We have a game against PSG on April 29 and Thomas Partey, due to his idiotic yellow against Real Madrid, will be suspended from the game. Mikel, in his last press conference, wasn’t sure about Jorginho’s availability for the PSG game. So, we don’t have a DM for the biggest game of our season, the semi-final in Champions League. However, the positive thing is that we can use today’s game and the game against Crystal Palace on 23rd to find a solution.
There’s a problem as well to this. We are sitting on 2nd position and Liverpool has a 13 points lead with 6 games to go. We won’t catch up to them, lets be real. Also, there’s a very good chance (still) that we end up outside top 5 and don’t qualify for the Champions League next season . Forest is sitting on 5th position, only 6 points behind us. We have to not only prepare for the PSG game, but we have to make sure we don’t lose games, confidence and our form while doing so. A conundrum Mikel needs to go through!
Ipswich are a tight team. They will most likely get relegated after a sensational Premier League promotion but they can make fun of you sometimes. They don’t have anything to lose and this gives them some freedom to cause chaos. We have to manage this chaos, from the midfield. I’m a big Partey fan but we have only 2 games to find a solution for PSG game, and I would rather let him sit on bench. There are a few options we can try –
Move Timber to LB, put Ben White back to RB and promote MLS to midfield. A midfield of Odegaard, Declan Rice and MLS should be able to hold the fort against Ipswich and if it clicks, we find a solution.
The second option is to keep the defence line as it is, with Kiwior + Saliba as CBs, Timber on the right and MLS on left and introduce Nwaneri in the midfield. This is the best solution according to me, we are disturbing only 1 position (Thomas Partey) and keeping the rest of the winning squad in their position.
Mikel might also bring back Merino in the midfield and put Trossard up top, this is the most likely solution but I have never been convinced with Trossard as a striker. Against PSG, with Donnaruma in their goal, he wouldn’t be so much effective.
Back to today’s game. Calafiori will not be available along with the usuals – Havertz, Tomiyasu, Gabriel M and Jesus. It’s Ipswich last chance to survive the relegation and I am pretty sure they will put up a fight. This is the third consecutive year where we are playing on a Easter Sunday, and we have drawn the last 2. It makes me nervous a bit, but we should go through.
Also, it would be exciting to see one of the Nwaneri or MLS start in the midfield, because (I know you will come after me) ultimately we would have to improve on Odegaard.
We need to win, and we can do that in first half. Lets start the usuals, score couple of goals and then introduce Nwaneri / MLS in the midfield. We can start with that line up against Crystal Palace to practice one more time.
What’s the weather there? We have been suffering with this heat and the only thing keeping me sane is football. See you during the game, I have my set up ready.
Marc
Agreed, they do what we do, but much faster and with less back and sideways passing.
That 2 minute silence for the pope. Fucking good job Glasgow Rangers got nowhere near the CL.
Wickmeister – the ref is a cunt. But not biased. Right?
KP
They almost did. Hoping 2nd half would have some results.
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With this I am going for some sleep. Take care guys. We still got this.
I will get to know how my rest of the week will go in morning.
Ambarish
Pleasant dreams but you may be waking up to a nightmare in the morning.
for the first 25 we were the 3rd best side on the pitch…better showing in the latter part of the half…if only we had spent more time on our finishing than our flopping…hopefully our lack of a clinical finisher up top won’t be the deciding factor over the 2 legs
another match when the officiating has favoured us…didn’t they get the memo
“for the first 25 we were the 3rd best side on the pitch”
Sums it up perfectly – we should have conceded a penalty.
Ambarish
In Paris they could easily score 2 or 3.
We had a bunch of players offside there not sure if Merino was.
this will be a close call for offside…free kick shouldn’t have even happened, but I’m not complaining about the result, should the score count
unfortunate but kind of karmic considering the Merino flop, which somehow led to a yellow card for PSG…we still have ample time and momentum
I think something we have in our favour is that PSG has cocked things up in the CL on an annual basis, which is likely why they looked so poor in the 2nd half of that Villa match
Trossard simply can’t miss those type of chances
Marc—I like Enrique too, but he has a little Arteta in him, as far as opting for negative tactics at times…now I do think he has a higher ceiling, but he still has some lessons to learn…of course, I would take him over MA in a heartbeat
massive challenge by Saliba
There’s so much potential in Skelly – we need a real manager to make sure he fulfills it.
TRVL
Enrique is heads and shoulders above Arteta – of course that doesn’t mean he’s a great manager!
Marc—brilliant take!
the subs in this one could have a big impact on the final outcome, now that the match has opened up a bit
that’s why we’re lucky that Dembele went off!
this could have easiy been a 4-2 affair
if we can get one here that could be massive
Ethan likely should have come on a little earlier