Eddie's Glorious Champions League-bound Mags vs De Zerbi's Stuttering South Coast Soft Shites

[OTF 7238]

12 minutes ago, Renton said:

 

I don't think so. Two home wins guarantees it doesn't it? Liverpool only have two games left and are a point below us. I mean, I know the PL are a bunch of cheating wankers, but not sure they can get round this.

 

 

 whoops! Apart from that shocking mistake everything else still stands. A point against Brighton could potentially not count for much as there's every chance that LiVARpool overturn our GD advantage with a big score against Southampton in the last game. So to be sure, as I said 😉 we need to win two and draw one massive sigh of relief to guarantee our place.

 

[Dr Gloom 21768]

23 minutes ago, OTF said:

 

Brighton are a different team when they have something to prove. Against Everton they conceded some early unexpected goals and lost interest. We have to be ready for the Brighton that played Arsenal. If we can't beat them at home with a bit of pressure on then we're not ready for the champion's league and won't make it. Both Liverpool and Manu are not likely to drop any points in their run home, the sheer will of the FA and referees will help see to that, so we need to win two and draw one to guarantee our place. Even though Chelsea are currently fat Frank useless we do not want to be playing at Stamford Bridge needing a win on the final day. Not beating Leeds was a massive fuck up, but ultimately out destiny is still in our hands.

 

An earlyish goal against Brighton will settle the nerves.

Flying out of the blocks is our best bet. Get the crowd on side. Blow them away with a couple of early goals. It’s high risk strategy though as Brighton are among the best in the league at playing through the press and we’ve been leaking goals 

[Holden McGroin 6458]

Its a tricky one. Do we stay solid and flood the midfield (they also have to get something to keep their Europe dreams alive) OR do we go BALLS OUT and attempt to blow them out the water early doors.

 

Lucky im not a manager so Eddie can decide that. I think he'll go front foot as usual.

[Renton 21120]

Worked wonders against Spurs, didn't against Arsenal, partly due to bad luck (hit post and penalty over turned which completely wrecked our flow). I say go for it. As someone said, if we can't qualify from where we are, we're simply not good enough. No shame in that. Also, whereas of course I would fucking love the prestige and money CL brings, I honestly think our best chance of silverware might be onw of the lower European competitions. 

[Dougle 3290]

If we start with Wilson and Isak i wont expect to win.

[ewerk 30170]

Aye, I think Howe was trying to avoid playing them together this season but had his hand forced. Time to go back to the tried and tested.

[Rayvin 5151]

35 minutes ago, OTF said:

 

 whoops! Apart from that shocking mistake everything else still stands. A point against Brighton could potentially not count for much as there's every chance that LiVARpool overturn our GD advantage with a big score against Southampton in the last game. So to be sure, as I said 😉 we need to win two and draw one massive sigh of relief to guarantee our place.

 

 

Am confused here mind, Renton just said we only need 6 points and he's right. We can lose to Brighton and still be mathematically uncatchable for Liverpool as long as we beat Leicester and Chelsea. They could beat Southampton 20-0 and it wouldn't matter because that point against Leeds was actually useful.

 

I do ultimately think we'd all feel a lot better if we just won this fking game on Thursday though.

[ewerk 30170]

5 minutes ago, Rayvin said:

 

I do ultimately think we'd all feel a lot better if we just won this fking game on Thursday though.

Win on Thursday and it’s pretty much inconceivable we don’t beat Leicester and we can all breathe a lot easier going into the final match.

[MrBass 2637]

Aye, as shite as Chelsea are/have been, I think everyone would prefer to not have to go to Stamford Bridge needing a result.

[The Fish 10674]

8 minutes ago, ewerk said:

Win on Thursday and it’s pretty much inconceivable we don’t beat Leicester and we can all breathe a lot easier going into the final match.

 

Yeah, Brighton is the only match I'm worried about. Only because it puts pressure on the next two fixtures. I'm entirely confident we'll beat Leicester; last home game, under the lights, they're shit.

 

If we beat Brighton, the atmosphere against Leicester will be celebratory, if we don't beat Brighton it'll be insistent. Chelsea away on the final day, if we've already secured CL, will just be a big ol'party.

[Dr Gloom 21768]

44 minutes ago, ewerk said:

Aye, I think Howe was trying to avoid playing them together this season but had his hand forced. Time to go back to the tried and tested.

 

we need longstaff to recover from his injury for that to happen though. this is where failing to replace shelvey is hurting us. ideally we'd put joe back wide left with willock and bruno in midfield but we have no one to cover longstaff if he's still out. unless you put someone like anderson or gordon in there, which would be a big gamble. 

[Holden McGroin 6458]

If Sir Sean is out then it’s gotta be willock-bruno-Joe. None of this Joe as number 6 bollocks either. 

 

You’ve got options of Miggy, Anderson, Rocky or Murphy for wings. 
 

 

 

[Dr Gloom 21768]

i think you'd ideally rest bruno as well as he has been playing with one leg recently but he's going to have to try to play through the pain and carry us home then maybe have an op on his ankle in the summer. 

[PaddockLad 16995]

This is by no means a criticism but it’s a shame Anderson hasn’t had more game time . There’s a case for leaving Bruno out on Thursday, not that I expect that to happen if he tells EH he’s “fit enough” and  keen to play . He deserves that respect tbf but if you shut Bruno down we’re probably 33.33% less as a team 

 

Play Anderson as the most attacking midfielder eg 

 

                         Wilson

 

                         Anderson 

 

ASM                                                  Murphy 

 

                   Joe W.          Joelinton 

 

 

I don’t really expect this but neither would Brighton. Don’t know if Howe would trust Anderson in such a huge game so it’s highly unlikely to happen but watching Bruno struggle is almost as painful for us as it must be for him. It’s absolutely fuckin certain that Caceido will target him in the first five minutes ….

[OTF 7238]

1 hour ago, Rayvin said:

 

Am confused here mind, Renton just said we only need 6 points and he's right. We can lose to Brighton and still be mathematically uncatchable for Liverpool as long as we beat Leicester and Chelsea. They could beat Southampton 20-0 and it wouldn't matter because that point against Leeds was actually useful.

 

I do ultimately think we'd all feel a lot better if we just won this fking game on Thursday though.

 

I was saying if we draw with Brighton, beat Leicester and draw with Chelsea then Liverpool will likely have hit 71 and overcome our goal difference unless we win heavily against Leicester.

 

The ball is still most definitely in our court, but we've shown a few times recently that we can fail to meet the occasion when there's aome additional pressure.

[Rayvin 5151]

2 minutes ago, OTF said:

 

I was saying if we draw with Brighton, beat Leicester and draw with Chelsea then Liverpool will likely have hit 71 and overcome our goal difference unless we win heavily against Leicester.

 

The ball is still most definitely in our court, but we've shown a few times recently that we can fail to meet the occasion when there's aome additional pressure.

 

My bad, fair enough.

[The Fish 10674]

35 minutes ago, PaddockLad said:

This is by no means a criticism but it’s a shame Anderson hasn’t had more game time . There’s a case for leaving Bruno out on Thursday, not that I expect that to happen if he tells EH he’s “fit enough” and  keen to play . He deserves that respect tbf but if you shut Bruno down we’re probably 33.33% less as a team 

 

Play Anderson as the most attacking midfielder eg 

 

                         Wilson

 

                         Anderson 

 

ASM                                                  Murphy 

 

                   Joe W.          Joelinton 

 

 

I don’t really expect this but neither would Brighton. Don’t know if Howe would trust Anderson in such a huge game so it’s highly unlikely to happen but watching Bruno struggle is almost as painful for us as it must be for him. It’s absolutely fuckin certain that Caceido will target him in the first five minutes ….

 

There's insufficient control in that midfield, the two Joe's first instinct is to attack, neither have the defensive discipline to successfully shutdown Brighton's midfield and both have a tendency to beat one man then drive forward. More often than not, that results in losing the ball or at least being dramatically out of position in the transition.

 

I'd play Bruno against Brighton, but replace him with Longstaff in the starting line-up for Leicester. Anderson is a good option from the bench, but he's not yet ready to carry the responsibility in such an important pair of fixtures.

[PaddockLad 16995]

1 minute ago, The Fish said:

 

There's insufficient control in that midfield, the two Joe's first instinct is to attack, neither have the defensive discipline to successfully shutdown Brighton's midfield and both have a tendency to beat one man then drive forward. More often than not, that results in losing the ball or at least being dramatically out of position in the transition.

 

I'd play Bruno against Brighton, but replace him with Longstaff in the starting line-up for Leicester. Anderson is a good option from the bench, but he's not yet ready to carry the responsibility in such an important pair of fixtures.

Yes I can see that. Am basically trying to find a way of resting Bruno and that was the best I could come up with given the players available. Are we sure Longy will be available at all? Last I heard it wasn’t a broken foot but he was being sent back to a specialist again . Unless we’re being sold a pup about his fitness obvs  

[Rosco 758]

Before the Leeds game I was confident of 3 points and for Liverpool or Man Utd to drop points......As already mentioned beat Brighton and the pressure is off,draw or lose and it'll be a very uncomfortable last 2 games.

Liverpool might drop points home to Villa but its fucking Liverpool so every rub of the green will go their way,Its still in our hands 2 wins and we're home & dry so lets get at Brighton from the off

[The Fish 10674]

14 minutes ago, PaddockLad said:

Yes I can see that. Am basically trying to find a way of resting Bruno and that was the best I could come up with given the players available. Are we sure Longy will be available at all? Last I heard it wasn’t a broken foot but he was being sent back to a specialist again . Unless we’re being sold a pup about his fitness obvs  

 

Just as an option, we could try a 5-3-2, try to replace Bruno's assurance and defensive awareness with sheer volume of effort?

 

Targett Burn Botman Schar Trippier

Willock Joelinton Almiron

Isak Wilson

 

This way you'll always have 3 central defenders, one who can step out into midfield to help, or move across to support the fullback. Whenever one of those 3 midfielders joins the attack, there are still 2 who can hang a little further back, better placed to either break up play, or provide an outball if we win the ball back?

 

I dunno, it's difficult when Bruno + Longstaff aren't available. Miss one or the other and you can make it up in the aggregate. Both of them? Yeesh.

[ewerk 30170]

Three games left of the season, CL qualification still up in the air, and you think now is the time to try a new formation?

[Dr Gloom 21768]

15 minutes ago, The Fish said:

 

Just as an option, we could try a 5-3-2, try to replace Bruno's assurance and defensive awareness with sheer volume of effort?

 

Targett Burn Botman Schar Trippier

Willock Joelinton Almiron

Isak Wilson

 

This way you'll always have 3 central defenders, one who can step out into midfield to help, or move across to support the fullback. Whenever one of those 3 midfielders joins the attack, there are still 2 who can hang a little further back, better placed to either break up play, or provide an outball if we win the ball back?

 

I dunno, it's difficult when Bruno + Longstaff aren't available. Miss one or the other and you can make it up in the aggregate. Both of them? Yeesh.

[Holden McGroin 6458]

Why are we talking about dropping Bruno?

[Renton 21120]

27 minutes ago, The Fish said:

 

Just as an option, we could try a 5-3-2, try to replace Bruno's assurance and defensive awareness with sheer volume of effort?

 

Targett Burn Botman Schar Trippier

Willock Joelinton Almiron

Isak Wilson

 

This way you'll always have 3 central defenders, one who can step out into midfield to help, or move across to support the fullback. Whenever one of those 3 midfielders joins the attack, there are still 2 who can hang a little further back, better placed to either break up play, or provide an outball if we win the ball back?

 

I dunno, it's difficult when Bruno + Longstaff aren't available. Miss one or the other and you can make it up in the aggregate. Both of them? Yeesh.

 

You've got Trippier there as a left wingback and Targett as a right wingback? Interesting..... 

 

Unless you've completely inverted this and gone for Isak and WIlson as our centre backs, with Botman, Schar, and Burn providing the firepower up front?

 

Genius. I can't understand why you're not a professional football manager tbh.

 

 

[ewerk 30170]

3 hours ago, Renton said:

 

Liverpool only have two games left and are a point below us. I mean, I know the PL are a bunch of cheating wankers, but not sure they can get round this.

 

 

On a related note, Klopp was charged with slagging off the ref two weeks ago and we haven't heard a dickie bird about the outcome. Are they going to leave it until the end of season before slapping him with a suspension?