Capital One Cup Tie Is Now Crucial For City

After a disappointing week in which Manchester City suffered their first defeat of the campaign, promptly followed by their second, the Capital One Cup tie against Sunderland has now taken on added significance.

After a fine start to the season that saw the Blues installed as runaway favourites for the title, they have now suffered a week in which they lost their opening Champions League game to Juventus, before they dropped all three Premier League points against West Ham. Nobody will think this is anything more than a minor slip-up; the trick is making sure it becomes no more than that.

Whilst it is correct to suggest that success in the Capital One Cup is City’s lowest priority this season, the idea that pervades amongst some clubs that elimination is worth little more than a shrug of the shoulders is just plain wrong. Worse than that, it’s damaging.

So much of what makes a team successful comes down to mentality. Right now, confidence for the vast majority of the Blues’ players will still be fairly high. The team sit top of the Premier League table and they were exceptional in their first five games. Even in defeat against West Ham, City produced a dominant second half performance and on any other day they’d have got more reward for their efforts.

That being said, winning is a habit. As the cliché goes, so is losing. It is imperative that City don’t slip to a third consecutive defeat, lest their phenomenal start risks being somewhat tempered.

Victory at Sunderland would not only further their chances of winning the competition; it would put any fear of a dip in form to bed immediately. Two defeats can be written off as a bad week, but a third loss might start to see some questions being asked. With City travelling to a resurgent Tottenham at weekend, they won’t need their confidence to take a further hit.

Naturally, an element of squad rotation is to be expected. Willy Cabellero will start in goal, though anything after that becomes educated guesswork.

18-year-old defender Pablo Maffeo has been included on the bench on multiple occasions this season. Counting his favourite positions as right-back, the young Spaniard may get the nod ahead of Bacary Sagna, with the Frenchman having played every game so far and Pablo Zabaleta still recovering from injury. Martin Demichelis could be afforded his first start of the season in defence, where he should be partnered with Nicolas Otamendi; Pellegrini will surely want to give his newest defender another start to settle him into the team.

In midfield, Fernando could get the nod ahead of either Yaya Toure or Fernandinho. The much-maligned Brazilian is returning from injury and has openly acknowledged that he struggled last season. If he is as good as his word, we might just see an improved player this time around; if he doesn’t start he should expect to get some minutes from the bench.

Patrick Roberts, the 18-year-old purchased from Fulham in the summer, may get some time on the pitch too, though a start at this point seems unlikely. Perhaps the most interesting element to the team selection will be whether Kelechi Iheanacho is included in the starting 11 for the first time. The 18-year-old Nigerian is tipped for big things and already has a huge goal to his name; Blues fans will have no trouble recalling his first two weeks ago, as he netted a stoppage-time winner at Crystal Palace having been on the pitch less than a minute.

Though squad rotation is necessary and the blooding of young talent is always exciting, the risk here is of pushing it too far. It is crucial that the manager populates the team with experience and in-form players too. Aleksander Kolarov will likely occupy the left-back position, while one of Toure or Fernandinho should start. Kevin De Bruyne may fancy some more time to acquaint himself with his new teammates on the pitch.

Sergio Agüero and Wilfried Bony are both out of touch and seemingly low on confidence; both will be eager to play so they can start notching goals again, but with Iheanacho waiting in the wings, it seems only one of the two will start. Personally, I’d prefer it to be Kün, though I’d wager Pellegrini will opt for Bony.

After bowing out of both domestic cup competitions in dismal fashion last season, Pellegrini will be keen to make amends this year against a very poor Sunderland team. His memories of playing the Black Cats in this competition are good ones; it was Sunderland that City beat at Wembley in 2014 to claim the Chilean’s first trophy in English football, laying the foundations to complete a league and cup double that season.

A similar result this time will not carry the same weight, but it would give Manchester City a great lift after their first difficult week of the season.