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Match Europa League - Ferencváros vs Tottenham. 5:45, Thursday 3rd October

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Minutes played since 15 September inclusive:

Solanke 412(90)
Van de Ven 350(80)
Udogie 349(45) [49]
Kulusevski 332(90) [180]
Bentancur 329(90)
Johnson 329(75) [138]
Son 279(0) [180]
Maddison 271(76)
Romero 270(90)[180]
Porro 267(90)
Sarr 238(14)[69]
Gray 183(0)
Werner 180(76)
Davies 180(0)[180]
Drăgușin 106(10)[180]*
Bissouma 98(0)[153]
Spence 90(45)*
Bergvall 89(14)[7]
Odobert 40(0)
Moore 24(15)

(minutes vs United Sunday) [minutes last international break]

I'd be looking at leaving the first 4 at home and managing the minutes of the next 4
 
Last edited:
Klaus said:
1) When have we ever gone out of the Europa group stages?

2) This new league format is even more "safe" for the big teams than normal, because you can finish as low as 24th and still qualify.

It's all fine and well saying you want to play the first XI in every game. But you'll also be the ones moaning that we didn't rotate come February when half our squad is crocked.

oh and 3) I'm not advocating sending the "bottom of the squad and academy kids". Just not our fucking 32 year old winger for whom the back up should he get an injury is Timo fucking Werner.
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1) 2011, and we were knocked out of the Conference League in 2021.

In 2014-15 we went out in the R32, thanks in large part to comung 2nd in the group playing Chiriches and Stambouli for both legs against Besiktas (loss and draw).

This is how we ended up drawn to Fiorentia, who we still should have beat, and which also prompted me to fly over. The home leg of that match up is the one where the Shelf Side/Park Lane chant went on forever and was immortalized on YouTube. My flight was delayed, however, and so I was in the air for most of it and landing at Heathrow around the 60 minute mark I had no hope of making it to WHL so went to the hotel. Thanks for dredging up that shit memory. (Not your fault in truth, I get upset about that at least once a fortnight still).

2) Surely avoiding an extra 180 minutes of football in a 2 legged matchup against potentially stiff competition is aligned with your desire to mitigate possible injury/strain on the playing squad?

3) I agree. I don't think Son should be playing much in the EL league stage. Maybe the home match against Roma. I really hope we wouldn't need him away to Hoffenheim, but we'll see where we are at that point. Need to minimize Maddison and VDV's involvement as well.
 
MemphisWill said:
1) 2011, and we were knocked out of the Conference League in 2021.
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Knocked out? Or removed on a technicality?
MemphisWill said:
The home leg of that match up is the one where the Shelf Side/Park Lane chant went on forever and was immortalized on YouTube.
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Think I might have been there for that
MemphisWill said:
2) Surely avoiding an extra 180 minutes of football in a 2 legged matchup against potentially stiff competition is aligned with your desire to mitigate possible injury/strain on the playing squad?
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Tbh mate I just enjoy watching us play, more games the merrier. But yes I do see the argument about reducing injuries. I just reckon it'd be better to play a rotated squad now for the 8 games, and save our first teamers for the second half of the season. Really we should be able to pretty handily beat anyone we come up against in a playoff.
MemphisWill said:
3) I agree. I don't think Son should be playing much in the EL league stage.
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Think we're largely agreed then. I'm not advocating playing the academy, I just want Son rested, and probably the likes of Maddison & VDV too given their injury issues from last season.
 
5 changes from Sunday (although it still looks very 'first team' eh)

Son Solanke Werner

Bentancur Sarr Bissouma

Udogie Davies Romero Gray

Vicario​
 
SeeSpotRun said:
Minutes played since 15 September:

Solanke 412(90)
Van de Ven 350(80)
Udogie 349(45)
Kulusevski 332(90)
Bentancur 329(90)
Johnson 329(75)
Son 279(0)
Maddison 271(76)
Romero 270(90)
Porro 267(90)
Sarr 238(14)
Gray 183(0)
Werner 180(76)
Davies 180(0)
Drăgușin 106(10)*
Bissouma 98(0)
Spence 90(45)*
Bergvall 89(14)
Odobert 40(0)
Moore 24(15)

(minutes vs United Sunday)

I'd be looking at leaving the first 4 at home and managing the minutes of the next 4
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Hard, Dragusin is out so we'll probably need one of Micky or Udogie to travel. I would give one half for each, start Davies as LB then move him to CB when Udogie comes in. Son, if fully fit (I would prefer to rest him) can play as a striker in Solanke's place, if we are winning can take him off an give some minutes to Lankshear. Kulu doesn't need to travel imo, as we have a lot of options, but who knows? The guy never get tired it seems..
 
Allejo10 said:
Hard, Dragusin is out so we'll probably need one of Micky or Udogie to travel. I would give one half for each, start Davies as LB then move him to CB when Udogie comes in. Son, if fully fit (I would prefer to rest him) can play as a striker in Solanke's place, if we are winning can take him off an give some minutes to Lankshear. Kulu doesn't need to travel imo, as we have a lot of options, but who knows? The guy never get tired it seems..
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It's complicated by the international break where I think we'd prefer Son not to travel. If we play him in either this one or Brighton then South Korea will claim him.

Also the minutes for Son were on top of 180 minutes and intercontinental travel in the last international break.

But if we leave Son home and want to rest Solanke and Kulusevski then our striker options are limited. Are we brave enough to go with something like:
Vicario
Porro Gray Romero Davies
Sarr Bissouma Bergvall
Johnson Lankshire Werner
 
sudoku said:
Dom has been around the block. I don't see him having hamstring issues.
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Even Ange says players who have to train and play in his system suffer hamstring injuries in their first season. Lankshear barely made it into the first week of the season. Odobert lasted 3 weeks. Werner lasted 70 mins. Even injury proof Sonny has succumbed. Solanke joined us late and then got injured in the first game, so has missed most of Ange's pre-season and training. Especially considering the amount of intense sprints Solanke is doing whilst almost certainly fatigued. He needs a rest IMO, as does Johnson.

But Maddison, Porro, Romero were all rested last mid-week so can start as the seniors. Bissouma, Gray, Davies, Sarr, Bergvall all fresh to play too. So I expect to see a team with all of them in it or playing significant minutes from the bench. This is a decent team that can get a result whilst resting key players who do lots of intense sprinting.

Vicario
Porro -- Romero -- Davies -- Gray
Bissouma
Sarr -- Maddison
Moore -- Lankshear -- Werner

Subs: Forster, Udogie, VdV, Bentancur, Kulusevski, Bergvall, Solanke, Son, Johnson​
 
5purs said:
5 changes from Sunday (although it still looks very 'first team' eh)

Son Solanke Werner

Bentancur Sarr Bissouma

Udogie Davies Romero Gray

Vicario​
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I've a feeling Ange will keep Son home for this, even if he IS fit...

Save him for Sunday, 100%

Werner in Europe has a ring to it... I think he'll thrive personally... and if he doesn't, better to find out on Thursday, than Sunday again!

My starting FWIW IX is:
Vicario
Porro
Romero
Gray (CB)
Davies (LB)

Bissouma
Sarr
Bergwall

Moore/Werner
Werner/Moore (interchangeable)
Solanke/Lankshear
 
SeeSpotRun said:
Minutes played since 15 September inclusive:

Solanke 412(90)
Van de Ven 350(80)
Udogie 349(45) [49]
Kulusevski 332(90) [180]
Bentancur 329(90)
Johnson 329(75) [138]
Son 279(0) [180]
Maddison 271(76)
Romero 270(90)[180]
Porro 267(90)
Sarr 238(14)[69]
Gray 183(0)
Werner 180(76)
Davies 180(0)[180]
Drăgușin 106(10)[180]*
Bissouma 98(0)[153]
Spence 90(45)*
Bergvall 89(14)[7]
Odobert 40(0)
Moore 24(15)

(minutes vs United Sunday) [minutes last international break]

I'd be looking at leaving the first 4 at home and managing the minutes of the next 4
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I guess we find out if Ange is ready to trust Lankshear yet.

Stick Solanke on the bench just in case but there’s no reason Lankshear can’t get a start. Obviously 99% of managers would go with the senior striker but the way he plays, it’s got to be worth a thought to keep him fresh
 
Richard Arlison said:
I guess we find out if Ange is ready to trust Lankshear yet.

Stick Solanke on the bench just in case but there’s no reason Lankshear can’t get a start. Obviously 99% of managers would go with the senior striker but the way he plays, it’s got to be worth a thought to keep him fresh
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No amount of imaging can see the muscle micro-tears, and I don't think it's possible to overestimate the damage that a serious Solanke injury would do to our momentum right now. If he's reporting even moderate tightness then rest him.

So for me it's just a question of whether to leave him home for a proper rest, or take him along as a rescue sub a la Maddison vs Coventry.

The problem is who do you take as rescue subs because the other ST options (Son, Kulu) have similar issues.

Time to take a chance on the kids IMO, it's a less risky dice roll than a Solanke/Son/Kulu injury risk. Especially with 3 Europa points already in the bag.
 
SeeSpotRun said:
No amount of imaging can see the muscle micro-tears, and I don't think it's possible to overestimate the damage that a serious Solanke injury would do to our momentum right now. If he's reporting even moderate tightness then rest him.

So for me it's just a question of whether to leave him home for a proper rest, or take him along as a rescue sub a la Maddison vs Coventry.

The problem is who do you take as rescue subs because the other ST options (Son, Kulu) have similar issues.

Time to take a chance on the kids IMO, it's a less risky dice roll than a Solanke/Son/Kulu injury risk. Especially with 3 Europa points already in the bag.
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Take Solanke even if there's no intention to play him.

He's missed the bonding over pre-season and was on the treatment table for a bit.

Bring him along to be part of the group.
 
SeeSpotRun said:
Minutes played since 15 September inclusive:

Solanke 412(90)
Van de Ven 350(80)
Udogie 349(45) [49]
Kulusevski 332(90) [180]
Bentancur 329(90)
Johnson 329(75) [138]
Son 279(0) [180]
Maddison 271(76)
Romero 270(90)[180]
Porro 267(90)
Sarr 238(14)[69]
Gray 183(0)
Werner 180(76)
Davies 180(0)[180]
Drăgușin 106(10)[180]*
Bissouma 98(0)[153]
Spence 90(45)*
Bergvall 89(14)[7]
Odobert 40(0)
Moore 24(15)

(minutes vs United Sunday) [minutes last international break]

I'd be looking at leaving the first 4 at home and managing the minutes of the next 4
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
You can get the total minutes for the season here as well Player Ratings 2024/25
 
SeeSpotRun said:
No amount of imaging can see the muscle micro-tears, and I don't think it's possible to overestimate the damage that a serious Solanke injury would do to our momentum right now. If he's reporting even moderate tightness then rest him.

So for me it's just a question of whether to leave him home for a proper rest, or take him along as a rescue sub a la Maddison vs Coventry.

The problem is who do you take as rescue subs because the other ST options (Son, Kulu) have similar issues.

Time to take a chance on the kids IMO, it's a less risky dice roll than a Solanke/Son/Kulu injury risk. Especially with 3 Europa points already in the bag.
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I would take him but start Lankshear.

I think Sonny is an interesting one. We could really use him not going away on international duty but that would mean we need to sit him this game and at Brighton...

Personally that shot from Mikey Moore leads me to think he's finding some confidence and I'd be very tempted to give him some serious minutes in this game.

Everyone knows I'm not Werner's biggest fan but i was actually a bit encouraged by his performance and could see him scoring against Brighton so he could maybe get rested in this one and start Brighton if Sonny isn't fit.

1
Vicario
2
Gray
3
Romero
4
Davies
5
Udog
6
Bissouma
7
Sarr
8
Bergvall
9
Johnson
10
Lankshear
11
Moore
lineup code
[lineup]
Vicario
Gray Romero Davies Udog
Bissouma
Sarr Bergvall
Johnson Lankshear Moore
[/lineup]


Just roll with it and bring Maddison, Kulusevski and Solanke if we need them.
 
Richard Arlison said:
I would take him but start Lankshear.

I think Sonny is an interesting one. We could really use him not going away on international duty but that would mean we need to sit him this game and at Brighton...

Personally that shot from Mikey Moore leads me to think he's finding some confidence and I'd be very tempted to give him some serious minutes in this game.

Everyone knows I'm not Werner's biggest fan but i was actually a bit encouraged by his performance and could see him scoring against Brighton so he could maybe get rested in this one and start Brighton if Sonny isn't fit.

1
Vicario
2
Gray
3
Romero
4
Davies
5
Udog
6
Bissouma
7
Sarr
8
Bergvall
9
Johnson
10
Lankshear
11
Moore
lineup code
[lineup]
Vicario
Gray Romero Davies Udog
Bissouma
Sarr Bergvall
Johnson Lankshear Moore
[/lineup]


Just roll with it and bring Maddison, Kulusevski and Solanke if we need them.
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Yep like that, subject to Udogie injury assessment.
 
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