CSKA Moscow vs Man City - Preview

        CSKA Moscow vs Manchester City
      Tuesday 21st October, Arena Khimki
                         Kick Off 17:00
                     Referee: Istvan Vad

The games are coming thick and fast, next for us is a trip to a very cold Russia in the UEFA Champions league.

There isn't a great deal to say about this game apart from that we need to win it, this game must be the start of taking our destiny back into our own hands.

So, what kind of team are we facing? Well CSKA have won their last five league games, scoring 19 goals and conceding just 4, however in the middle of their fine league form they have been beaten twice in the Champions League, conceding 6 goals and scoring just 1.

So what have we learnt from that apart from the clear fact that the Russian league is a terrible standard of football? Well it does not matter what kind of opposition you have been beating in football, as long as you are winning then your confidence will grow and having confidence can help to win football games, so I think that we should be conscious of that.

I am obviously expecting us to win this game and I am expecting us to smash them without breaking a sweat, teams like CSKA need to be our bread and butter in the Champions League, they are no where near as good a team as us and I think that we need to use them to send a message out to Roma and Bayern.

I also feel like we have been disrespected by Ahmed Musa in the build up to the game with the striker stating the following, "As you can see, they are very weak this year. We are going to use that advantage against them.
"In a couple of games they haven't been that good. They are very weak in the defence, so we are going to do our best to work against that.
"I think we are going to have a great opportunity because of the quality of the players we have. I think Tuesday is going to be a very good game for us."
Is this guy for real, we are the current champions of England which is arguably the best league in the world, plus if we are 'very weak' then I have not noticed, it has really got my back up and should have done the same to our players, hopefully it will give them extra motivation.

Man City Team News
Samir Nasri remains out with a groin injury, Eliaquim Mangala has been training with the rest of the team in Russia and should return to the the squad, Frank Lampard misses out with a thigh injury.

CSKA Moscow Team News
Dzagoev and Wernbloom are suspended, Elm (stomach), Panchenko (knee) and Vitinho (ankle) are expected to miss out.  Fernandes (elbow) and Doumbia (thigh) are possible doubts for the home team.

Possible Man City Line Up
Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany, Mangala, Clichy, Milner, Toure, Fernandinho, Navas, Silva, Dzeko.

Possible CSKA Moscow Line Up
Akinfeev, Fernandes, V Berezutski, Ignashevich, Schennikov, A Berezutski, Tošić, Natcho, Eremenko, Milanov, Musa.

My Prediction
CSKA Moscow 0 - 5 Man City.

Worth A Bet
David Silva scores the first goal in a 0 - 4 Man City win @ 120/1 or you could go with Yaya Toure first goal and  0 - 4 to City @ 100/1.

Bayern Munich 1 - 0 Man City

Well it was not to be, we couldn't manage a win in our first group game, Jerome Boateng's deflected shot grabbing victory for Bayern right at the death.

I was a bit disappointed when we lost last night but then quickly realised that it is no disgrace getting beaten by Bayern Munich away from home.

I thought we played quite well last night, Bayern certainly put us under a lot of pressure at times as is expected but we were never overawed and defended magnificently when we needed to, Joe Hart in particular showcasing some world class goalkeeping.

I think we competed with Bayern for the majority of the game and were even the better team at times, we were lacking a little bit in the final third because we only had one striker playing, we didn't give Bayern enough to think about and I reckon that had we played two strikers, we would have scored.

If we were to go off our performance in last nights game I would say that we will come out of the group, I know Roma hammered CSKA but that's not exactly the most impressive result considering how weak CSKA's squad is.

Overall the only thing about our performance that we should be disappointed with is Yaya Toure, again!
We know how good he can be when he wants to but he just cannot be bothered turning up most of the time, the rest of the team worked very hard last night while he stood by and watched.
He also didn't do himself any favours at the end of the game, it looked bad at the time but TV replays have made it look much worse, laughing and joking with the opposition manager after getting beat is not professional and not the attitude of a winner, I have had enough of him and would sell him to the highest bidder.

Anyhow I think we can look forward to our next group game with confidence.

Apologies for the short post but I am still in the middle of travelling.

Bayern Munich vs Man City - Preview

               Bayern Munich vs Manchester City
       Wednesday 17th September, Allianz Arena
                                 Kick off 19:45
       Referee: Alberto Undiano Mallenco  (ESP)
              

The Champions League is back! I absolutely love it when it is time for the Champions league, having the privilege of watching us play the best teams in Europe still feels like the dream that came true for me.

 

Again we get to go to the Allianz arena and pit ourselves against one of the most famous teams in the world, Bayern is an ideal first group game for me, it will be tough but it will also give us that instant reminder of the level needed to be successful in the Champions League.

 

Tomorrows game shouldn't be daunting for us, sure Bayern are a brilliant team but much like ourselves they haven't blew anyone away yet this season.

It is also very necessary to remember that we beat them away from home last season, we should take confidence from the way that we turned that game around and if we show that kind of character this time around then I think it is more than possible to beat them again.

 

I feel a tad confident about this game, I feel like we turned a bit of a corner against Arsenal, our work rate was better, our rhythm was better and our defending was better, if we take that improvement into this game then we can easily walk away with points on the board.

 

I honestly feel like Bayern will be more worried about us than we are about them, firstly we beat them last season, secondly we are still the new rich kids in town as far as these big European clubs are concerned and nobody wants to be beaten by us.

There is always reference to our wealth being mentioned by opposition players and board members alike, players claim not to know anything about us especially before the Sheik came along, they all want to turn their noses up at us and the only reason for it is fear.

These clubs don't want City crashing their party, they want to put us in our place but that brings pressure and is just an advantage for us.

 

Man City Team News

Stevan Jovetic is expected to miss out as he continues to recover from a hamstring injury, Fernando is not expected to return from a groin injury and Pablo Zabaleta is suspended along with Manuel Pellegrini.

 

Bayern Munich Team News

Ribery is definitely out of the game with a knee injury and Bayern have a whole host of potential doubts for the game, Badstuber (thigh), Martinez (knee), Rafinha (ankle), Schweinsteiger (knee), Thiago (knee) and Weiser(knee) could all miss out.

 

Possible Man City Line Up

Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany, Demichelis, Clichy, Navas, Toure, Fernandinho, Silva, Aguero, Dzeko.

 

Possible Bayern Munich Line Up

Neuer, Lahm, Boateng, Dante, Bernat, Xabi Alonso, Alaba, Müller, Götze, Robben, Lewandowski.

 

My Prediction

Bayern Munich 0 - 2 Man City.

 

Worth A Bet

Sergio Aguero scores the first goal in a 0-2 Man City win @ 155/1.



CHAMPIONS LEAGUE DRAW - BAYERN MUNICH - AGAIN!

The draw for the Champions League has just finished and we have ended up in what I would say is a tough enough group.

We have been put in group E alongside Bayern Munich, CSKA Moscow and A.S. Roma, of course we know we can beat both Bayern and CSKA after drawing them last year at this stage, Roma finished second in Serie A last season and will surely be a decent test for us.

Not a group we would have asked for I don't think but we should be able to get out of it, they are all going to be hard away trips and I think our home games will be key.

I suppose it doesn't matter really who you get because in a competition like this there are so many good teams and in the end you have to beat the best to be the best, it is also easy to forget at times how feared we will be by the other teams.

Exciting trips ahead!

Man City 1 - 3 Bayern Munich

All the headlines are about how good Bayern were tonight and rightly so, we didn't help ourselves though and made it easier for them than it should of been.

It is always a pleasure to get to watch great teams like Bayern and that was certainly the case tonight, they shown us why they are the champions of Europe, they totally outclassed us.

Whilst Bayern are obviously more than capable of beating the best teams regardless of their opponents form, we did help to make it look a lot easier to roll us over tonight, we didn't even try and compete at times and the tactics were all wrong.

The evening started with confusion as to why Micah Richards was playing ahead of Zabaleta, I am a Richards fan but he has been out far to long for him to return in a game against Bayern Munich, Pellegrini's first mistake.

Then the game started and it was immediately obvious that Bayern were far stronger than us in midfield, they always had an extra man and for some reason Pellegrini did not address this, his second mistake.

We went in at half time just one nil down and with the game still there for the taking it was time for Pellegrini to replace some of his under performing players, but for some unknown reason it did not happen, third mistake.

The second half started and considering no changes were made at half time it was the same scenario, badly lacking in midfield and a lot of below par players still on the pitch. It took Pellegrini 70 minutes before he brought on Milner, finally we had someone willing to work hard on the pitch but it was to little to late, this change could of easily been made after 20 minutes.

So basically from that brief run down of Pellegrini's mistakes you can see I am putting a lot of the blame on him and I think deservedly so. He should of counter acted Bayerns formation, everyone in the ground could see it apart from him, for me this guy is no better than Mancini. I am not calling for his head or anything and he does need time, but regardless what direction the team takes under his guidance, I  don't think the powers that be should have got rid of Mancini.

Now to the players, things need to change, we cant keep flipping between being a great team to be being a mediocre team all the time just because certain players decide they can't be bothered, if it doesn't change then we can forget about any success this season.

Hart, Nasri, Toure, Fernandinho and Dzeko in particular were terrible. Hart needs dropping it is that simple, his mistakes tonight ultimately lost us the game, it is happening far to often now. He needs a reality check in a big way, he needs to forget about his shampoo adverts and worry about regaining the form that led him to being our countries number one.

Nasri reverted back to his effort lacking, tackle dodging, uninterested self again tonight and contributed absolutely nothing.

Toure as I have pointed out before is one of the most laziest players I have seen, he frustrates me like no other player ever has, he has proven he has quality but far to often he is missing in games and it is about time he started getting the finger pointed at him more often.

Fernandinho, admittedly I don't think this lad knows where he is supposed to be playing or what his role is in the team and that is the managers fault, saying that though nothing about him suggests he is worth close to 30 million.

Last to get picked out tonight is Dzeko, this lad does not care about wearing our shirt, he is a big lazy fairy. I really wanted to see Dzeko come good but it doesn't seem like it is ever going happen, he strolls around the pitch looking totally uninterested, he doesn't chase down defenders, he doesn't commit to tackles and in general just does not care, not to mention he has got a worse first touch than most 6 year olds. This lad needs a real dressing down and if he doesn't like it then he needs to be sold, we can't carry these prima donnas anymore.

It is unbelievable to me that the likes of Milner can't get in the team ahead of some of these guys, not to mention that Barry wasn't even deemed good enough to stay at the club, maybe Pellegrini doesn't like honest, hard working players or maybe they are just not big enough in terms of names for him.

All in all it was an all round bad night for us, everyone can take some blame, even us as fans because we were rubbish. At the moment it is not panic stations as far as the champions league is concerned, the big picture though would suggest that we need to get consistent immediately or we can forget all about any trophies.

Man City vs Bayern Munich - Wed 2nd Oct 19:45 pm

Time to take our minds of the league again and look forward to the challenge of the champions league, current holders Bayern Munich will surely be a tough test but also an exciting one.

 My day at work tomorrow will be a total write off, I will be watching the clock until its time to set off to the Etihad. I get really excited when it is time for a champions league game, but then again who wouldn't?

I know most people wouldn't have wanted to draw a team like Bayern in the group stages but I am glad we did, I love the privilege of being able to watch City play Europe's finest, plus if you want to win these competitions you have to play the best teams at some point.

We had a good start to the group stages by winning away from home and if we can bag three points in our first home game against Bayern then I think we would already be well on our way to getting out of the group.

Bayern are a class team and are clearly tough opponents but so are we, I don't think we should be nervous about playing them, I have a lot of belief in the ability of our team and on our day I think we can beat anyone.

Man City Team News:
Sergio Aguero and David Silva both return to the squad after recovering from injury, Demichelis (knee) is still unavailable for selection.

Bayern Munich Team News:
Thiago Alancantra (ankle), Javi Martinez (groin) and Holger Badstuber (knee) are all missing for the visitors, Mario Gotze is expected to return to the squad after recovering from an ankle injury.

Possible Man City Line Up:  Hart, Zabaleta, Nastasic, Kompany, Clichy, Toure, Fernandinho, Nasri, Navas, Aguero, Dzeko.

Possible Bayern Munich Line Up: Neuer, Rafinha, Boateng, Dante, Alaba, Lahm, Kroos, Robben, Ribery, Muller, Mandzukic.

My prediction: Man City 2 - 0 Bayern Munich.

Worth A Bet: Sergio Aguero scores the first goal in a 2 - 0 Man City win @ 85/1.

Champions League Group! Your thoughts?

The Champions League draw has just been completed and we have been drawn against, BAYERN MUNICH, CSKA MOSCOW AND FC VIKTORIA PLZEN  in GROUP D.

I like getting the top teams as soon as possible because it is a dream that we get to play against these famous clubs, something unimaginable a short time ago.

This time round we have managed to get the current champions in Bayern Munich, one of Russia's top teams in CSKA and current champions of the Czech Republic FC Viktoria Plzen.

Brilliant draw for us this time, we get to test ourselves against the current champions and we have a couple of weaker teams in there to give us a good chance of going through, couldn't of asked for anything better in my opinion.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?