Michail Antonio may get the call to make his debut at the Etihad on Saturday evening.
Victor Moses – despite making a great start to his Hammers loan period against Newcastle – has played a limited number of games over the last couple of seasons is still working hard on his fitness.
And Antonio’s strength and power – rather than Moses’ flair – may be seen as a better option in this particular match against the leaders.
The former Nottingham Forest star is continuing to impress enormously in training and is a certainty for the squad and we have been told it will be a tight call between him and Moses for the starting role.
ClaretandHugh was told by training ground insiders: “The two were neck and neck for the game against Newcastle and it would be no surprise were he Michail to start with Victor coming off the bench.
“This is such a strong squad with everybody putting pressure on each other but it is true that Mihail continues to look tremendous in training.”
I don’t mind who get’s the nod on Sat.as long as the team give a good account of themselves , whether it’s a win draw or loss. We are going to lose more games regardless and if one is an away game to the front runners, that is hardly unexpected or anything to go into meltdown about.
l would have them both start actually. Kouyate and Obiang as the defensive midfilders, and to increase our potency on the counter, the trio of Moses, Payet and Antonio behind Sakho. That should give Citeh something to think about
Can’t wait to see him in action. such flair and ability across the squad I’m loving life after the point happy hippo.
Forget counter attack away from home .. We should just go for it with the squad everyone is raving about , why not ?.
I would start with Carroll and Sakho just to unsettle City , just to mix it up a bit and then maybe go midfield defensepive play
We are good enough to give City problems , just as any Premiership team ., and maybe more so this season . The first 1/2 hour will be torture in any case .
As for who plays where and with whom I can’t honestly say what would be best . That is for Bilic to decide . Hopefully our home sick blues are behind us and we can pass on the Blues to City . Again it’s hard to say what to expect from West Ham .. A Point would be magic .
How can we forget the counter-attack away from home formula that has enabled us to beat both Arsenal and Liverpool? If we just ‘go for it’ we will leave gaps which citeh will exploit. They five wins out of five games for a very good reason and we’ve won our two away games for very good reasons too…..if it ain’t broke don’t fix it I say. Leave Carrol on the bench and let him regain match fitness by coming on as sub and like everyone else, earn his place in the team based on his performances. As you say Gas…..doesn’t half feel good knowing we not going there Hippo style to defend a point….in Billic we trust…! COYI…!
Well said
Don’t quite get it Kevin if we play Carrol and Sakho up front you want to go back to kick and hope,the Man City defence would love that,Payet gets crowded out in midfield we loose our speed and the ball just keeps coming back at our defence with Silve,Navas and Aguero licking their lips, while Toure sits 25 meters out waiting to have shooting practice,
You have got to get that Hippo blood out of your DNA,
Carroll is better than that,our forwards are built for speed on the break Sakho looks brilliant holding the ball up and City have not got a water tight defence,
Third squad is built for letting teams come on to us and take them apart on the break
Ffs Kevin what goes on in there old boy,
Hippo and IPCRESS file comes to mind mate !!!
Have a closer look and take the blinkers off!!!
I would give the bard his debut up against kolorov , I think his power and pace would
Give city a pain they would not like if all the press is correct about the boy .
Saw some video footage of the lad and he looked impressive .
He could do some damage on the break with payet playing him and sakho in !!!!
Got to be the same formula as we deployed against Arse & the scousers surely.Counter attack at pace with purpose.It has worked twice already so try it again.If we just go all out from the start we could end up with a bloody nose against Citeh,lol 😉
Start 4-3-2-1 (Randolph, Jenks, Tomks, Reid, Cressy, – Obiang, Nobes, CK – Payet, Moses – Sakho) … If it’s tight or we’re chasing the game then a switch to 4-2-3-1 with one of the midfield making way for Antonio and AC on for Sakho as the crosses rain in both sides?