Early call from the Gaffer this week - getting his retaliation in first? Anyway, in his press conference today he confirmed that Ayite and Ream are still out. Odoi is back from suspension. The good news is that Alfie Mawson has been training since Monday, although he's not up for Sunday's game. As for Burnley, they'll be the third team on the trot that are virtually unchanged from last season. Giving them an advantage. And we know what we'll get from them - incredibly well organised and as Jokanovic so aptly put it "Burnley are always running and fighting, like a crazy gang". Ashley Barnes and Chris Wood are always going to be a threat up top and of course rosc's pal Tarkowski is good for a goal at set pieces, so our backs will need 100% concentration. They take on Olympiacos in Athens tonight and as ever there's speculation from pundits that this sortie into Europa will take it's toll. About as much nonsense as the stuff on Joe Hart losing his confidence. Europe never did us any harm and indeed as we progressed, we seemed to thrive on the Thursday/Sunday games. Mind you, having started early in the competition like Burnley, we did lose 5 of our first 7 League matches !! An aside. Burnley lost one of it's true greats Jimmy McIlroy earlier this week. Wonder if his passing will be acknowledged before kick off? For us, can only see one change in the starting line up from the Spurs game - Schurrle for Kamara. That said, Jokanovic needs to get his head sorted on who is his preferred left wing; the constant switching of Sessegnon left/right/left isn't really helping us 'gel' into a settled team. .................................Fabri.................. .Fosu-Mensah..Chambers..Le Marchand.. Bryan.. ............................Anguissa.... ...............Cairney...............Seri......... ....Scurrle..............Mitrovic......Sessegnon...
Hard day's night in Piraeus for Burnley. Went down 3-1 to Olmpiacos and had Ben Gibson sent off. However, they made 6 changes from the side that played at the weekend (Heaton in goal one of them). Expect a stronger side turning up on Sunday.
Think we will as usual need to turn our early possession into a goal (or Two) lead to boost confidence. I expect Burnley to do the same as Palace and try to keep it tight at the back and nick a goal. I hope Jokanovic gets his subs right, some of Burnley might be a bit leggy near the end but as C58 says they did change their team in Greece. I think when we played Europa games as close-season games we were in better match condition then some of the teams we were playing in the first 6 games. -------Bettinelli------ Christie Odoi Ream Bryan -----McDonald Johansen---- Kebano Cairney Sessegnon --------Mitrovic-------
The man in the middle today is our Championship follower David Coote. Promoted to the EPL along with us this year, the match is newbie Coote's first. Although he was 4th official at yesterday's game between Southampton and Leicester. We didn't see him all that often in the Championship in fact - only once last year; the dreadful game against Wolves at Molineux back in November when he booked 2 of theirs and 4 of our lads, despite them committing 16 fouls and us only 7. However, over the piece we can't really complain - of the matches he handled while we were there, 4 were won and only that Wolves game lost. He of course did the recent friendly against Celta Vigo. Only as a guide, his past record does show he likes to dish out yellows. In 37 games last season there were 151 of them. Not averse to reds either, with 5 coming out of his pocket in those games.
Indeed we have. Rubbish weather but what wonderful football. Not only did we play with style, but today there was no question of playing across the defence and being shot shy. We could easily have doubled our scoreline. All four we did get were magnificent. Mitro was on fire and not just with his shooting - the Burnley defence had a torrid time all afternoon. And lost count how many efforts Schurrle had before the well deserved and very cheeky one he did get. But kind of under the radar was Vietto. He also had a fair number of shots but it was running off the ball that impressed mostly; pulling the Burnley defence out of position and making space for others. To be totally honest wouldn't have seen that starting line up coming in a month of Sundays. Clearly the Gaffer knows best and we had a great first half hour and an even better final 15 minutes. Some of the football in that period was breathtaking. Possibly could give a deal of credit to that for Anguissa coming on, although every one of the team was so full of running and commitment right to the end. Yes we had vulnerable moments at the back and to lose two goals on the post, as it were, wasn't good. However, Bettinelli did not have one save to make so something must have been okay. Plaudits have to go the leader of men, Kevin McDonald. So, a tad wettered on but as Fab says, we've arrived and what a great feeling that is. PS After to-ing and fro-ing on the way home, going to give MOTM to Andre Schurrle (he even put in a decent shift at left back before coming off).
Was very surprised when I first saw todays team, Bettinelli back, Odoi straight back in and Sessegnon benched all took me by surprise. Clearly its worked though, a nice mixture of new faces and the old guard working together. One thing that does worry me though, I don't want to see us become one of those teams that changes keepers every few games. 3 games in and we've already used 2 keepers. I'd like to see us get a settled partnership between our keeper and centre backs. Of course centre back is another issue at the moment with injuries to Ream and Mawson, but when everyone is back fit and well I hope we can get a settled back line.
Looking forward to the highlights! There was an amazing bit of interplay between Vietto and Mensah in the second half I want to see back, along with the 4 goals and countless missed chances. The first half was one of the best I can remember in recent years in terms of entertainment and the second greatly satisfying. Lots of good performances, if we can sort out the defence the season ahead could be very enjoyable. Of all the strong performances Super Kev stood out for me, feels like watching the jolly green giant sweep up behind the midfield. Also found the way Vietto stroked the ball to be quite arousing, not long ago he was rated at the highest level and there were teasing glimpses of a very special player today. Aside from one mispass that could have cost us a goal Marchand also stood out, turning a cold shower on to several attacks and calmly moving the ball forward from defence. I was quite surprised by Slavisa's team selection but we got the result and the strength of our squad has been shown.
Great game of football today and 3 points that we really needed to relieve the pressure and unnecessary talk. We've done reasonably well in the first two games but came away with nothing to show. Today we played Burnley off the park and were convincing winners, though their two goals were conceded by us too easily. So many good performances from individuals and as a team, it will give us great confidence. I heard whispers that Betts would play in goal today, in fairness he had little to do. I'd say there is little between the abilities of our goalies. Betts distribution still needs work on but his communication on the pitch is clear to hear. I noted that Gareth Southgate was with us today, perhaps to see Sessegnon. Not sure he could have judged much on his cameo 10 minutes at the end. Shame as I can't remember the last game Sessegnon didn't start for us. Perhaps Joka thought it would be too physical of a game for him. Great day, great match.
Enjoyed the game despite being rained on constantly. When we were good we were good and thought we should have got a few more. But at 3-2 I was always nervous we might slip up so Schurrle goal calmed me down. At the time I thought their 2nd goal was offside and I think the TV confirmed that. Good full debut performance by Vietto his speed took him that extra yard past players to get in crosses and passes. Looked like Schurrle was out to prove he was a starting player, shoot on site. Bullet of a shot by Seri into the top corner. Obvious surprised at no Ryan, but may be a good thing to gee him up for Brighton, but can you change a winning side. And Odoi did well as I was a bit worried when I heard he would be up against a physical Burnley. I felt more at ease with Bettinelli in goal and his communication, he didn't have much to do, but his kicking needs improving. Wonder how bad the injury to Cairney is. I liked that he seemed to play in a more advanced area, not a fan of him coming back to collect balls off the back 4. Silly thing to say after such a good game, but are Cairney & Seri too similar to be in a partnership ?
That's been my question since the Celta Vigo friendly, SuperBri. Yesterday however, they seemed to have sorted themselves out - presumably on the training ground. They played wider apart and with Cairney, as you say, further forward. PS the word on social media is that Cairney's ankle isn't too bad.
