mancityblues.com

If one believes everything one reads in the newspapers, it's business as usual at City. Yes folks, Adebayor is off to Real Madrid, David Silva is a target for Atletico Madrid and, on a less speculative level, injuries are cutting into our expensively assembled squad. Therefore, the weekend's game against Blackburn Rovers is probably not worth watching if you're a City fan, because quite clearly our foreign stars are unsettled and crocked, or just crocked. And Mancini is rubbish, so there!

However, the reality is a bit different, I think. It was satisfying to see six City players turn out for England this week - all performed well albeit against a poor Bulgaria team last weekend followed by a slightly less poor Swiss team on tuesday - also we may have one or two players who may be back from injury. Clearly, the reports of unrest indicate two things in my opinion - firstly, the individuals who do not have the quality and character to perform at the level that City now require are being exposed, aka the Robinho Syndrome, and secondly the media is still looking for a way to fill the pages and airwaves in order to stay in business. Typical media, typical City, same old story.

On to the important stuff, though. For the first time in years, arguably in decades, City has a strong spine to the team with Hart, Kompany, De Jong, Barry, Milner and Tevez all made of the right stuff, character-wise, to mount an assault on the top four, and games like Rovers typify the challenge that faces any club which wishes to scale these heights. I imagine that all, if fit, will be on the team sheet for Saturday, because I anticipate a real battle. Big Sam is a good, if slightly limited, manager, and he will doubtless set his team up to take the fight to City, so primarily Mancini will need to match the physical nature of Blackburn's game. Against Sunderland last week, it was notable that some players couldn't handle the tempo and aggression that the Black Cats displayed in the second half (I'm referring to Yaya, AJ and Micah mainly) so a repeat of that performance must be avoided - it will be interesting to see if lessons have been learned. Reports of Jerome Boateng's availability for the fixture are encouraging, and if genuinely fit, I'd certainly play him at right-back as a solution to Micah's mixed form. As far as Yaya goes, I feel that Mancini has to be aware that the big midfielder is not yet able to compete for the full 90 minutes, so if the manager decides to play the same team as last week, dropping Milner into central midfield at the 65 minute mark and introducing Silva on the left would seem to be a wise move. However, I'd consider a couple of changes to personnel, apart from the Boateng -Richards swap, and also there should be a couple of tactical issues addressed -

1. Lescott - Mancini has to get the left midfielder/forward involved in the game and it was clear that Lescott and Barry were unable to link up with Milner in the second half of the Sunderland tie, significantly reducing City's threat going forward. Therefore, I'd be tempted to play Zabaleta at left-back in place of Lescott (perhaps a bit harsh on Joleon, who has otherwise played reasonably well) despite the Argentine's relative lack of pace and occasional rash challenge. What Zaba will bring to the table is full-blooded committment and the ability to play the ball to forward when required. Milner himself, whether playing on the left or in midfield, needs to demand the ball and keep tabs on Tevez - the striker was too isolated in the last fixture, which leads into the next point -

2. De Jong - despite his undoubted assets, I have to ask myself if he's really necessary in a game like this one. Benching him would allow a more creative player to step into midfield, or even bring in another striker to take his place alongside/ahead of Tevez. On balance, I'd look at playing Barry in the "holding" role, and move Milner into central midfield alongsige Yaya Toure - I don't think we'd lose too much bite in the middle of the park. All three players have quality on the ball, and are willing to put a foot in as well, although dispensing with De Jong does mean that Yaya and Milner will have to be diligent with the defensive side of their games. What this does enable, however, is real support from midfield for the front players, and as Tevez is likely to play his usual role, this is vitally important. As mentioned earler, Yaya will likely need to be replaced by De Jong at some point, with Barry moving forward and Milner slotting into the Ivorian's place.

3. Balotelli - the loss of the striker to injury is a real blow, as he would be perfect on the left side alongside Tevez and AJ in a 4-3-3. I'm not sure if Silva is ready for a tough fixture like this yet, or even if the left is going to be his best position (I suspect he'll end up in the hole behind Balotelli). Instead, it could be time to give SWP another go against the veteran Salgado, with both AJ and SWP swapping wings on occasion.

This results in a line-up like this -

-------------------------Hart------------------------------
Boateng-----------Kolo--------Kompany------------Zabaleta
-------------------------Barry------------------------------
------------- Yaya--------------------Milner----------------
AJ-----------------------------------------------------SWP
-------------------------Tevez-----------------------------

Bench: Given, Richards, Lescott, De Jong, Silva, Jo/RSC, Ade

In summary, expect a bruising encounter, but don't be surprised to see Blackburn play some good football too - against Arsenal last week they looked quite capable of some nice stuff. With Kalinic, the two Dioufs and Pedrson in their side they do have some quality, and from set-pieces Blackburn are a threat as one would expect from an Allardyce team - Samba in particular will need to be watched. Sacrificing Lescott for Zabaleta is a concern when it comes to the aerial battle, but the presence of 6'3" Boateng should balance this out, and Barry is better in this respect than De Jong, too. Hopefully, the above team has an effective blend of steel and creativity, as we will need that to gain victory on Saturday - I'll take a tight win quite happily.

~BLOOVIC~