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We return tomorrow to the Champions League after 2 years of absence. Unfortunately our draw isn’t the easiest one. For instance, our first match is against Bayern away, a well established side in the Champions League.
But Maresca has proven that he can adjust and adapt. The Clubs World Cup campaign in the summer showed that. We won despite not being favorite compared to PSG or other big teams like Bayern, City etc. I don’t think we will beat Bayern at their home, but I hope us to give a stern challenge for them. We have good players, we have a good team. True that we miss key players like Delap & especially Colwill to injuries. But they don’t have Musiala either due to injuries.
I think Maresca will do a bit of rotation there as there is Man Utd in the weekend who are without European football this season. Probably Gusto for James. Or Garnacho for Neto. I reckon Joao Pedro if fit will relish his Champions League debut, I hope he will score.
My team: Sanchez – James,Chalobah,Tosin,Cucurella – Caicedo,Enzo – Estevao,Palmer,Neto – Joao Pedro
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Back in the Champions League after two years, and our first test is away at Bayern. Tough place to start, but the group isn’t the worst compared others so progression is realistic. If our defense and keeper stay focused we can definitely take at least a point. We need to start strong with our best 11 and rotate later and if we nick the first goal, the game changes. Jackson will be desperate to prove a point, i hope our players get under his skin so he can collect his usual red card. Aindro, I like your team but Tosin has been struggling lately on 1v1, so i would try Acheampong in his place. this is going to be an open game too so Gittens will have plenty of space to run at defenders and he has the experience playing against them so i would bring him around the 60th minute and rest Pedro as he has been playing a lot lately.
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Zizi, I think to start with, I should have begin with a statement that I don’t understand, and thus I don’t like this new format of Champions League. The old format with groups or even the oldest format with home and way for me are much simpler and straight away and making every match more meaningful & interesting to watch. Again this is a money grabber competition to squeeze as many matches as possible by UEFA. Like with what FIFA did for the Clubs World Cup last summer.
Nonetheless, we could gain a lot of money from this UCL competition. So can’t complain too much and I will just try to enjoy and see how far we can go measuring against big top European clubs.
I honestly wouldn’t play Acheampong. Harry Kane is not too quick, but he is physical & really experienced. Hence in my preferred team: Tosin would start. I wouldn’t put too much burden on young players in such matches against powerhouses. They have to be introduced slowly but sure. Gittens: so far he hasn’t shown anything meaningful. But as you said: he is familiar with Bundesliga. He may be helpful against Bayern. But I can’t justify him starting over Garnacho or Estevao or Neto. And I would not put too much emphasize on Jackson. He isn’t amongst the big potatoes there. He may not even start the game. Kane, Kimmich, Olise, Luis Diaz are the ones we should pay attention to. Not Jackson
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Nevertheless Bayern away is about as tough as you can get so tbh i dont fancy our chances. Aindro I also preferred the old format for various reasons. Jackson is the least of our worries but should he score or Bayern score you can bet he will be celebrating wildly. Anyway im glad his gone unfortunately its only on loan. I think Maresca will select a predictable team.
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Now we know why Maresca played no fullback against Brentford. Because all 3 are starting tonight, hence he did not start any last weekend to rotate. Our starting lineup is probably the most suitable against Bayern with 2 DMs to break their flow but I just don’t like the idea of James playing DM. Why not Andrey Santos who will be on the bench??
Sanchez – Gusto,Chalobah,Tosin,Cucurella – James,Caicedo – Palmer,Fernandez,Neto – Joao Pedro
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Me neither, but in all probability the best available starting lineup with the exception of Reece who should be at right back thus allowing for an extra specialist in the midfield. Still think Bayern have a better team in any event. Hope for the best.
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Anyone watching the match? Champions League is a bit tricky for me as it’s during working hours here. And anyway I haven’t paid the subscription for the ULC streaming. From the result, 2-1 for Bayern HT, an own goal by Chalobah and a penalty from Kane: we must be playing quite decent?
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We played well in the first half, thought the officials were absolute maggots. A very dubious free kick and a very dubious penalty gave them their first 2 goals plus Palmers 2nd goal was ruled offside. I think if Maresca had Reece in his rightful place at right back and played a proper centre midfielder like Santos or Bonnanotta we could have done much better. Or even start with an extra forward. Hope thats the last we see of Reece as a midfielder.
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We’re not going to win against Bayern away with Joao Pedro up front, Tosin/Chalobah as our central defence pairing, and three specialist full backs in the starting XI.
Losing Colwill was a tragedy for us, and Chalobah is not a top class RCB. Tosin is a mid-table defender.
Delap fits the system better but we won’t know if he’s good enough until he gets fit and plays consistently for the team.
Premiership should be our priority but seeing Maresca play a crap lineup against Brentford leaves me thinking he hopes to get a good run in the ECL, whilst not hoping to finish too high up in the league.
I just feel like after last season, we’re in a 1 foot forward, 2 steps back situation. Players like Palmer will be looking for the off ramp soon and his comments about ‘learning curves’ back that up.
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We’ve spent over £1B and still can’t put out 11 competitive players. Be honest, who in this squad gets into Bayern’s 11 besides James, Palmer, maybe Caicedo? Not many. Ed, you’re spot on, Maresca’s obsession with playing guys out of position is killing us. James wasted again, wrong subs at the wrong time and when he finally reacted, why not just move James back to RB? We were completely outplayed in that second half, and if not for Sanchez it could’ve easily been 6–1. Can’t blame the defenders too much, they’re midtable quality at best and being asked to do jobs they shouldn’t be doing. For a club that’s spent this much, it’s just not good enough.
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I did not see the match, just saw the extended highlights: I think their goals were harsh. One own goal from Chalobah. One penalty where Caicedo nearly got the ball. And one bad back pass from Gusto. All their goals could have been avoidable.
But I agree with all of you. Reece James out of position and we had Santos or even Buonanotte on the bench. I don’t understand that. Why don’t Maresca simply bench James or Gusto and start Santos? And Tosin, we all are aware. He is not bad, he is a giant, he can be useful against smaller oppositions to break their resilience through corners. But agains top European sides like Bayern or Madrid or Barcelona: he is simply not in that class. Too slow, too unaware. And not signing a central defender after knowing that Colwill would be out for the season is IMO already costly.
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It wasnt great or pretty but with so many injuries its a hard fought win. Once again we ended up with 10 men, must be some sort of club record.
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Neto probably our best. Some excellent defensive work by James when he came on. Maresca actually got the subs 100% right for a change. Estavao made one mazy run beating 3 or 4 defenders, a sign of how good he will be at his peak, something very special. 3 valuable points.
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I think we should not expect much in this first Maresca CL campaign. So many injuries but even without injuries: too many good clubs out there in Europe. I can’t be optimistic to finish in the top 8.
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