There's certain wise things thst slot should do. 1. Konate protection. Surely we can carry quansah here. 2. Trent protection. Again Bradley needs minutes. 3. Pick one of the two lbs to play each game this week. Does it really matter which? 4. Macallister protection. Again 8 days rest last summer. We need this guy. 5. Elliott v szoboszlai. One was sick, one needs minutes. It's not hard to see what can be done if we choose to. 6. Gakpo rest. Hasn't looked very effective for the past few. 7. Salah rest. He needs to see he hasn't been at it defensively in the press. You can do a combination of those. Does endo or jones or Elliott or chiesa merit a start? Probably not in isolation based on what slot sees daily but they certainly won't be ready if not worked with and we will need them again
Few changes but not wholesales. Hopefully comfortable by Ht or 60 mins and grab vvd Salah can all get a rest.
It’s exactly how I’d have gone apart from Grav - Elliott Seriously, what has that boy got to do to get a start!?
Very surprised szobo is starting and not Elliott. Can only assume slot still only sees Elliott as a wide right player and not a midfielder
They look a confident team. Comfortable on the ball. holding a good shape when we have the ball at the back cutting out easy passes into midfield. Seems a lot of teams set up 4-2-4 out of possession these days
It's a very..... European ......start. It's the most slot ball we have played in 2 months? I can see 5 of them pushed up in our half pressing so there has to be space to play into but we are rarely trying.
Through/final balls have been poor so far. It’s comfortable enough so far but both clubs could claim that!
That line has been high all day. We have not tried to draw them on very deep so that'd the second time we have found that run behind. Quansah just over hit the last one. Great pass through. Vertical ball breaks the lines and classic salah run.
Brilliant finish that. Great tackle from Tsimikas and then inch perfect pass from jones. Not sure why Lille players so angry about the tackle, he doesn’t get anywhere near the player and cleanly just flicks the ball away
Think it’s just a composed controlled start. No need to go gung ho. They aren’t really pressing just holding shape, only pressing when vvd gets on the ball. We’re in no rush as we don’t ‘need’ to win. Not super exciting but it’s effective atm and as you say, very European performance.
