Europa League 20/21

Leicester getting KOed will probably help them in the league. They were never winning this anyway.

We really should win this. There's no Seville or Inter this time. We're much better than Milan, Arsenal and Tottenham, no doubt for me.
 
el3mel said:
Leicester getting KOed will probably help them in the league. They were never winning this anyway.

We really should win this. There's no Seville or Inter this time. We're much better than Milan, Arsenal and Tottenham, no doubt for me.
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Why were we never winning it? We are joint on points with you and already beaten Spurs and Arsenal?

I’m not suggesting I expected it and certainly not with our injuries, but that’s a bit dismissive.
 
foxedup said:
Why were we never winning it? We are joint on points with you and already beaten Spurs and Arsenal?

I’m not suggesting I expected it and certainly not with our injuries, but that’s a bit dismissive.
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I don't think you have the squad depth to fight on both top 4 and Europe League. You would have fallen at one point. I think now to focus on the league will be better.
 
I'll be really disappointed if we don't win the EL now. I honestly can't see a team left in the competition that should beat us over two legs. This time there's no Sevilla either to beat us.
 
PoTMS said:
I'll be really disappointed if we don't win the EL now. I honestly can't see a team left in the competition that should beat us over two legs. This time there's no Sevilla either to beat us.
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The final ain't two legs and if it's Arsenal, I can see it being a coin toss.
 
PoTMS said:
I'll be really disappointed if we don't win the EL now. I honestly can't see a team left in the competition that should beat us over two legs. This time there's no Sevilla either to beat us.
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There's no Inter Milan on the other side either, which I thought were the only team that could beat us to it last season. Basically competing with Spurs and Arsenal for it
 
mu4c_20le said:
The final ain't two legs and if it's Arsenal, I can see it being a coin toss.
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If we still can't beat Arsenal, then we truly are fecked and serious questions need to be raised about Ole and the mentality of the squad. Arsenal are absolutely awful.
 
PoTMS said:
If we still can't beat Arsenal, then we truly are fecked and serious questions need to be raised about Ole and the mentality of the squad. Arsenal are absolutely awful.
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They were lucky not to be knocked out tonight
 
Rodgers has a shocking record in Europe. He’s lost all five of his Europa League knockout ties and crashed out of the Champions League group stage with us in 2014-15.
 
el3mel said:
I don't think you have the squad depth to fight on both top 4 and Europe League. You would have fallen at one point. I think now to focus on the league will be better.
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We’ve literally been missing half a team for most of the season each week. Our squad is far stronger than you think.

The sheer number of injuries has taken its toll.
 
croadyman said:
They were lucky not to be knocked out tonight
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Yep. Fact of the matter is we are the only team left in the Europa League that has a Champions League squad. Anything but winning the competition should be seen as a disappointment.
 
PoTMS said:
Yep. Fact of the matter is we are the only team left in the Europa League that has a Champions League squad. Anything but winning the competition should be seen as a disappointment.
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Very true but would still rather avoid the likes of Roma, Villarreal, & Milan so that we can continue to give minutes to the likes of Amad & Shola in the next round at least.
 
foxedup said:
Why were we never winning it? We are joint on points with you and already beaten Spurs and Arsenal?

I’m not suggesting I expected it and certainly not with our injuries, but that’s a bit dismissive.
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You were never winning it cause you were destined to fall at the first hurdle, as is the Rodgers tradition :angel:
 
Sutton saying he would love to see Rangers knock out Utd, well there is our pre match team talk done for that game
 
Having just been knocked out by Rangers, I have to say they have a pretty good team. Very dangerous going forward. Their backline not so solid, so shouldn't be a problem in the end for a United calibre front line.

Would be a fun match-up I think (and a short trip).
 
Botim said:
Having just been knocked out by Rangers, I have to say they have a pretty good team. Very dangerous going forward. Their backline not so solid, so shouldn't be a problem in the end for a United calibre front line.

Would be a fun match-up I think (and a short trip).
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Do not want rangers without fans.

Missed it in 2003.
 
Ed9 said:
I don't know how you played but you were in your strongest lineup, I think Brentan took this very seriously.
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Eh... how is that our strongest lineup?

Fofana, Justin, Ricardo, Castagne, Maddison, Iheanacho, Perez, Praet all inured, suspended or rested.

Having to play people out of position (Tielemans) and flog a 34-year-old Vardy returning from injury to death because we literally have no other strikers available.

We picked a team to try and win it, but that's so far from our strongest team and squad. Not just because of who is injured, but also because so many are only just back from an injury like Soyuncu, Ndidi and are still rusty.
 
Leicester loss to Slavia Prague is really disappointing. Was hoping to see more English teams advance for the coefficients and it's always nice to see another English team doing well in Europe. Brendan Rodgers you fool.
 
Raredaredevil said:
Leicester loss to Slavia Prague is really disappointing. Was hoping to see more English teams advance for the coefficients and it's always nice to see another English team doing well in Europe. Brendan Rodgers you fool.
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Were you worried about the coefficient when you got knocked out of the Champions League?
 
foxedup said:
Eh... how is that our strongest lineup?

Fofana, Justin, Ricardo, Castagne, Maddison, Iheanacho, Perez, Praet all inured, suspended or rested.

Having to play people out of position (Tielemans) and flog a 34-year-old Vardy returning from injury to death because we literally have no other strikers available.

We picked a team to try and win it, but that's so far from our strongest team and squad. Not just because of who is injured, but also because so many are only just back from an injury like Soyuncu, Ndidi and are still rusty.
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Not sure about the strongest line up but it looked like strong line up from the available squad.

First choice players who started
Schmeichel
Evans
Soyuncu
Ndidi
Tielemans
Vardy

First choice players who came on as a sub at 60th min mark
Castagne
Ricardo Pereira
Barnes

And then players like Albrighton who plays regularly.

That looks strong line up for me. Not the strongest line up but with the players available, it's a strong line up.
 
roonster09 said:
Not sure about the strongest line up but it looked like strong line up from the available squad.

First choice players who started
Schmeichel
Evans
Soyuncu
Ndidi
Tielemans
Vardy

First choice players who came on as a sub at 60th min mark
Castagne
Ricardo Pereira
Barnes

And then players like Albrighton who plays regularly.

That looks strong line up for me. Not the strongest line up but with the players available, it's a strong line up.
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Again, it overlooks the fact 34 year old Vardy is having to play every minute as we have no other fit striker and he's carrying a problem. The fact Tielemans has to play further forward in the 10 as we have no fit 10's, then meaning we play two DM's and have zero creativity as our other creative CM is injured. Ndidi is only just back from injury and again, shouldn't be playing every game at the minute. Ricardo and Castagne being managed due to only just being back from injuries. Ricardo's being an entire year out.

There are a lot of nuances there beyond the fact there are a few names on the team sheet. We've been able to manage not so bad so far with the injuries, but with 5 of those "first choice" players only just back from injury, and so many of their deputies injured, it's royally messing us up.
 
foxedup said:
Again, it overlooks the fact 34 year old Vardy is having to play every minute as we have no other fit striker and he's carrying a problem. The fact Tielemans has to play further forward in the 10 as we have no fit 10's, then meaning we play two DM's and have zero creativity as our other creative CM is injured. Ndidi is only just back from injury and again, shouldn't be playing every game at the minute. Ricardo and Castagne being managed due to only just being back from injuries. Ricardo's being an entire year out.

There are a lot of nuances there beyond the fact there are a few names on the team sheet. We've been able to manage not so bad so far with the injuries, but with 5 of those "first choice" players only just back from injury, and so many of their deputies injured, it's royally messing us up.
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The fact that you used your best striker who was back from injury or carrying a problem, used your best midfielder who was back from injury shows how Rodgers wanted to field the strongest possible line up.

So are you saying you didn't use your best available players?
 
roonster09 said:
The fact that you used your best striker who was back from injury or carrying a problem, used your best midfielder who was back from injury shows how Rodgers wanted to field the strongest possible line up.

So are you saying you didn't use your best available players?
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I'm saying we didn't really have much choice to field most of them. We had no other striker.

He fielded what he thought we could win with, whilst trying not to take too many risks due to all our injuries. Because of what's happened we're on a knife-edge injury-wise.
 
How come Milan were playing what looks like their b-team? Are they crippled by injuries or do they prioritize the league?
 
do.ob said:
How come Milan were playing what looks like their b-team? Are they crippled by injuries or do they prioritize the league?
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Injuries as far as I know. Theo, Rebic, Calhanoglu, Ibrahimovic... pretty decimated.

Edit: also Romagnoli
 
Hansi Fick said:
Injuries as far as I know. Theo, Rebic, Calhanoglu, Ibrahimovic... pretty decimated.
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Oh man that sucks. They looked pretty decent still though. Would have been interesting to see how their first team might have done.
 
Owen Hargreaves: "We thought Milan would just be happy to be here, embracing the occasion".

Apart from being more than a little patronising and disrespectful, how is this man a professional pundit.
 
Need Arsenal to get hammered to ease the pain right now.
 
Pagh Wraith said:
Owen Hargreaves: "We thought Milan would just be happy to be here, embracing the occasion".

Apart from being more than a little patronising and disrespectful, how is this man a professional pundit.
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The English aren't exactly famous for their knowledge of football outside their bubble. Their panel for the 2010 WC was a classic :drool:
 
Why the feck is Arteta suddenly starting Willian all the time?
 
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