I actually think the bench has more flair and creativity than parts of the XI. For as much **** as I give Ndombele I’d have him in the XI over Winks (obviously! lol) and I don’t like Dele at LW over someone like Gil who’s more likely to make something happen out there. I’m happy to see Markanday on it though, his debut is long overdue, would like to see him get that today but I doubt it’ll happen as I don’t see us getting more than one goal (if any at all), so Nuno likely won’t risk giving a youngster a chance.
Ndombele doesn't deserve to start and he's had no preseason either, so he'd be a massive risk. No idea what our formation is supposed to be, though. Hope it's not another ****ing diamond midfield. Starting Emerson and shifting Tanganga is another dubious one, for me. Rodon's fitness might not be up to it, though.
Squads are limited to 25 max. With 6 players unavailable almost every club would have a couple of youngsters on the bench. We have three.....major disaster.
It's more about picking the best options for me though and whilst Ndombele's a fat lazy ****, he still offers more creativity than any of our midfielders, which is actually depressing to write. I think it's: Hugo Emerson, Japh, Dier, Reguilon Hojbjerg, Skipp, Winks Lucas, Kane, Dele Seen some mention a diamond on Twitter but I don't think we'll change shape from our previous games. Yeah I think Rodon will start Thursday, was hoping he'd get some minutes with Wales but that late call up seemed bloody pointless.
I think Gil coming on and Dele going off is a better impact substitution, if required, than if it’s the other way round.
**** that I’d be hauling Winks off after 2 mins. Don’t get why he’s disrupted a midfield 3 that has worked so far when we have options at LW. All that’s going to happen is Winks getting in the way in the middle and Dele will drift inside and leave Reggie isolated on the left.
I think that Gil's on the bench and not starting because he had to come off for the Spanish U21s. It was tiredness, apparently, but he looked quite ****ed, by all accounts.
Yes we're weaker without Son, but don't forget that before Son, it was Dele who was known for the link up play with Kane. In fact it's almost like Son has stifled the game that Dele used to play of arriving late in the box - because Son is normally further up the field than him. Today perhaps we might see some old Dele - if indeed there is any old Dele left!
I’m not a fan of playing players out of position, especially as Dele barely does his job as a CAM/ CM these days so not sure picking him at LW is a good choice. With Winks coming into that midfield to cover for Dele moving to the left, I just don’t see us getting the ball forward effectively enough to Kane and co. That midfield three is painfully lacking creativity. Unless Kane produces some magic like he did for England the other night I think it’s gonna be a long afternoon.
We have one, it's just he's currently on a Croatian island due to a slight case of international incident
