I'm sure Quinn will get a start as Bruce will be doing everything to make him stay at the club. We can't afford to lose him, or anyone else for that matter. Already, after the 1st round we have 2 injuries, 1 serious enough to keep Snodgrass out of the team until Christmas
Cant see Maguire being happy if he isn't in the squad, apart from a couple in the cup where are his games going to come from?
He's come straight from League 1, he can't honestly have expected to push aside Davies, Bruce and Chester? He'll have been told that he'll start as cover.
But we wont play Davies Bruce and Chester against Lokeren, we'll most likely play a second string defence. And he hasn't even made that. Id personally like to see him pushing Bruce for that central role in 3 at the back
For a start we are only playing Lokeren. Hardly a power house of europe. I think that you will find they are more worried about us then we are about them. The "B" team as you say is called squad rotation and i am more than happy with that. Shame that Harry Maguire has had to be left out of the 21 but surely We/City could ask Uefa to replace the injured Snodgrass with Maguire on the list. If not for thursday then for next week ? So here we go. Packed and almost ready to head off to king george dock to catch the ferry to zeebrugge. Looking forward to the game and a couple of days in Brussels. For those also going enjoy it just like in Trenchin. For those who are not then hope that Burnsy can paint great pictures. Here that wiziwig tv have been stopped from showing the game for some reason. My team for what it is worth for Lokeren tomorrow would be :- Harper McShane Chester OR Davies Figueroa Rosenoir(if fit) OR Elmohamady Brady Meyler Quinn Boyd Sagbo Aluko That should be more than good enough to grab an away goal or 2. imo. Subs:- Jakupovic + six others.
Yes it is sadly. Unless we can swap Maguire for Snodgrass in the 21 due to the long term injury ? Correct. Confirmed by Steve Bruce. His first starting game will be in the 3rd round of the coc @ the end of september. All he can expect at the moment apart from maybe a few PL off the bench minutes. Hardly a shock that one. Lol.
If we're sticking with the same system... -------------- McGregor ---- Chester - McShane - Davies Rosenior - Meyler - Huddlestone - Brady --------------- Quinn ----- Sagbo ----------- Aluko Keep some of the core players in. A good first leg and qualification for the group stage is worth a fair bit, it'd be silly to underestimate Lokeren and do a complete overhaul. This isn't a friendly.
For me, Bruce is damned if he does, damned if he doesn't. For example, you can just imagine the reaction if the likes of Thudd, Davies or Chester received a nasty injury in the return leg next week. We should give it our best shot but utilise our squad the best we can.
Premier League remains the priority and the Europa League and other cups are a bonus. Having said that I think we will field a stronger starting XI next Thursday.
He should have stuck to what he said and played Harper then maybe we wouldn't have gifted them the win.
I can understand prem survival being priority but all you need to do is get through to group stages and beat some lowly Belgian team. I don't think we'll go through now, we needed that away goal. Group stages will bring in a lot of revenue and great memories for the fans. I don't mind finishing bottom of group then but getting there should have been made more important.
I don't think Brucey deep down wants us to be in the Europa league despite his soundbites. I heard him refer to it as a distraction over the summer. Last nights team selection proves which competition Brucey is prioritising.
