Champions League football is back on the agenda, the first game sees us travel to the Czech Republic to face current Gambrinus Liga champions, FC Viktoria Plzen.
I should be on a buzz because I normally am when its time to play in the champions league, I mean its a dream come true for us City fans to get to watch our team play along side Europe's elite isn't it, its just that with our poor form of late and the pressure to get through the group stage, all I can feel is anxiety.
Tomorrows opponents have won their domestic league twice in the last three seasons, although its not the strongest league in the world, beating the likes of Sparta and Slavia Prague to the championship means your doing something right. Plzen certainly know how to win games against the big European teams as well, beating both Atletico Madrid and Napoli a couple of seasons ago in the Europa league, all of a sudden the team that we were all over joyed at drawing look potentially menacing.
Surely though we should comfortably win this game, shouldn't we? Well its hard to say isn't it, we should of won our first four league fixtures and it hasn't happened, consistency is our problem and why it is a problem I don't really know. If I were to lean towards anything then I would say it is down to the manager, I don't think Pellegrini has shown any special abilities regarding his management skills and I don't think that the players understand what he wants from them either, everything about the team has been untidy and overcomplicated.
Hopefully tomorrow we can put the poor start to our season behind us, relieve some more pressure by winning our first group game and kick on from there, in an ideal world of course.
Man City Team News:
Vincent Kompany makes a surprise return to the squad and if deemed 100% fit before the match he is likely to start, Silva (thigh), Clichy (thigh), Richards (hamstring) and Demichelis (knee) should all still be out for the blues barring anymore miraculous recoveries.
FC Viktoria Plzen Team News:
Central defender and scorer of five goals in qualifying Marian Cisovsky is set to miss out with a calf injury, whilst fellow defender Radim Reznik faces a late fitness test.
Possible Man City Line Up: Hart, Zabaleta, Nastasic, Kompany, Kolarov, Milner, Toure, Fernandinho, Nasri, Navas, Aguero.
Possible FC Viktoria Plzen Line Up: Kozáčik, Rajtoral, Procházka, Hejda, Limberský. Hořava, Horvath, Petržela, Kolář, Kovařík, Bakoš.
My Prediction : FC Viktoria Plzen 0 - 3 Man City.
Worth A Bet: Yaya Toure scores the first goal in a
0 - 3 Man City win @ 66/1.
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