Aston Villa v MAN CITY – The PREVIEW: City’s Probable Team
3 Mar
Vincent Kompany is again expected to be sidelined for this match with a calf injury, so Kolo Touré and Matija Nastasic will continue their partnership in the centre of defence. Gareth Barry is back fit and challenging for a return to the side, but with Jack Rodwell impressing against Chelsea and Yaya Touré far more dangerous in his advanced role, the former Villa man may not be certain to come straight back in.
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He could, of course, replace Javi Garcia, but there is always the option for Roberto Mancini to plump for a more attacking outlook, with Carlos Tévez returning and Yaya dropping deeper to partner one of Rodwell, Barry and Garcia. James Milner’s excellent recent form should keep Samir Nasri on the bench.
Here is the side Mancini could select:
Referee: Mike Dean – One of the best officials in the Premier League, he has been in charge for three City matches this campaign. We have won two (Reading at home, Arsenal away) and drawn one (Arsenal at home).
Prediction: Aston Villa 0 – 3 MAN CITY – The hosts might be plucky, but our quality should overwhelm them. Goals to be scored by Sergio Aguero, Carlos Tévez and David Silva.
William Hill have some excellent odds for this match: Matija Nastasic is a tempting 26/1 to score the first goal whilst Sergio Aguero to score first and City to win 3-0 is also tempting at 26/1. Bet here now!
If hes fit I would have Barry in for garcia in the above side any day of the week, im sure you’d all agree. Other than that its as you were for me
Yes I would always start Barry IF he is 100% fit and then make a judgement on whether I played Garcia or Rodwell along side him depending on the opposition and the relative fitness of those two players.
Barry is comng back from injury, he is unlikley to be fit enough to start, so I’d expect him to get 20 mins at the end.
Garcia has demonstrated a gradual growth into his role as a deeper sitting DMF, he is now more than competent as his performance against Sibneft showed. Rodwell has more to prove having been sidelined for longer but he too did well in that important game and looks very promising.
Otherwise I think you have it right, although I would not be surprised to se Aleks Kolarov start.
Alph
Mancini should not change the team he played against Chelsea and as you mentioned I would prefer Barry over Garcia at this moment of time if he is 100% fit. Otherwise; I would expect him to get a 20 to 30 minutes game toward the end.
Less is more with one striker, think the line up looks good. Barry may still be not match fit and Vincent should not be risked, Kolo played well last game. Just hope Rodwell can get through the game intact.
I’d stick with the team that beat Chelsea; I thought Garcia did really well. I know everybody’s on Nasri’s case at the min, but I really think Nasri could do a job for us this season.
March will be a big month for us; hoping to get Millwall in semi’s of FA cup and Everton in the final
Come on city!
I would like to see man city to start team that beat chelsea but only change garcia to nasri because nasri is best player but somehow he is not happy but I don.tknow what happen to him but I hope he get the better soon but I think he deserve to get the chanece
I think I know what you mean but wouldn’t have worded it like that. I don’t think that Nasri ‘deserves’ another chance; ‘deserve’ implies that he has ‘earned’ it and to my eyes he clearly hasn’t. That said he is clearly an exceptionally talented young man and everyone at the club from Sheik Mansoor down to me at the very bottom of the pile ‘deserves’ to get value for the money invested in him. For that reason I’d give him another chance, I’d first slap him around a bit, just to knock the gloss of the smugness, and tell him to go show his worth and earn his corn.
Alph