Slavia Prague (H) - 8pm - Thursday 25th Feb - BT Sport / ESPN - Pre Match Thread

[Tuna]

Blow them away in the first half then give Youri and Harvey a rest.

[Deeg67]

The simplest and most obvious solution is to leave everybody else where they are and use Under in Maddison’s role.  He’s played centrally and comes closest to anyone on the side to Maddison’s skillset, and it’s the least disruptive to the side.  But I think opinion is pretty much calcified on Under so that seems very unlikely.

[LCFCCHRIS]

56 minutes ago, Deeg67 said:

The simplest and most obvious solution is to leave everybody else where they are and use Under in Maddison’s role.  He’s played centrally and comes closest to anyone on the side to Maddison’s skillset, and it’s the least disruptive to the side.  But I think opinion is pretty much calcified on Under so that seems very unlikely.

Would certainly be interesting to see. If he had a good game there, in a time when he's called upon, it'd do his confidence a world of good too. 

[turlo]

if there's no obvious replacement for Madders then we could go for a 3 man midfield with Barnes and Under as more attacking wide forwards. Castagne is likely to start on the bench due to just returning from injury, coming on for Ricardo for the last 20-30 mins.

                Schmeichel,

Ricardo, Evans, Soyuncu, Thomas,

                    Ndidi,

            Mendy, Tielemans,

         Under, Vardy, Barnes. 

[Alan Frost]

2 hours ago, Koke said:

Hamza & Ndidi at home against lesser opposition seems overkill. We need creativity, not to DMs double pivot.

I always think a little creativity is useful in most ventures including football clubs.

[PhillippaT]

24 minutes ago, Alan Frost said:

I always think a little creativity is useful in most ventures including football clubs.

We all need a little creativity, but mine's as big as a... Wait...

[Detroit Blues]

2 hours ago, Koke said:

Hamza & Ndidi at home against lesser opposition seems overkill. We need creativity, not to DMs double pivot.

On the otherhand, if we concede even one goal, we need to score 2 to advance. Keeping a clean sheet is paramount.

 

Worst case with a clean sheet, we goto extra time and a shootout. 

[City1884]

The starting line up will be:

 

Schmeichel

 

Ricardo 

Evans

Soyuncu

Thomas

 

Ndidi

Mendy

Tielemans

 

Albrighton

Barnes

Vardy

 

Rodgers simply doesn’t trust Under defensively, unless Albrighton is injured, he’ll start.

Choudhury has no forward thinking in his play. He’s basically a DM but not as effective as Ndidi, too undisciplined, and passes backwards.

 

Ndidi will be the DM, Tielemans in Madders role, with Mendy playing box-to-box, supporting both depending on who is in possession.

 

Castagne may come on at 60mins, depending on the state of the game.

[Gerard]

3 minutes ago, City1884 said:

The starting line up will be:

 

Schmeichel

 

Ricardo 

Evans

Soyuncu

Thomas

 

Ndidi

Mendy

Tielemans

 

Albrighton

Barnes

Vardy

 

Rodgers simply doesn’t trust Under defensively, unless Albrighton is injured, he’ll start.

Choudhury has no forward thinking in his play. He’s basically a DM but not as effective as Ndidi, too undisciplined, and passes backwards.

 

Ndidi will be the DM, Tielemans in Madders role, with Mendy playing box-to-box, supporting both depending on who is in possession.

 

Castagne may come on at 60mins, depending on the state of the game.

 

He doesn't have to trust Under defensively, this is a game that will likely be played in their half. Horses for courses and this game should suit Under more than Albrighton. In fact with Maddison, Perez, Praet and Iheanacho all out then if Under doesn't start then he may as well go on his summer holidays this Friday. 

[City1884]

4 minutes ago, Gerard said:

 

He doesn't have to trust Under defensively, this is a game that will likely be played in their half. Horses for courses and this game should suit Under more than Albrighton. In fact with Maddison, Perez, Praet and Iheanacho all out then if Under doesn't start then he may as well go on his summer holidays this Friday. 

Under is pretty much on his summer holidays at this point.

 

He’s not getting signed, and will only be used in absolute emergencies, as a very last resort. Albrighton will start over him every single time. The general selection order for RW is Albrighton, Perez, Under in Rodgers eyes.

 

This game is trickier than you make out, and won’t be played all in their half. This will be a tough grind, and we’ll have to work just as hard defensively as we do going forward.

[NeweightHK]

My starting xl would be

Schmeichel

Castagne Amartey Soyunchu Thomas

Mendy Hamza

Albrighton Under Barnes

Vardy 

 

sub:

Castagne <>RP

Tielemans<>Under

 

 

[AyewJoking]

Slavia know they cant match our quality so will do their best to stifle us and disrupt play.

We need to be on our game.

 

I'm going for 1-1 after extra time

[Sooper Steve's shin]

I cannot see Rodgers wanting to disrupt the Ndidi/Tielemans partnership in the middle. It’s too good. Adding a Mendy or Hamza in there will put Youri off his game and he’s critical to how we play. Pushing Youri up to Maddison’s position achieves very little as he’s the one that supplies the 10 - who will supply Youri? I think he’d end up dropping deeper and we’d isolate Vardy. 

Iheanacho, Perez or Praet (or Eriksen...) would have been obvious solutions at this point to drop in for Madders without disrupting the system, but with none available I am really not sure Brendan will see any choice but to change it. I cannot see him throwing Under into an unfamiliar position in a game like this (he doesn’t trust him in his natural position!) and I don’t think he’ll disrupt Barnes’ current form and rhythm by moving him. 

I would not be surprised to see three at the back, two attacking wing backs and Albrighton/Under and Barnes tucked in more behind Vardy. Could even be lopsided with a more defensive leftback behind Barnes and Ricky P as a more attacking wingback behind Albrighton. 

Edited 25 February 2021 by Sooper Steve's shin

[KrefelderFox666]

Schmeichel

 

Amartey

Soyuncu

Evans

Thomas

 

Ndidi

 

Under

Choudhury

Tielemans

Barnes

 

Vardy

 

We need to manage Ricardo and Castagne so bring them on at 60 if needed. Albrighton can come on for Under to steady things. Mendy the same to give Ndidi a rest if we are ahead.

 

And going for 3-1.

Edited 25 February 2021 by KrefelderFox666

[Buce]

11 hours ago, Sunbury Fox said:

Can see this being a really hard slog without the creativity provided by Maddison. 

 

 

11 hours ago, st albans fox said:

He wasn’t that creative last Thursday .....

 

 

And it was a really hard slog...

 

[Crazy Kop Corner]

I've been up early and buzzing for this one. 

 

Pre Match nerves kicked in already. 

 

Team for me would be 

Schmeichel

Castagne Evans Soyunchu Thomas

Wilf Mendy

Youri 

Ricky Barnes

Vardy 

 

The only option for me is to move Youri slightly further forward and bring in Mendy 

 

Shower and putting on the lucky Vichai shirt shortly to give a bit more confidence  

 

 

[Scotch]

                           Kasper

 

Castagne      Evans     Cags        Thomas

 

Ricardo          Youri      Ndidi         Barnes

   

                   Nacho          Vardy

 

 

[Raw Dykes]

2 minutes ago, Foxy_Bear said:

                           Kasper

 

Castagne      Evans     Cags        Thomas

 

Ricardo          Youri      Ndidi         Barnes

   

                   Nacho          Vardy

 

 

Nacho's suspended.

[Fox85]

5 minutes ago, Foxy_Bear said:

                           Kasper

 

Castagne      Evans     Cags        Thomas

 

Ricardo          Youri      Ndidi         Barnes

   

                   Nacho          Vardy

 

 

                               Kasper

 

Castagne      Evans     Cags        Thomas

 

       Under      Youri     Ndidi     Ricardo

 

                              Barnes

 

                                Vardy

[Pliskin]

Go full strength and tear them apart in the first half. We are more than capable of doing it and then go more defensive second half. Basically carbon copy of Villa. 

[Ric Flair]

Under no circumstances should Daniel Amartey ever play at right back for us when we have Castagne and Ricardo available. What on earth?

[majaco]

Will Perreira start or will his return continue to be managed.

 

If Cenghis starts, it is a huge game for him.  Personally, I hope he does.

[HitchinFox]

I want to see Vardy at his nastiest and dirtiest tonight. Play Slavia at their own game. 

 

We have a European ref (a Dutch one tonight), so Vardy needs to go down at the slightest touch, especially in the box. 

 

I normally detest tricks like that but sod fairness and honesty – we got none of that from them in the first leg. Do anything to win, I say. 

[filbertway]

11 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

I'd be equally as surprised if Rodgers thinks we can get away with playing 2 defensive midfielders, I think he'll get a chance soon enough and will sign a new deal.

The Rodgers of this season must give Pulis an absolute stonk on. He could absolutely play 2 defensive midfielders from the off and not have two thoughts about it.

[Wasyls Pec Deck]

No point in moving other players around to accommodate for Maddison’s loss.

 

Having said that I’d either move Barnes more central with a free license, and play Under or Perez on the wing and instruct them to exchange positions with Barnes in order to smash it up!