please log in to view this image Wednesday 26th November 8pm Champions League Group Stage Parc des Princes Dragusin, Kulusevski, Maddison, Bissouma and Solanke are all long-term injured. Brennan Johnson is suspended after receiving a red card against Copenhagen. Lineups for each side's last league game: Spurs: Vicario; Danso, Romero, van de Ven; Spence, Palhinha, Bentancur, Udogie; Kudus, Odobert; Richarlison. Subs: Kinsky, Porro, Gray, Sarr, Bergvall, Simons, Johnson, Tel, Kolo Muani. League form: WLWLDL. PSG: Chevalier; Zaire-Emery, Zabarnyi, Beraldo, Mendes; Vitinha; Neves, Mayulu; Lee, Ramos, Mbaye. Subs: Safonov, Boly, Marquinhos, Pacho, Hernandez, Ruiz, Kvaratskhelia, Barcola, Ndjantou. League form: DWDWWW. Ref: Felix Zwayer (GER). VAR: Sören Storks (GER). Zwayer was the ref in Bilbao. TV: TNT Sports 3. How would you like to line up for this one and how do you think we actually will line up?
Two funny/apposite comments from the fan base.... 1. (On seeing the players getting on the private jet to Paris). "If they play as badly as on Sunday they should come back on a small boat!" 2. "Well, on the bright side, at least they are rested after having the weekend off..."
I don’t think RKM can play against his parent club so joy of joys, we will once again bear witness to Richarlison. I’m a bit torn on what I want to see - on the one hand I want to se us commit to trying something that doesn’t involve Bentancur and Palhinha in a double pivot for a few games in a row, on the other hand, this might actually be the game for it. Vic Porro Romero VdV Udogie Gray Palhinha Sarr Kudus Xavi Richy
Doesn’t matter in European comps so will be available and hopefully selected. Still don’t feel we know if he’s actually any good for us or not!
I don’t think this game could have come at a worse time for us. The continued reaction to Sunday (which I think has been blown way out of proportion) means that we go into a game we would probably lose anyway even if we’d have had a better performance on the weekend with knives at the ready again. I think one more win should be good enough to get top 24 which should be Slavia but I don’t see a reason we can’t also take points of Frankfurt and Dortmund.
This game is only going two ways for me, thumping or a dramatic last gasp winner from Johnson. One score line I would be AMAZED at would be 0 - 0.....
Oh dear I had forgotten that!!!! OK I will go even further into fantasy land - "..a dramatic last gasp winner from Richarlison".
I think large sections of the fan base need a huge reality check. Myself included. The danger of winning a trophy is that the euphoria creates a real hubris in which cold hard truths are ignored. Last season demonstrated beyond a doubt that we don't have the squad to compete in four competitions, let alone when the fourth one is CL. And we went into this season with a weaker squad than last season, thanks to long term injuries and our inexplicable inability to replace Son. We have to start managing expectations or Frank will become the latest victim of delusional thinking. Until those injured players are back, and/or we strengthen in January, we are every bit a mid table side who tbh frankly has no right rubbing shoulders with the likes of PSG but we won a trophy playing like Stoke so hey ho here we are. FA Cup should be a priority this season. I doubt we're going to qualify for Europe through the league, so another trophy and Europe through that would be amazing. Forget the CL. We won't last 5 minutes in the KO stages.
I disagree on your league prediction. I think we have a very good chance outside the top 3 of finishing in the European places. if you look at those above us, unlikely that Sunderland will stay there especially with half their squad at AFCON. I think palace will struggle as they get deeper into Europa and especially if they sell Guehi in January. Bournemouth are already having a bit of a wobble and Brighton are as inconsistent as anyone. Villa, picked up a lot from early season form but again, going deep in Europe which is a competition they will probably prioritise at some point with Emery’s record. Below us though, you have to think Liverpool won’t stay this bad for much longer so they will move up. Newcastle’s away form is as bad as our home and United are still as inconsistent as us. if we can get the home form sorted I think we’ll finish top 7 and if 5th gets champions league again then can maybe even sneak that.
I think a lot depends on how quickly the injured players can get back up to full speed (at this rate we'll be over halfway through the season before this happens), and then whether we can keep them and other key players from getting injured. Like last season, we've shown that we are still never more than 3-4 injuries away from being a mid table side. That was what Sunday horribly exposed. Arsenal were without Gyokeres, Gabriel and Odegaard but still looked brilliant. I shudder to think what a bad injury to Palhinha would do to our already creaky midfield. The only way to mitigate for this is heavy January investment, which as we both know is highly unlikely. So yes, IF those players hurry up and get back to full fitness and IF we don't pick up any more injuries to key players for the rest of the season, then yes maybe top 6 is a shout. But the evidence is overwhelmingly on my side. Injuries have been a curse for years and don't seem to be getting any better, unless what we are seeing is still the aftermath of Ange's chaos. So with that said, I see all of the top 3 plus Liverpool, plus Palace, Villa and Brighton as significant threats. And United and Newcastle as teams we ignore at our peril. In other words, it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if we finish 9th or 10th. Sorry to be a killjoy.
I think you are both right. Our most likely finishing position is sixth but the distribution is skewed so I think we will be between fourth and tenth.
rather qualify for the Europa something we could win Everything about our club says we are just in the CL for the payout
The distribution isn't skewed. With respect, that's just corporate jargon. The spread is 4-10th because our squad isn't nearly good enough to guarantee a narrower spread, and so we are relying on multiple opponents having terrible seasons to finish closer to 4th than 10th. A good comparative example of this is to look at our league finishes in 15/16 and 16/17. The former was only so high because so many other teams had awful seasons, but our position was an artificial reflection of our actual quality. The latter was so high in and of its own right and of our own merit. Our rivals were irrelevant, we were too good to finish much lower.
Totally acceptable, as the extra money + exposure on paper allows the squad to be improved. You have had the converse (shiny tropheee + worst possible safe league position) . Which do you all prefer ??
I think we aspire to be like the big clubs and win trophies whilst holding our own in title challenges…I don’t think we should be limited to one or the other That is our next logical step and has been since we moved from WHL imo
