Manchester City may unleash their full attacking prowess against FC Timisoara

Manchester City v FC Timisoara, Europa League qualifying second leg, August 26, 2010

Manchester City 1.13; Draw 6.18; FC Timisoara 14.96

After an opening day 0-0 draw with Spurs, the Manchester City project under Roberto Mancini has really shifted into gear this season thanks to a 1-0 win in Romania in the first leg of this tie and a hugely impressive 3-0 victory over Liverpool on Monday night.

City are clear favourites to win this second leg following Mario Balotellis debut goal last Thursday night. What could be most intriguing is which of the squad members will be given a run out in what should be a comfortable victory for the home side.

Pablo Zabaleta, David Silva and Emmanuel Adebayor all started the first leg and then were dropped for the starting XI against Liverpool. These three internationals can all expect to start and it would be no surprise if Bobby MC were to give chances to Balotelli, along with Shaun Wright-Phillips and Patrick Vieira to impress in what is looking like the most congested squad in European football.

Manchester City travel to Sunderland on Sunday in the Premier League and that encounter will take much greater importance than the Europa League. As a result the likes of Carlos Tevez, Gareth Barry and Yaya Toure could all be rested or play bit-part roles with progression to the group stages of the Europa League all but certain.

What we can say for certain is that whatever team Mancini puts up should be good enough to beat FC Timisoara. Manchester City will likely control possession and should score a fair few to leave their mark as one of the teams to beat in Europes second-best competition.

Timisoara can though be expected to put up a fight. They looked the likelier team to score in the opening stages of the home game and it was not until Yaya Toure hit t! he post and Balotelli was introduced that the game started to shift Citys way.

In particular Timisoara felt they should have had two penalties and they have shown this season in domestic matches that they are capable of coming back from being a goal down. And in the last round they secured progression with a 3-3 home draw against MyPa in the second leg after they had been 3-0 down.

On the Sunday they secured a 2-1 home win over Victoria Branesti. Substitutes Lukas Magera and Ianis Zicu were on target and besides the defeat to Manchester City last week they have not lost since May.

It would be stretching belief a little to suggest that the Romanians will turn the score round at Eastlands. But, they have experienced European campaigners such as Cosmin Contra and have surprised top teams before as they did to Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League in 2009/2010.

Most Manchester City fans will hope that Mancini field an attacking line-up and goes for the jugular. The likelihood is that City will dominate midfield and slowly strangle the life of Timisoara to secure a comfortable aggregate win.

101gg predicts: Manchester City 4 FC Timisoara 0

Manchester City 1.13; Draw 6.18; FC Timisoara 14.96


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