46 minutes ago, Trueblue76 said:

Chelsea vs Napoli 2012 all over again!

I did think of that one. Tie was at the bridge though. 

They who shall not be named lost a home leg to Real then battered them in Spain. Bet you got some stick that day @Valerie

7 hours ago, Upsetter said:

If Real had scored one more, we could have sung “are you Brentford in disguise?”

Never thought of that !😀

1 hour ago, axman2526 said:

I did think of that one. Tie was at the bridge though. 

They who shall not be named lost a home leg to Real then battered them in Spain. Bet you got some stick that day @Valerie

We do benefit ever so slightly from the removal of the away goals rule in this case. Still a mountain to climb though.

Thank God there's no away goals rule. Otherwise the tie would have been 100% done.

Still need to find at least 2 goals away from home without Madrid scoring to be back in the tie. That alone is difficult.

2 hours ago, forbzy said:

We do benefit ever so slightly from the removal of the away goals rule in this case. Still a mountain to climb though.

Huge mountain indeed.

17 minutes ago, Mana said:

Thank God there's no away goals rule. Otherwise the tie would have been 100% done.

Still need to find at least 2 goals away from home without Madrid scoring to be back in the tie. That alone is difficult.

The tie is 100% unless the entire team ups its levels significantly, even Kai and Silva.

We have to be mistake free, clinical and be able to beat them in every battle for the whole game. We have to hit them like a runaway train and keep on at them till they fall apart.

On 18/03/2022 at 11:23, Mana said:

Real want revenge. Generally, history shows teams that are after revenge, get their revenge. 

It's almost look like they got their revenge.

My statement about teams generally getting their revenge holds.

4 hours ago, Mana said:

It's almost look like they got their revenge.

My statement about teams generally getting their revenge holds.

Doubly so, where we were being called the World and European champions now we are being referred to as "last seasons CL winners".

To make matters worse looks like Liverpool will be the ones to take our title, unless Real knock City out as they may have a chance. City have zip all against them in Europe imo.

Think the only real chance we have is throwing a curveball at Madrid.

One of the things that stood out for me in the first leg was their midfield domination. Modric and Co killed us. Out wide they offered less imo. So maybe a return of the 4222 system to out man them in the middle.

Something like

 

Mendy

 

Dave

Silva

Rudiger

Sarr/Alonso

 

James

Kante

 

Kovacic

Mount

 

Havertz

Lukaku/Pulisic/Werner

 

Honestly I don't see a good option at LB, we could play Trev in the middle and push Rudiger to fullback he may be better there than Sarr or Alonso.

Hope would be this gives Kante a shield role, to win the ball in our own half, James likewise though I would give him more license to go forward and his crosses from inside deep positions and take long shots on. Outside of Havertz he is out best creator and scorer imo.

Mount and Kovacic to press their midfield all over the park, Havertz a free role to pressure them and whoever his partner is to offer limited support as we have no other great option.

One thing I am sure on, our usual system will see whoever is in the middle destroyed 3 on 2 again as Kante is not able to make up the numbers at this time.

Edited April 8, 20224 yr by axman2526

That sounds about the best we can give, though I would swap out Mendy for Kepa!

I’d also play Alonso….

When is Mount start going to make a difference like he used to..  Can he just be tired?? 

33 minutes ago, Mod said:

That sounds about the best we can give, though I would swap out Mendy for Kepa!

I’d also play Alonso….

I did seriously consider Kepa in, given his good form during the ACoN and Mendys poor form since it I wonder if it has crossed TT mind.

Far as Alonso goes well I don't think we have a good option  either way. Least he gives us some height and the slim chance he slams in a free kick or qonder hit.

I know being reactionary is always tempting as a football fan, but Kepa over Mendy? You lot are mad!

6 hours ago, guddy69 said:

When is Mount start going to make a difference like he used to..  Can he just be tired?? 

I never understood why people love Mount. He wasn't that great last season. He had sparks sure, but he wasn't able to maintain good form for the majority of last season.

This season he's even worse. Maybe other teams finally caught on Mount and how he plays. I'm slowly seeing Maguire vibes from Mount in terms of protection as well. People defend Mount in strange ways, like he's the upcoming Messiah. He's nowhere near.

Edited April 8, 20224 yr by Mana

1 hour ago, PloKoon13 said:

I know being reactionary is always tempting as a football fan, but Kepa over Mendy? You lot are mad!

When Mendy was doing AFCON duty, Kepa did well. His League Cup final performance was the only performance that he did bad in.

It's looking like Mendy needs some rest. Remember he returned from Africa just recently and his recent performances show that he's not up to speed.

2 hours ago, PloKoon13 said:

I know being reactionary is always tempting as a football fan, but Kepa over Mendy? You lot are mad!

I agree Plokkers. Think we should only bring him on for the penalty shoot out next week.