Europa Cup - City Must Win Tonight

With the will-he won't-he talk gaining momentum even amongst our own fans, including some who have already paraded themselves with 'Rooney 10' on the back of their replica shirts, City must concentrate upon getting this match won tonight and put any thoughts or talk of Rooney on the back burner, or even in the bin.

Often described as the 'Friendly Cup' and regarded as the poorer of the two main Club competions in Europe, the Europa League this season is abundant with big names and it would indeed be prestigious if this became City's first major trophy success since 1976.

Mancini often tinkers a little with the line-up for these matches, sometimes inviting a bit more stress than he needs to and tonight I suspect will be no exception as possibly Tevez and de Jong head for the bench and brothers Toure to the Stand due to injury.

Tonight we need to get into this match quickly, get the ball into the net and then take advantage on the counter as Lech seek to get even. We must not however leave the back door open as we did at Blackpool on Sunday for their second goal) and perhaps more grievously when we last entertained POlish opposition at Eastlands when the unfancied Groclin Dyskobolya scored a late away goal which ultimately determined the outcome of the tie. The wrong result tonight is not group defining but would of course make qualification more difficult.

So tonight I'm looking at:

Hart, Boateng, Kompany, Lescott, Bridge,
Johnson, Vieira, Milner, Silva and whoever is fit from Adebayor and Santa Cruz or Jo.

Dec Jong may come on to steady the ship and Tevez to get the winning goal.

The line up is consistent with Mancini's other sides in this competition and offers flair out wide but the potential in the centres looks laboured with none of those in question considered to be in any kind of positive form. I would love to see John Guidetti in there, a young man with a hunger to progress and an eye for goal, but I suspect in his cautiousness Mancini will leave that for another day.

EUROPA LEAGUE TONIGHT ON VMC:

Head for The VMC Match Day Experience Forum for the build up to the game with Lech Poznan and our ever popular Live Match Day Thread!

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