Pre Match Pre Match - RB Leipzig - Weds 20:00

[Brizzle]

Tricky fixture here ahead of Sunday at The Emirates. I'd be inclined to see Macca & Diaz benched or rested again to ensure they are peak condition for Arsenal. Given Jones' great performance I'd actually support letting Macca skip 2 days of flying & hotels and stay at home to get in shape.

However that isn't how anyone seems to do things.

Leipzig have been poor in the CL but good in their league with two very dangerous attackers in Simons & Šeško.
Part of me would be tempted to rotate Ibu as he also played both games in the international break - however after Arsenal he'll likely get a rest for the league cup.



Kelleher

Trent
Quansah
Virgil
Robbo

Gravy
Jones
Szobo

Salah
Nunez
Gakpo

 

[dmishra]

What's up with Chiesa? Is he fit to play?

 

[MomoWASright]

I predict Robbo to be rested and tsimikas to come in. I can see Quansah coming in too. Slobby needs dropping after stinking the place out again. I’d say Chiesa would come in but he’s nowhere to be seen.

 

[MomoWASright]

What's up with Chiesa? Is he fit to play?

He’s rushed back home to move back in with his Ma.

 

[Modo]

Either Chiesa was extremely unfit when he joined or Slot just doesn't rate him

 

[Brizzle]

Yeah I was surprised that when he joined the narrative was around Chiesa "not having a pre season" (can't remember where I saw this). I thought he would have been training normally up until we signed him but maybe he was injured over the summer.

Anyway - let's see if we get him back to fitness as I think he'll be useful once on the pitch. If Jota is out for any sort of time we start having to play First XI strikers in these EFL/FA Cup games too, when it is quite nice having 6 forwards and doing a full rotate.

 

[Frogfish]

Who shouldn't start (the Arsenal match is far more important) : Konate, Robbo, Macca, Diaz, Jota.

So :

----------------------------- Kelleher

Trent (S) ------- Quansah ------------ VvD (S) ------- Tsimikas

----------------- Gravy ----------- Jones (S)

------------------------- Szobo (only because he goes to the bench for Arsenal)

Salah (S) ---------------- Nunez -------------- Gakpo (S)


Diaz (only if needed), Bradley, Chiesa, Endo and Gomez (if the score permits for VvD) all get 30+ mins for those with an (S).

 

[Brizzle]

Who shouldn't start (the Arsenal match is far more important) : Konate, Robbo, Macca, Diaz, Jota.

So :

-------------------------- Kelleher

Trent ------- Quansah ------------ VvD ------- Tsimikas

----------------- Gravy ----------- Jones

------------------------- Szobo (only because he goes to the bench for Arsenal)

Salah ------------------ Nunez -------------- Gakpo


Diaz, Bradley, Chiesa, Endo and Gomez all get 30+ mins.

Who do you think would start the Arsenal game over Szobo? He does a role that no one else in our midfield has been trained to do - he leads our press, often being the furthest forward. Pressing against Arsenal at the Emirates will be vital (especially if they put Kiwior at CB) and I'd 100% start Szobo there for the workrate.

 

[Frogfish]

Who do you think would start the Arsenal game over Szobo? He does a role that no one else in our midfield has been trained to do - he leads our press, often being the furthest forward. Pressing against Arsenal at the Emirates will be vital (especially if they put Kiwior at CB) and I'd 100% start Szobo there for the workrate.

He has been absolutely crap of late and was utter shite yesterday, how he stayed on a shocker, responsible for many attacking breakdowns.

There are numerous permutations for RBL but for Arsenal ; Gravy, Macca & Jones. Szobo's work-rate means nothing if he keeps giving the ball away (passing terrible of late) as that makes everyone work harder.

 

[Squiggles]

Yeah I was surprised that when he joined the narrative was around Chiesa "not having a pre season" (can't remember where I saw this). I thought he would have been training normally up until we signed him but maybe he was injured over the summer.

Anyway - let's see if we get him back to fitness as I think he'll be useful once on the pitch. If Jota is out for any sort of time we start having to play First XI strikers in these EFL/FA Cup games too, when it is quite nice having 6 forwards and doing a full rotate.

Slot said it. I believe Chiesa was frozen out and told to negotiate with clubs. As far as I know, he wasn't playing pre-season games.

 

[Brizzle]

He has been absolutely crap of late and was utter shite yesterday, how he stayed on a shocker, responsible for many attacking breakdowns.

There are numerous permutations for RBL but for Arsenal ; Gravy, Macca & Jones. Szobo's work-rate means nothing if he keeps giving the ball away (passing terrible of late) as that makes everyone work harder.

I agree that he is super sloppy on the ball, but he is still an asset off it which I think it why he rarely gets subbed. His pressing (especially with Nunez likely to spearhead the attack next weekend) will be so important.

 

[Brizzle]

Slot said it. I believe Chiesa was frozen out and told to negotiate with clubs. As far as I know, he wasn't playing pre-season games.

Its strange that he didn't put himself into his own pre season routine, as a professional athlete you easily know how to get yourself fit & sharp so that when you join a new club the only focus is tactics & training with the coach, not fitness.

 

[keniget]

He has been absolutely crap of late and was utter shite yesterday, how he stayed on a shocker, responsible for many attacking breakdowns.

He's been poo on the ball but he stays on the pitch for the work he does off it. Without him our midfield just becomes a little too one paced and pedestrian.

I suspect he'll start against Arsenal for that reason. We need guys that can get about the pitch and challenge for the ball. Ideally, they'd do something constructive if / when they get it but hey, we can't have everything, right?

I'd like to Endo get a game so that Grav can get a rest but that feels unlikely.

 

[Frogfish]

I agree that he is super sloppy on the ball, but he is still an asset off it which I think it why he rarely gets subbed. His pressing (especially with Nunez likely to spearhead the attack next weekend) will be so important.

He's been poo on the ball but he stays on the pitch for the work he does off it. Without him our midfield just becomes a little too one paced and pedestrian.

I suspect he'll start against Arsenal for that reason. We need guys that can get about the pitch and challenge for the ball. Ideally, they'd do something constructive if / when they get it but hey, we can't have everything, right?

I'd like to Endo get a game so that Grav can get a rest but that feels unlikely.

Yes but you have to balance that against the negatives and if the negatives means the whole team has to work harder - because of the number of times he gives the ball away - then his energy doesn't compensate. IMHO, obviously YMMV.

Edit (adding this because isn't this exactly what we want from Szobo)? And Jones rarely gives the ball away.

Curtis Jones’s all-action display against Chelsea was all the more impressive, given that the Liverpool midfielder and his partner have a newborn daughter at home – and he slept in the spare room before Sunday’s game. Called in to cover for Alexis Mac Allister, who picked up a knock on Argentina duty, Jones brought energy to Arne Slot’s midfield in an outstanding box-to-box display. He kept Cole Palmer quiet, might have won two penalties with runs into the box (the second was overturned by VAR) – and was in the right place again to poke home a second-half winner.

 

[Modo]

Its strange that he didn't put himself into his own pre season routine, as a professional athlete you easily know how to get yourself fit & sharp so that when you join a new club the only focus is tactics & training with the coach, not fitness.

He probably did, but there's only so much you can do. It'll take a while for Pogba to come back and Dele Alli isn't back yet despite training for a year or so.

 

[Dreambeliever]

The CL is virtually guaranteed advancement. We should be prioritising the Arsenal game and rest as many as possible for that.
I wouldn’t be playing Robertson, Trent, Konate, Jota, mac, Gravy, Sob.

 

[MomoWASright]

We need to finish top 8 to give us two fewer games.

 

[Markeh]

Its strange that he didn't put himself into his own pre season routine, as a professional athlete you easily know how to get yourself fit & sharp so that when you join a new club the only focus is tactics & training with the coach, not fitness.

this gives me flashbacks of sturridge pinging some shots into the top corner at his local park in an attempt to prove he wasn’t broken

 

[Markeh]

Either Chiesa was extremely unfit when he joined or Slot just doesn't rate him

i really dislike this post because it’s probably correct, fingers crossed for the former

 

[Hansern]

You should dislike the second part of the post as I was hoping we would be past all that shit about us signing players the manager doesnt rate.

Chiesa has been close to returning to training, so you'd think he'll be fit soon. In regards to his fitness he hasnt played in any pre season games for Juventus and it was always likely a minor issue could happen given the intensity of the PL and being involved in a few games.

 

[Hansern]

Slot saying Macca had been sick for a few days makes me think the injury issue is a thing of the past now. So if he's in good form I'd let him play 60 mins on Wednesday.

 

[Brizzle]

Yes but you have to balance that against the negatives and if the negatives means the whole team has to work harder - because of the number of times he gives the ball away - then his energy doesn't compensate. IMHO, obviously YMMV.

Edit (adding this because isn't this exactly what we want from Szobo)? And Jones rarely gives the ball away.

Curtis Jones’s all-action display against Chelsea was all the more impressive, given that the Liverpool midfielder and his partner have a newborn daughter at home – and he slept in the spare room before Sunday’s game. Called in to cover for Alexis Mac Allister, who picked up a knock on Argentina duty, Jones brought energy to Arne Slot’s midfield in an outstanding box-to-box display. He kept Cole Palmer quiet, might have won two penalties with runs into the box (the second was overturned by VAR) – and was in the right place again to poke home a second-half winner.

I agree somewhat, but also I think he does about 2x the pressing work than our forwards so in one since he is making the team work harder, but in other areas he is working harder on behalf of the team.

 

[binomial]

Leipzig are fucking shite

0-5 win

Kostas, Endo, Quansah and Gomez/Bradley to come in.

 

[Squiggles]

It's tough to call without knowing fitness. It's a game I'd like to see Slot using all the subs with an eye on keeping us fresh as a daisy for Arsenal. There's a higher margin of error in the CL at this stage than in the PL.

Jones deserves to go again without a doubt and should have the legs to do for a full ninety after playing less than the others and was taken off early.

Not overly arsed about who starts over Gakpo/Diaz & Mac/Szobo, it's more about subbing them for each other at the right time.

----------------Nunez-----------------
Gakpo/Diaz------------------Salah---
--------Jones------Mac Allister/Szobo----
----------------Endo------------------
---Tsimikas--VVD---Quansah--Trent
---------------Kelleher.--------------

 

[StevieM]

Leipzig are fucking shite

0-5 win

Kostas, Endo, Quansah and Gomez/Bradley to come in.

So we’re getting beat then.

 

[MomoWASright]

It's tough to call without knowing fitness. It's a game I'd like to see Slot using all the subs with an eye on keeping us fresh as a daisy for Arsenal. There's a higher margin of error in the CL at this stage than in the PL.

Jones deserves to go again without a doubt and should have the legs to do for a full ninety after playing less than the others and was taken off early.

Not overly arsed about who starts over Gakpo/Diaz & Mac/Szobo, it's more about subbing them for each other at the right time.

----------------Nunez-----------------
Gakpo/Diaz------------------Salah---
--------Jones------Mac Allister/Szobo----
----------------Endo------------------
---Tsimikas--VVD---Quansah--Trent
---------------Kelleher.--------------

I agree with most of the team. Gravy out and Endo in seems a no brainer.

 

[binomial]

So we’re getting beat then.

I cannot resonate with this kind of vocabulary.

 

[StevieM]

I cannot resonate with this kind of vocabulary.

If I said your predictions are shite would that be better?

I desperately want you to be right… but you’re more wrong than Dreamie these days.

 

[binomial]

If I said your predictions are shite would that be better?

I desperately want you to be right… but you’re more wrong than Dreamie these days.

A prediction is just a prediction Stevie boy. What’s the harm? Why the need to say anything at all?

 

[Shay_K]

Still no sign of Havey's return