Well here we go. After a magnificent season, and winning the Championship by a country mile, we find ourselves up against arguably one of the best teams in Europe. Sad to see the loss of Emi, BUT the excitement and expectations of the new boys is really something to look forward to. Game is live on Sky, so there should be plenty of streams available. Will post any links I find. Best of luck to our team, and enjoy the season. PS I hope this isn't my last MTP.
We all hope that it isn't your last, Bure. Some good news is that Tzolis could be available for the match, as he's had both jabs: https://www.edp24.co.uk/sport/norwich-city/canaries-ncfc-christos-tzolis-deal-latest-8228134
Big Vergil returns , as long as we do better than the 4-1 at Anfield I'll be content. The bookies have us at 17/2 to win. I have every faith in you Bure Just as a recap who is on the waiting list to do threads skipper ? @Cromercanary
What do we think lineup wise? I'm guessing the Gillingham lineup is closest to what we'll see: Krul Aarons Hanley Gibson Giannoulis Lees-Melou Gilmour Rupp Rashica Cantwell Pukki Defensively, I think Hanley will be preferred to Omobamidele. We need to get Grant up to speed before the games we really need to target, and Liverpool is a massive step up for Omobamidele. I'd be surprised to see us go to 3 CBs given the limited options. The rest of the defence picks itself. McLean could come into the midfield but I don't think he's fully fit. Sargent, Tzolis, Dowell, Idah, Hugill give us a range of attacking options on the bench. Not sure Rashica has shown enough in pre-season, but counter-attacking pace makes sense vs Liverpool, especially vs the less experienced Tsimikes at LB.
Just looked at the Thursday training video the club posted. Gilmour, Idah, Adshead, Tomkinson, Gibson, Hugill, Dowell, Hanley, Lees-Melou, Rupp, Sorensen, Aarons, Mumba, Pukki, Omobamidele, McLean, Rashica, Giannoulis, Sargent, Tzolis, Onel, Todd, Zimmerman all involved. Krul and Gunn in keeper training with one of the youngsters, McGovern not shown. Didn't see Placheta interestingly, Byram also missing.
please log in to view this image At least my predicted lineup has more chance of being correct than Whoscored's...
With Pukki, Rashica, Cantwell all having missed the last friendly with injury/covid isolation and City’s obvious intent to get Tzolis in before the Liverpool game I wonder if we might mix the front three up a bit and include Sargent on the right and Tzolis on the left with Idah up top, all of whom you would expect are match fit. would maybe be harsh on Dowell but I think he is a definite number 10 and he’s not as good when our wide. The rest of the team picks itself.
The prediction league will be interesting this year. Hard enough to predict who'll be lining up, without worrying about who will score first.
My preferred starting line up below. Not enough room on the bench now (is it limited to 7?)... Gunn, Mumba, Zimbo, Tzolis, Idah, McLean, Sorenson... Would mean Sargent, Rupp and Rashica miss out today Whatever line up DF goes with, some regular or high-profile names will not be in the matchday squad. please log in to view this image
The subs bench can be 9 players again. From the 2021-22 PL Handbook: "Subject to Rule L.28A, in any league match a club may include in its teamsheet up to nine substitute players of whom not more than three may take part in the league match subject to the conditions set out in Law 3 of the Laws of the Game."
Didn't Tzolis as a youngster (I know he's still young) run Tsimikas ragged when they were still both in the Greek league? Farke might try and awaken some old demons there
Placheta out with Covid after-effects. Cantwell getting over a knock, has trained. Omobamidele has had Tonsilitis, not entirely ruled out. Otherwise no injury concerns...
Can't argue with this from the perennial doom Goblin Lawro "If f they want to stay there, they will have to tighten up at the back. They conceded an average of almost two a game last time they were in the top flight in 2019-20 - 75 goals in 38 games. If that happens again, they are not staying up this time either" Gibson and Gianoulis have massively strengthened our back 4 but another big cultured centre back coming in would reassure me. Even with Krul and Handley our average age is still only 25 years old which is a credit to Farke and our academy structure.
We could always adopt a less draconian rule. E.G. a loss by only a single goal brings a one-match reprieve, a draw guarantees a further two matches, and so on ..............
