This coming Tuesday Manchester City will play their third pre season match against Italian giants AS Roma. If the game is anything like the two of which we saw in last season’s Champions League we are going to be in for a treat. There a two factors which will too change the game, different venue and different competition. In Roma’s last match they played out a 0-0 draw against the stand -out team in the International Champions Cup, Real Madrid. Although the game did go Roma’s way as they won 6-7 on penalties.
One player to watch this Tuesday will be Gervinho. The quick Ivorian was a great asset against Real and it will be interesting to see how the likes of Pablo Maffeo and Cameron Humphreys cope against him. Both defenders put in a strong performance against our sister club Melbourne City; hopefully Humphreys can continue to learn from veteran skipper Vincent Kompany.
It’s not only the defenders that will have to put a shift in, in the absence of Sergio Agüero, Brandon Barker has stepped up his game too. Barker shows an excellent array of skills and attributes which include dribbling at pace and cutting inside onto his right foot to shoot at goal. We can hope to see more of this from him as he continues to push for place in the senior squad.
One duel which will be a feast for any City fan will be Yaya Toure playing against Danielle De Rossi. Both share similar attributes such as strength and a knack of producing formidable shots from range. When the pair show up this Tuesday it could be a key battle worth keeping tabs on. If we see the same Yaya Toure as we did on Saturday then De Rossi is going to have a very tough game. Another youngster who could play in the game and looks like a very exciting prospect is our 17-year old attacking midfielder Manu Garcia. He dominated the last game causing the Melbourne defence a considerable amount of trouble and at only 17, displayed great maturity in his game.
One of the main questions going into the game is whether Raheem Sterling would make his debut. The 20-year old was rested for the game against Melbourne but Pellegrini has confirmed that he will be involved this time around. His pace and experience at such a young age is just unbelievable and City fans are rightly chomping at the bit to see him in action. Later on in this pre season get ready to see new additions Fabian Delph, Patrick Roberts show us what they have got before the season starts in just 19 days time.
What is your prediction for the game? Let us know in the comments or tweet us @TheMaineBlues.
