Apparently we have left - Porro, Romero, VDV, Udogie, Bentancur, Werner, Johnson, Kulusevski, Richy behind in old blighty (some of them injured).
Kids on the plane include Lankshear, Moore, Lucá Williams-Barnett, Callum Latif Olusesi, Dorrington and the wonderfully named Dante Cassanova.
Will be an amazing learning experience for all of them but we probably stand little chance of taking anything from this game. With a P3 W3 record so far, seems like we're prepared to let this one go, keeping the squad fresh for Ipswich at the weekend.
Anyone have any issues with this strategy. Obvs makes Ipswich(h) a must win but that is always the case anyway.
BTW - with Arsenal playing Chelsea and Villa at Liverpool, a win vs Ipswich makes it quite likely we'll go into the international break in the top 4 (3rd if Forest also lose to Newcastle) and above at least 2, potentially all of Villa Arsenal and Chelsea. That would be a great place to be b4 yet another boring international break !
Galatasaray away
posted 14 hours, 37 minutes ago
comment by Striketeam7 - staying humble (U18109)
posted 55 minutes ago
comment by Dave&Danny dynamic (U4428)
posted 41 minutes ago
This is a free hit really, dropping points not the end of the world, would have left Son behind too wrapped up for weekend and probably played Richarlison who desperately needs minutes
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Richy isn’t 100% so can’t play really.
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Off course, naturally
posted 12 hours, 45 minutes ago
Giving the team Spurs are likely to field in Turkey I think I will cash out my bet on a Spurs win. Definitely losing this one.
posted 12 hours, 7 minutes ago
Ange should be telling his fringe players “here is your chance to stake a claim”
The youngsters will get a very valuable 90 mins in a competitive match in a hostile stadium - this is a better test than anything they have had before and will help battle harden them
posted 11 hours, 51 minutes ago
comment by Striketeam7 - staying humble (U18109)
posted 10 minutes ago
Ange should be telling his fringe players “here is your chance to stake a claim”
The youngsters will get a very valuable 90 mins in a competitive match in a hostile stadium - this is a better test than anything they have had before and will help battle harden them
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------------------------Big Fraze
Gray......Radu.........Dorrington.......Davies
..........................Biss
.................Madders.......Bergvall
Moore...............Lankshear............Son
posted 11 hours, 27 minutes ago
Moore out apparently. Virus, so left at home
posted 10 hours, 22 minutes ago
Yeh, little chance of a result in this one, I would take a draw right now.
The bookies seem to be in agreement, as Gala are even money favourites for the win
posted 8 hours, 42 minutes ago
what position does Dante Cassanova play?
posted 6 hours, 50 minutes ago
comment by Striketeam7 - staying humble (U18109)
posted 5 hours, 20 minutes ago
comment by Devonshirespur (U6316)
posted 18 minutes ago
Remaining Europe games include:
Roma @ WHL, they are apparently a shambles at the moment on the verge of sacking their manager who only came in in the summer.
Rangers (a) - that will be red hot but surely there for the beating
Hoffenheim (a) - no idea what state they're in but we could be 15 pts by then.
Elfsburg (h) - Everyone knows Elfs knock-off on Christmas eve so they'll be in the beach. Seriously though, i think its their winter break
Does anyone know if the draw for the KO rounds is seeded...does it matter where you come in the top 8?
and I presume as a minimum the top 8 are drawn against the winners from the extra KO round (places 9-16). And is the extra KO round a random draw of does their position in the table influence who they play (9th vs 16th for example??)
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Roma are poor - 13th in the league
Rangers - 3rd in a 2 team league currently
Hoffenheim - in the relegation zone in Germany
Elfsborg - off season
We should have little problem taking 9/10 points from that lot.
If you finish 1st in the group stage, you then play the worst ranking side that qualify for the last 16 and so on. You also get to play at home in the second leg.
I’ve no idea how this works from the QF onwards, whether it’s an open draw at that point or structured as before
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Hmmmm
Not too sure about that - as I read it 1-8 qualify straight away. Don’t think they are ranked.
9-16 go into playoff as seeded teams and 17-24 unseeded. 2 leg play offs
Then the winners of those play off games become unseeded against the top 8 (now seeded) in the round of 16
Can’t find anything about not playing someone you’ve played before of from the same national league like in the old format
https://www.uefa.com/newformatexplainer/#!/admin/slideshow/presentation/1/chapter/1/slide/10
posted 6 hours, 49 minutes ago
Anyway - glad he’s playing the kids - as others have said should qualify top 8 anyway and a win v Ipswich is critical
👍
posted 6 hours, 44 minutes ago
i know he is injured so it wouldnt matter here, but not having spence in the europa league squad is absolutely ridiculous