Rory Fitzgerald

City's line up vs Newcastle Bravo Walker Otamendi Laporte Mendy KDB Gundogan D. Silva Mahrez Jesus Sterling Bench: Ederson, Cancelo, Stones, Zinchenko, B. Silva, Rodri, Foden Harwood-Bellis (18yr old CB) Twitter having its say - (1) No idea why Otamendi is starting when Harwood-Bellis is on the bench. Haven’t seen a player cause so many problems to his own defence since Demichelis 15/16 - and - (2) No foden for a cup match, and no carson also risking laporte when harwood bellis is on the bench, and still sticking with gundogan after the stinker against chelsea f*** off pep

Yeah, Firmino scored at Anfield and Pawson allowed it but VAR felt there was foul in the build up with VVD on De Gea but yet no foul on Origi - so Utd got the rub on those 2 calls.

They had the 1-1 game at OT on SkySports just now, never noticed Maguire man-handling him as Robertson put in the cross for Lallana. He pushed off Maguire when the ball was in the net, ran to the corner flag and broke the lads up celebrating and pushed them towards the half way line 😂

He's virtually played every minute in the league since he came. He missed 1 or 2 games when he arrived but after that, he's played almost every minute except getting subbed in a game for an ankle injury. I don't know what the "mileage" is in terms of minutes per season - in my head I have have 3,000 which is 87% of Premiership minutes. If you add on 12 cup games a season on average (8 in the CL, 4 domestically), there could be 4,500 minutes to play. There are also then international games in the mix.

For Minamino, its hard to see him being one of the wide front men. If he is to play the front line, I'd like to see how he fits in the central role with Mane and Salah as the wide forwards. Otherwise, given his style of play, he could play midfield given he's very comfortable on the ball. Ox I am ok with as an alternative in midfield but he's not a front man. He can play there if we are defending a lead and Salah/Mane are wasted for energy but I wouldn't be looking to him for a goal in that role. Keita, still haven't decided on him, he hasn't started 5 PL games in a row and played 41% of PL minutes last season and 16% of PL minutes this season. Its clear though that he hasn't made an impact but I wonder if he gets games will that change. Origi, tallest of our strikers, willing runner, decent squad player for cup competitions. Should not be near being our 1st go-to player off the bench but in the absence of a significant improvement - he has more on his CV than Minamino, Ox, Brewster, Jones, Shaqiri, Lallana if we are looking for a goal from the bench. Needs improvement here. Current attacking options are mostly attacking midfielders than pure strikers.

I remember reading an article about 2-3 weeks ago that mentioned something like 12/13 September which is about a 6 week break from the end of this season - so something like 2-3 week holiday and 3-4 week preseason. Its also the kind of turnaround to be conscious of if players are at the risk of fatigue injuries because a break down around mid-end July leaves little time for being back to 100% by season start.

Just had a look at his stats; 2008/09 to 2011/12: Played over 30 PL games in 3 of the 4 seasons, 25 in the other 2012/13 to 2014/15: Played between 25-28 games, so a drop off, bought Managal for £41m at start of 2014/15 2015/16: Played 14 games, bought Otamendi at the start of this season for £40m and spent £187m overall 2016/17: Played 11 games, bought Stones for £50m and spend £193m overall 2017/18: Played 17 games, bought Walker, Mendy, Laporte, Danilo for £183m and spend £285m overall 2018/19: Played 17 games, no defenders bought, spent £71m of which Mahrez was £60m 2019/20: Went to Anderlecht, City spend £150m with Rodri (£63m) and Cancelo (£58m) being the big buys, also got Anglino for (£11m) City knew Kompany was having problems, since 2012 he hasn't been able to play over two-thirds of PL games - in an area of the pitch where you want stability in the partnership. They have tried to buy in that area. They have also gone big in the the full back area too with Cancelo, Danilo, Mendy, Walker, Angelino. However, converted midfielders like Fernandinho, Zinchenko and Delph have had to play in the defence at times. There was an attempt to buy a back line but the amount of money wasted is staggering. Also, they've spent £875m since 2015 and recouped about £285m across selling 38 players - the most being Danilo for £33m, so they shed huge number of player from previous acquisitions and still end up with a deficit of almost £600m over 5 seasons.

I was trying to think what they will do inside the stadium - how to create a special celebration for TV audience. Thinking a little bit more, a lot of fans won’t care about missing the Chelsea game if they can cheer the bus into & out of Anfield. Anyway, assuming the police could manage all that, I wonder what TV/LFC can do to give this the best possible celebration for players/fans in the circumstances.

Liverpool vs Chelsea - July 18th What do you think the club can do for the trophy presentation? I’m sure they - and SkySports - are doing their best to come up with a “spectacle”. Will they apply for special dispensation for maybe more people to attend for interviews on site. Jamie Webster playing on the pitch belting out the players songs? It’ll have a record audience and we’ll all want something special - what can they do? There will also be considerations for “outside the ground” after recent days. I want a great TV/Club production for that celebration but it’s hard to see how that unfolds with a restriction on numbers.

Hey Leo. We’ve been working hard on his leg muscles to strengthen them The left pic is 2 weeks after his op and the right is recently. The legs are not as thin now so it’s progressing - slowly - but progressing. 🙌

If we can put out our best team - which we should be able to do - then when you square them up on the pitch, we have to be favourites Our 1st choice defence against their attack thats missing their best player. Our 1st choice attack, against, their 1st choice defence of Walker Fernandinho Laporte [Mendy/Zinchenko] I would be very hopeful that with all the factors in play - champions, 1st game as champions, playing against last seasons champions, the rivalry in recent years, and most of all, going out with a mentality to play like champions against City on their home pitch and put in a really good performance to cap if all off. As it is, bookies have City as EVS and Liverpool as 11/5. Really 😂 Great, so thats one of Otamendi or Stones then with Laporte !

I thought so too, but its tomorrow's game in the FA Cup vs Newcastle he misses. Guardiola can go with Otamendi and Laporte but means Laporte will be playing 3 games in a week. Maybe John Stones is available tomorrow but thats not clear yet I dont think.

Klopp vs Guardiola: Since Klopp joined Liverpool there have been 13 games so far Liverpool won 7 (1-4, 3-0. 1-0, 4-3, 3-0, 1-2, 3-1) Draws 4 (though 2 of which City won on penalties, Charity Shield and League Cup) City won 2 (5-0 Mane sent off and last season's 2-1 game) Liverpool: Only doubts are over Milner and Matip, not clear on Shaqiri whilst Clyne's contract ends on Tuesday Man City: Fernandinho serves his ban against Newcastle in the FA Cup. They will then have a 4 day rest between Sunday and Thursday. Most Minutes: The players with most minutes for City in the League are, in order; Ederson (2442 out of 2,790), De Bruyne, Sterling, Fernandinho, Rodri, Walker (1,990), Gundogan (1,769), Bernardo SIlva (1,670), Mahrez (1,602), Otamendi (1,520), Jesus (1,496), Aguero (1,460) Starters: Ederson, Walker, Fernandinho, Laporte, [Left Back], Rodri, De Bruyne, [Left CM], Sterling, Mahrez [Other forward] Left Back: Zinchenko or Mendy. Mendy played the Chelsea/Arsenal games and Zinchenko played against Burnly Left CM: David Silva played Arsenal/Burnley and De Bruyne vs Chelsea Attack: Either Jesus or he plays a front line like against Chelsea with Sterling, Mahrez and Bernardo Silva Squad considerations: Both City and Liverpool play 3 days after this match, Liverpool vs Villa and City vs Southampton Here is the line up from the game at Anfield earlier in the season

BT's Premier League Tonight BT Sky's Special Celebration Show from last night Sky

Great idea @Gethin - been fairly busy today so havent quite caught up on everything, this is great though !