposition:

 

The blue half of Manchester need no introduction. Perennial title challengers, arguably one of the best squads in the league, and one of the best managers at the helm, all funded by oil-rich Sheikh Mansour.

 

They have the class up front to punish us, with players like Aguero, KdB, Silva, and the already mentioned Gundogan all having the ability to turn a game on their own. Arguably their weakest area is defence, so hopefully we can exploit that.

 

 

The Line Up:

 

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[align=left]Have to start with the same team as against ***nal for my liking. De Roon, Forshaw and Clayton all playing in a tighter midfield to provide extra cover against their quality in the middle. Negredo's link up play is working well even if he's not scoring, but he might fancy nabbing a goal against his former club.

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Karanka-Vision:

 

*Will be available once the video is uploaded on Thursday

 

View From The Other Side:

 

 

Interesting Facts:

 

1. For the first seven years of their history, Manchester City were known as Ardwick FC.

 

2. In 1937-38, they managed to become the only club ever to be relegated with a positive goal difference (80-77).

 

3. The oldest player to play in the Premiership was Manchester City goalkeeper John Burridge, who was 43 years, 4 months and 26 days when he came on as a half time substitute for Manchester City v Newcastle United on April 29, 1995.

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Forgot about Ramirez' suspension myself. I'd personally like to see Fischer in for Ramirez in that line-up but probably going to be Downing. Wouldn't mind Rhodes in for Negredo either though I'm more concerned about our defence against their attack.

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It's an odd one because we have no idea on the status of de Roon, Ayala, or Stuani. Not even going to hazard a guess at the line up for this reason! As for a game plan, we need a lot of bravery, some wise tactical decisions and bit of luck. A result like ***nal would be superb.

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City are bloody good. I really enjoyed watching them against Barcelona the other night. I realise that mentally (for them), playing Boro will be a different matter. Hopefully they might not be as 'up' for this one. However, realistically I think that ANY result better than a defeat by a two goal margin will be OK. I think we want to try and maintain our reasonable goal difference!

 

Obviously I'd prefer an ***nal-esque draw, or even a Boro win, but I'm struggling to see it.

 

I agree with WIlsoncgp, I'd like to see Rhodes for Negredo.

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What is this obsession with Rhodes all about?

 

He's really not going to get in the side, the less he plays the more legendary his status becomes. He's never scored at The Riverside and the 5 goals that he scored for us were down more to luck than judgement.

 

I know folks will argue that he was lethal for Blackburn and you don't become a bad player overnight, but in reality, strikers often do. Negredo is a pretty good example, as was Kris Boyd.

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Anything from this game would be a bonus. A 0-0 draw would be brilliant. I think he will play

 

Valdes

Barragan chambers Gibson friend

Clayton leadbitter

Traore forshaw downing

Negrado

 

Sit deep, keep it tight, hit them on the break. Nugent, fisher, Rhodes and stuani on the bench if we want to change it up.

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I have to agree with Billy about the Rhodes thing. The fact for me is that he is a player that doesn't fit AK's 4-2-3-1 as most of his success has come as part of a 2 and we simply don't play that way. At the ,moment his minutes will only comer from the bench or if Negredo is injured. Although he needs a goal in the last couple of matches Negredo has acquitted himself well so should keep the shirt.

 

I am firmly in the Downing must play camp so see him as the obvious replacement for Ramirez.

 

I also wonder if we will see Grant play instead of De Roon or whether its a bit early for him.

 

Either way if we go out with the same attitude as we did against ***nal we could well pinch a point , especially if the Man City boys are still in the clouds after beating Barcelona.

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Agree with Billy about Rhodes too. Perhaps it's just bad luck for Rhodes that he has joined a team only playing 1 up front but I can't see him being more than a sub for us. While Negredo has only scored one goal he has played reasonably well and in the later games where we seem to have stepped up a notch he has been quite good. Now is not the time to drop Negredo. He was right to be dropped for the West Ham game as his form was dropping but he has become better lately.

 

Rhodes has played lower league football his entire career while Negredo has played in the best two leagues in the world, the Champions League and for one of the best national teams in recent history. Yes, Negredo is lacking confidence but all in all he is a much superior player to Rhodes and he knows what its like to be up against world class defenders.

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The term "ripped to shreds" comes to mind but we thought that about ***nal so hey you never know.

 

As long as Boro give a good account of themselves that's all that really matters and I believe we can get a fighting draw out of this.

 

Shhhh no one mention 8-1!

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What is this obsession with Rhodes all about?

 

He's really not going to get in the side, the less he plays the more legendary his status becomes. He's never scored at The Riverside and the 5 goals that he scored for us were down more to luck than judgement.

 

I know folks will argue that he was lethal for Blackburn and you don't become a bad player overnight, but in reality, strikers often do. Negredo is a pretty good example, as was Kris Boyd.

 

It's no obsession where Rhodes is concerned Billy. Could one equally ask what your Negredo obsession is all about Billy - given that Negredo is the alternative?

 

I think that Rhodes has actually looked just as effective as Negredo when he's come on. There was one game, when Negredo wasn't having a good one, where I actually thought Rhodes was better. That's why I'd like to see him get more game time.

 

I think Rhodes can certainly play in the 4-2-3-1. Yes, he had to adapt last season, but he did that pretty well. Towards the end of the season his run of goals were crucial. The fact that he doesn't smash them home from the edge of the box is neither here nor there, he's a finsher.

 

As for the point that he hasn't scored at home Billy, so what? Do away goals count less than home goals? Perhaps they do, in your weird logic, which would explain why you think that Negredo's one goal in ten games is such a good return.

 

 

One of these days I reckon we'll agree on something....... but hey ho.

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What is this obsession with Rhodes all about?

 

He's really not going to get in the side, the less he plays the more legendary his status becomes. He's never scored at The Riverside and the 5 goals that he scored for us were down more to luck than judgement.

 

I know folks will argue that he was lethal for Blackburn and you don't become a bad player overnight, but in reality, strikers often do. Negredo is a pretty good example, as was Kris Boyd.

 

It's no obsession where Rhodes is concerned Billy. Could one equally ask what your Negredo obsession is all about Billy - given that Negredo is the alternative?

 

I think that Rhodes has actually looked just as effective as Negredo when he's come on. There was one game, when Negredo wasn't having a good one, where I actually thought Rhodes was better. That's why I'd like to see him get more game time.

 

I think Rhodes can certainly play in the 4-2-3-1. Yes, he had to adapt last season, but he did that pretty well. Towards the end of the season his run of goals were crucial. The fact that he doesn't smash them home from the edge of the box is neither here nor there, he's a finsher.

 

As for the point that he hasn't scored at home Billy, so what? Do away goals count less than home goals? Perhaps they do, in your weird logic, which would explain why you think that Negredo's one goal in ten games is such a good return.

 

 

One of these days I reckon we'll agree on something....... but hey ho.

Rhodes last season was excellent at holding the ball up, Negredo is our N0 1 striker with 1 goal that's shocking at any level. Everyone who has been associated with Rhodes say one thing about him he can finish. This he's not in Negredo's league malarkey, we wouldn't know Rhodes has never had the chance to prove it one way or the other.

As for Karanka not rating him, if I was Rhodes I wouldn't worry to much about that Kike Garcia, and Kike Sola both signed by Karanka both gone, De Pena the invisible man.

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Agree with Billy about Rhodes too. Perhaps it's just bad luck for Rhodes that he has joined a team only playing 1 up front but I can't see him being more than a sub for us. While Negredo has only scored one goal he has played reasonably well and in the later games where we seem to have stepped up a notch he has been quite good. Now is not the time to drop Negredo. He was right to be dropped for the West Ham game as his form was dropping but he has become better lately.

 

Rhodes has played lower league football his entire career while Negredo has played in the best two leagues in the world, the Champions League and for one of the best national teams in recent history. Yes, Negredo is lacking confidence but all in all he is a much superior player to Rhodes and he knows what its like to be up against world class defenders.

 

Borodane, don't get me wrong, Negredo has clearly got some credentials, and indeed he's played for Spain 20-odd times. I also agree that he's probably better than Rhodes, but not so much so that Rhodes shouldn't get a look in.

 

Negredo is also five years older than Rhodes, and it's probably the last seven years when Negredo really became a 'top flight' footballer.

 

Prior to that Negredo played in the 'B' teams in Spain's leagues, and also played in the Spanish second division. I'd say his big 'break' was when he joined newly promoted Almeria in 2007 and did well. From there, Real Madrid exercised their buy back clause, but never played him, and quickly shifted him on to Sevilla [where he played form 2009-13, before joining Man City].

 

My point is that Negredo also played lower league football too, [so you shouldn't hold that against Rhodes]. Negredo is also five years older.... so Rhodes still has time to gain those other accolades. I actually don't consider Negredo to be a "much superior player to Rhodes" as you describe him. Maybe he has been in the past, but he's not at his peak anymore.

 

Cheers.

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