mancityblues.com

As you can see from the title of this post, I don't have much to reveal about our Romanian opponents. Rather, here's a quick update of the injury situation and a possible line-up for this fixture, keeping one eye on the upcoming game against Liverpool.

AFAIK, Boateng and Kolorov will certainly be out of contention, Kolorov's injury being particularly worrying - there are rumours of up to a three month layoff for the Serbian left-back. Bridge is still unavailable according to the usual sources, but no other serious injury issues are apparent at the time of writing, although Robinho has to be a doubt being less than match-ready. With the likes of Ireland and Bellamy off to pastures new, and James Milner and Balotelli unlikely to play a part, expect to see a couple of young players in the squad, perhaps even in the starting eleven. Who Mancini will pick is open to question, especially in goal - will Given get the nod despite a possible loan move to another club? And will Silva, Yaya and the likes of Lescott be given more match time in order to sharpen up their games before the clash with Liverpool?

With these issues in mind, here is a possible line-up to play in Thursday's European tie -

---------Given (Hart?)------------Bench:Hart/Taylor
--------------------------------------Cunningham
Richards--Boyata--Lescott--Zabaleta-----K.Toure
----------------------------------------Y. Toure
------Vieira----------Ibrahim-----------De Jong
----------------------------------------SWP
A.Johnson--------------------Barry------Jo/Tevez
----------------------Silva---------
----------Adebayor------------------

With few options defensively, I've gone with Micah on the right - Zaba would be my preferred choice, but with Kolorov and Bridge injured, I've chosen Zaba for the left-back position. It could be a risk playing young Boyata and the somewhat rusty Lescott together in the centre, but Kompany and Kolo will need to be ready for the Liverpool game, and the squad players need games to keep match-fit. Boyata will need to be watchful of Micah's forward runs and questionable positional play, but having Vieira in the team will aid this potential issue. Paddy and Ibrahim anchor the midfield in a 4-2-3-1 formation, the youngster doing the running and Vieira keeping the game ticking over. Barry and AJ have very different roles despite occupying similar positions on paper; AJ can provide width and penetration, as well as being a goal-threat himself, whereas Barry can cover Zaba's forward runs but, more crucially, play in Silva who has the ability to in turn create for Ade. I'd prefer to give Silva only 55/60 minutes maximum, replacing him with Jo or Tevez at this point.

So that's it for this time, hopefully this team will have enough to get a decent result. Apologies for the limited piece on this fixture - obscure European teams are not my speciality!
~BLOOVIC~