Has to be a win with that line up. Clearly Pep is not that concerned with losing key men for Sunday. Could it be he has thrown in the towel for the PL and all his eggs are in this basket?It’s not about the importance of one completion over another at this stage, The point is, this is as close to a dead rubber as you can get without yet being mathematically through. We need 1 win from 3 games in a very weak group, I’d still put as favourites with a fully rotated 11 tonight but even if we lost, it’s irrelevant we can play a full strength side one of the other games if necessary when we have less injuries and less demanding games following it. We’ve won the first three with absolute ease giving ourselves the great advantage of being able to rest players now with other games in mind yet we’ve chosen not to take that advantage handed to us. It’s a ridiculous decision.
Let’s say god forbid 34 year old Fernandinho who’s going to be expected to play 3 games a week again, picks up a niggle tonight that keeps him out for a week, we lose him for Liverpool for the sake of what? A better chance of going through now rather than in a few weeks time if everything went against us tonight?
Look at klopps teams this last week, I think he rested every single player in the carabao cup, rested Fabinho at the weekend to avoid the needless risk of a ban for Sunday and then rested half his team again last night and still won them all. And we wonder why they never seem to pick up injuries. We’ve got stones, Garcia and angelino on the bench, did Fernandinho and mendy really need to be risked tonight?
Oh i totally agree mate,we have half the team out but he does this,sighIt’s not about the importance of one completion over another at this stage, The point is, this is as close to a dead rubber as you can get without yet being mathematically through. We need 1 win from 3 games in a very weak group, I’d still put as favourites with a fully rotated 11 tonight but even if we lost, it’s irrelevant we can play a full strength side one of the other games if necessary when we have less injuries and less demanding games following it. We’ve won the first three with absolute ease giving ourselves the great advantage of being able to rest players now with other games in mind yet we’ve chosen not to take that advantage handed to us. It’s a ridiculous decision.
Let’s say god forbid 34 year old Fernandinho who’s going to be expected to play 3 games a week again, picks up a niggle tonight that keeps him out for a week, we lose him for Liverpool for the sake of what? A better chance of going through now rather than in a few weeks time if everything went against us tonight?
Look at klopps teams this last week, I think he rested every single player in the carabao cup, rested Fabinho at the weekend to avoid the needless risk of a ban for Sunday and then rested half his team again last night and still won them all. And we wonder why they never seem to pick up injuries. We’ve got stones, Garcia and angelino on the bench, did Fernandinho and mendy really need to be risked tonight?
According to the PL website he's currently on 1 booking.I never knew that, is that definitely the case? I thought they still counted as 2 yellows in the totting up process?
CheersAccording to the PL website he's currently on 1 booking.
NoHas to be a win with that line up. Clearly Pep is not that concerned with losing key men for Sunday. Could it be he has thrown in the towel for the PL and all his eggs are in this basket?
Has to be a win with that line up. Clearly Pep is not that concerned with losing key men for Sunday. Could it be he has thrown in the towel for the PL and all his eggs are in this basket?
I wasn’t aware of that until just now. €2.7m for each win and €900k for each draw. That’s serious coin. No wonder the City hierarchy are so keen to do well in this competition.Don't forget, the club get £500k for every point in the group stages. That's why Pep has a strong XI, he needs the money to buy Mbappe!
This team selection confirms my thoughts as pep is going balls deep for champs league in the hope we have players back in feb to have a proper bash at it...Has to be a win with that line up. Clearly Pep is not that concerned with losing key men for Sunday. Could it be he has thrown in the towel for the PL and all his eggs are in this basket?
The Piss Can used to say 10 points will qualify you nine times out of ten anyway.Oh i totally agree mate,we have half the team out but he does this,sigh
If that were the case then we'd probably be agreeing with them a lot more for some mysterious reason..Thought it was @Fordyboy46.
Enough for one of Mbappe's arms maybe. But we'll get there in the end.I wasn’t aware of that until just now. €2.7m for each win and €900k for each draw. That’s serious coin. No wonder the City hierarchy are so keen to do well in this competition.
Still a strong line up though. I think we'll beat Atalanta at a canter: )
More talent out for us this evening than we had in all of the 90’s.Laporte, Sane, Rhodri, Silva, Foden, Zinchenko. all unavailable to us tonight.
That is an unbelievable amount of talent to be without.
It’s a bit like saving your pocket money - one day we’ll have enoughEnough for one of Mbappe's arms maybe. But we'll get there in the end.