Europa League Play Off Round 1st leg: Saints v FC Midtjylland Venue: St Marys Stadium Date/Time: Thursday 20th August - Kick off: 20:00BST - Live on BT Sport. Interesting stat: In 2004 FC Midtjylland were the first Danish club to have its own academy. Also the clubs majority shareholder is Matthew Benham - also Brentfords owner and very forward thinking in terms of using stats and mathematical modelling to help recruit players. More information on this you can find in this Guardian article: http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/feb/22/brentford-mathematical-modelling-denmark Also a video posted by our own DTLW: http://www.not606.com/threads/video...cuses-on-fc-midtjylland-and-brentford.308736/ Well a nice break from PL after Saturdays defeat and a return to Europe, with Watford on Sunday do people want to see some rested? Or full strength and try n take a decent lead to Denmark as with Vitesse? For me I would like to see full strength, we're a work in progress at the moment and the more our players play together the better we should get, this a good chance to get back to winning ways and I think most of us would be gutted if we failed to make the group stages! My first match thread (go easy! ) and at work so that will do let's hope for another healthy Saints win under the floodlights Team/score predicitions? Over to you
Stoked stoked stoked stoked stoked stoked stoked stoked stoked stoked stoked stoked stoked stoked. Stoked, basically.
Bumped from the Europa thread Match officials Referee Clément Turpin (FRA) Assistant referee Frédéric Cano (FRA) , Nicolas Danos (FRA) Fourth official Benoit Bastien (FRA) UEFA Delegate Eduard Dervishaj (ESP) UEFA Referee observer Matteo Trefoloni (ITA) Credit: http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleagu...7/match=2018040/prematch/officials/index.html
Very stoked for this one. Good chance to progress to group stages and get confidence up after saturday. Going to this one and hoping for a 3-0 win!
Absolutely certain that Ronald will play our full strength side...no risk will be taken with this match (especially bearing in mind we have a few wounded soldiers). Know nothing about Midtjylland so am going for a 4-1 win.
Wanyama - Romeu pivot is essential for me, need them to get game time together. I would rest Steve Davis and play JWP in front of them. We need Davis to be at his best for Sunday. I would definitely start caulker if available, I just do not trust Maya at this point (sorry all)
I'd play Caulker at left centre back and move Yoshida over to left back. We need a double pivot of Wanyama + Romeu/Reed. Davis on the wing (like the first leg vs Vitesse) to accommodate Mane central. If Cedric is going to bomb forward like a mad man,then put Davis on the right, to protect him ,and Tadic on the left (which is his best position).
Not for me. We should be able to win regardless on Thursday, we will need Davis energy to contain Watford. Losing on Sunday would be awful IMO.
We should take each game as it comes so early in the season. No one should be tired and all should benefit from game experience....you could rest a player and he gets the dreaded lurgy and can't play in the next match. If you are fit, you are up for contention.
Definitely play Targett at LB. He's done nothing wrong for my money, and I'd far rather have a proper full back in the position. I'm not completely convinced by Maya at CB either, never have been, but equally I'm not convinced by Caulker yet, so I'll leave that to Ron. Romeu must start imo, and of course big Vic. And I wouldn't be resting anyone just yet.
Stekelenburg, Soares, Fonte, Yoshida, Targett, Wanyama, Romeu, Davis, Tadic, Mane, Pelle. That would be my team, will be good for Wanyama and Romeu to get more playing time together, and to get a positive result to move on quickly from Saturdays result!
