Team for Qarabag

[thebenjamin]

I'm still so confused about the Spence omission. It's given us a massive left back headache for the whole group stage. It's either Udogie, who is such a key player we can't afford to run him into the ground, or Davies, who we don't want playing left back at all. Spence's ability to play left or right makes him one of the most handy players we have for this exact period of fixtures.

 

[Mr Pink]

No way VDV starts with United on Sunday.

Davies beside Dragusin, Udogie @ LB

 

[SirHarryHotspur]

I'm still so confused about the Spence omission. It's given us a massive left back headache for the whole group stage. It's either Udogie, who is such a key player we can't afford to run him into the ground, or Davies, who we don't want playing left back at all. Spence's ability to play left or right makes him one of the most handy players we have for this exact period of fixtures.

Watch the fan Q&A video , Lange talks about the 23 man Europa squad although not about specific players.

 

[rabbikeane]

What's the point of having a squad if you only rotate 1 or 2 players.

The clue is to rotate few players every game, not to drop every first teamer in cups and play a team of strangers. Trust every player you allow in your squad then they can play any game. But there must be some consistency in the line up to have a performing team. Arsenal in the league, rotate couple of players - Coventry in cup, rotate a couple of players, Qarabag in Europe, rotate a couple of players.
This dumping of entire team for "lesser" tournaments is big reason why we hold no trophies in Levy era despite it historically being one of our strongest and consistent period.

 

[SirHarryHotspur]

As he did pre-match , guessing Sonny starts..

 

[Bluto Blutarsky]

As he did pre-match , guessing Sonny starts..

I think he should.

Shows a level of respect and seriousness for the competition. Its a game we should be winning if we want to advance, and its a home game, so less stress on travel.

I think we should play mostly starters - and hopefully build a lead, and substitute early in the 2nd half.

Vicario
Gray Dragusin VdV Udogie
Bentancur
Sarr Maddison
Johnson Solanke Son​

Bergvall on in the 2nd half. Werner and Moore if we build a decent lead. Davies to replace Udogie.

Bissouma late.

Lankshear - only if forced on.

Rest Kulusevski - unless absolutely necessary. Ditto Porro.

 

[Mark_147]

The clue is to rotate few players every game, not to drop every first teamer in cups and play a team of strangers. Trust every player you allow in your squad then they can play any game. But there must be some consistency in the line up to have a performing team. Arsenal in the league, rotate couple of players - Coventry in cup, rotate a couple of players, Qarabag in Europe, rotate a couple of players.
This dumping of entire team for "lesser" tournaments is big reason why we hold no trophies in Levy era despite it historically being one of our strongest and consistent period.

Nobody suggested rotating the whole first team. It's standard that most teams will rotate at least 4-5 players for this competition.

 

[Bluto Blutarsky]

Nobody suggested rotating the whole first team. It's standard that most teams will rotate at least 4-5 players for this competition.

United, who we play on Sunday, have gone pretty strong...

ETA - 9 starters from last weekend started today.

Maguire (2 starts) came in for de Ligt, and Rashford (who has started 4 of 5) came in for Garnacho.

 

[npearl4spurs]

I think he should.

Shows a level of respect and seriousness for the competition. Its a game we should be winning if we want to advance, and its a home game, so less stress on travel.

I think we should play mostly starters - and hopefully build a lead, and substitute early in the 2nd half.

Vicario
Gray Dragusin VdV Udogie
Bentancur
Sarr Maddison
Johnson Solanke Son​

Bergvall on in the 2nd half. Werner and Moore if we build a decent lead. Davies to replace Udogie.

Bissouma late.

Lankshear - only if forced on.

Rest Kulusevski - unless absolutely necessary. Ditto Porro.

I don’t think Porro should play at all - I believe he’s had the most minutes under Ange of any outfield player. The plan is clearly to give all that game time to Archie so we need to trust him and let him develop.

 

[BorjeSpurs]

Shows a level of respect and seriousness for the competition. Its a game we should be winning if we want to advance, and its a home game, so less stress on travel.

Understand the sentiment but don't agree personally.

We are going to aim to win it this year. To win it you have play at least 15 games and 17 games if you land between 9th-24th in the table. That's almost half a PL season.

With the new format you have so many chances to turn things around. For me I would rotate plenty in the group stage and more or less go best team when the knockout starts.

 

[iddebu52]

Understand the sentiment but don't agree personally.

We are going to aim to win it this year. To win it you have play at least 15 games and 17 games if you land between 9th-24th in the table. That's almost half a PL season.

With the new format you have so many chances to turn things around. For me I would rotate plenty in the group stage and more or less go best team when the knockout starts.

Yeh but you have to qualify from the group stage first .

 

[FinnYid]

United, who we play on Sunday, have gone pretty strong...

ETA - 9 starters from last weekend started today.

Maguire (2 starts) came in for de Ligt, and Rashford (who has started 4 of 5) came in for Garnacho.

Not giving them a result, but hopefully their XI will be bit more tired than ours should we rotate more

 

[danielneeds]

I think he should.

Shows a level of respect and seriousness for the competition. Its a game we should be winning if we want to advance, and its a home game, so less stress on travel.

I think we should play mostly starters - and hopefully build a lead, and substitute early in the 2nd half.

Vicario
Gray Dragusin VdV Udogie
Bentancur
Sarr Maddison
Johnson Solanke Son​

Bergvall on in the 2nd half. Werner and Moore if we build a decent lead. Davies to replace Udogie.

Bissouma late.

Lankshear - only if forced on.

Rest Kulusevski - unless absolutely necessary. Ditto Porro.

We cannot be playing Son twice a week at 32. He’s gonna be completely gassed by Feb and March if we are in the running for any cups.

 

[Disco]

I was pretty firm on not rotating too much for Cov but Im happier here for more changes.

 

[chas vs dave]

We have to start either madders, or kulu, imo.

Get a decent lead, then make subs.

 

[DannyNZ]

Gray and Bergvall are inexperienced youngsters that will only improve with game time, they need to be starting these types of games. Similarly Dragusin needs plenty of game time to ensure he’s ready to step into the EPL starting 11 if needed. Porro cannot be played twice a week endlessly, the same with Son. Bissouma coming back from injury needs game time under his belt. expect there to be a fair bit of rotation.

 

[Yiddo1982]

Vic
Gray Dragusin VDV Udogie
Sarr Biss Bergvall
Johnson Solanke Son

 

[Bluto Blutarsky]

We cannot be playing Son twice a week at 32. He’s gonna be completely gassed by Feb and March if we are in the running for any cups.

I think people overplay this argument sometimes. But, when it comes to these games - we need to be finishing in the top-8 to avoid the 2 extra games. To do that, we need to be winning home games. Qarabag will be up for it - and if we put together a haphazard squad that hasn't played together - we are not winning. We have proven that year after year.

If Sonny was not playing this week, he ordinarily would be going through an hour+ of high intensity training. So, give him an hour, and then take him off.

Werner himself is coming off an injury - so we risk a bigger long-term issue if we overwork Werner.

Hopefully Odebert will be back after the next break, and Richi can sort himself out in a similar time.

 

[keithtighe93]

I'm still so confused about the Spence omission. It's given us a massive left back headache for the whole group stage. It's either Udogie, who is such a key player we can't afford to run him into the ground, or Davies, who we don't want playing left back at all. Spence's ability to play left or right makes him one of the most handy players we have for this exact period of fixtures.

Correct but you forgot about how it hurts Micky too.

If Davies has to play LB, he can’t step in for Micky. Or if we want to put Davies CB and rest Udogie, it’s Micky at LB.

Micky is the one player I wouldn’t be fucking around with it load wise

 

[jolsnogross]

I wouldn't change too much. The league part of this competition runs into 2025, so why not run the board for points early on, especially at home, so you have the option to rotate later.

And of course, we're in no position to treat this match as a walkover or a trophy to throw our noses up at. Get ahead and then see if you can "rest".