Europa Conference League 2023/4 | Page 299 | Vital Football

Europa Conference League 2023/4

VillaTomB38 said:
Yeah it does say that when I checked earlier, I’ve tried a couple of time to go to the champions league final in the past so really hoping I can go this time. I’m not holding much hope for the conference league final as it’s a much smaller ground and will obviously have a loads trying so you’ve done well to get a pair of tickets either way.
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Maybe they are doing the ballots in ascending order. UCL, Europa, Champs league.
 
With Martinez suspended and Tielemans out for 2 weeks surely the team on Thursday is something like this:

--------------------Olsen-----------------
---Cash---Konsa--Pau---Digne---
----‐---------Luiz-----McGinn---------
-------Bailey------------------Rogers--
-------------Diaby--------Watkins-----

Only area of contention is if we play Konsa at RB and bring Carlos in or if young Tim has earned himself a start? We really are down to the bare bones just now.
 
Tomy-Flemba said:
With Martinez suspended and Tielemans out for 2 weeks surely the team on Thursday is something like this:

--------------------Olsen-----------------
---Cash---Konsa--Pau---Digne---
----‐---------Luiz-----McGinn---------
-------Bailey------------------Rogers--
-------------Diaby--------Watkins-----

Only area of contention is if we play Konsa at RB and bring Carlos in or if young Tim has earned himself a start? We really are down to the bare bones just now.
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I think the only other thing Unai might try is Tim in. Diaby out and McGinn futher forward
 
Gillette said:
I think we need to assume that they aren't that good and attack like mad. We have a full compliment of forwards so blitz them. Attack is the best form of defence.
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I'm not sure how accurate this is but I've heard they have several players suspended for the first leg so they might be much weaker than normal.
 
Gillette said:
I think we need to assume that they aren't that good and attack like mad. We have a full compliment of forwards so blitz them. Attack is the best form of defence.
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I assumed Lille weren't that good either, but I take your point. They don't have the level of players we do, none of the teams in this competition does and over 2 legs we should sail through.
 
Gillette said:
I think we need to assume that they aren't that good and attack like mad. We have a full compliment of forwards so blitz them. Attack is the best form of defence.
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I saw the 2nd half of their game to qualify for this round and they basically put 10 men behind the ball. I’m expecting them to have a similar approach on Thursday, so expect us to go with an attacking line up.
 
Villan57 said:
I assumed Lille weren't that good either, but I take your point. They don't have the level of players we do, none of the teams in this competition does and over 2 legs we should sail through.
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Tiredness is the great equalizer.

The conference league has been the greatest example of “the only enemy is the man standing in the mirror”. That’s been us this whole tournament because we’re better than all the teams in it. I definitely think some of the fatigue has been in their heads. They had moments in the Lille game where we sprung to life but as soon as they came back at us we shrank.

Unai has dragged them kicking and screaming thru nearly every round.
 
CDX_EIRE said:
Tiredness is the great equalizer.

The conference league has been the greatest example of “the only enemy is the man standing in the mirror”. That’s been us this whole tournament because we’re better than all the teams in it. I definitely think some of the fatigue has been in their heads. They had moments in the Lille game where we sprung to life but as soon as they came back at us we shrank.

Unai has dragged them kicking and screaming thru nearly every round.
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Olympiacos have played one more game than us since the quarter final second legs. All important games in their title race or latter stages of the cup there. They've also go a few players suspended apparently so I think it's fine to be optimistic.

Optimistic that is, not arrogant. Not that I'm saying anyone here is being arrogant. Olympiacos probably aren't as good as Lille or ourselves but they compete in Europe every year against sides with bigger budgets and they will know they need to frustrate us in the first leg. They'll think that going back to Athens with anything better than a 2 goal deficit gives them a real chance.
 
JW1985 said:
Olympiacos have played one more game than us since the quarter final second legs. All important games in their title race or latter stages of the cup there. They've also go a few players suspended apparently so I think it's fine to be optimistic.

Optimistic that is, not arrogant. Not that I'm saying anyone here is being arrogant. Olympiacos probably aren't as good as Lille or ourselves but they compete in Europe every year against sides with bigger budgets and they will know they need to frustrate us in the first leg. They'll think that going back to Athens with anything better than a 2 goal deficit gives them a real chance.
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I watched their game after ours and it seemed very chaotic so I don't think Mendilibar is renowned for his football. He has beaten Unai before but Unai has 7 wins in 13 games against him. The problem is they will raise their game against us and I'd expect them to dig in and fight for everything too. Mendilibar masterminded a Europa Lge. win last season so he is no mug.

We do have the quality to put 4 or 5 past them over two legs, maybe even the first alone. But if we drop a clanger early doors it could be a long night, it might be a long night anyway if they have a perfect game.

Between the Lille games, Chelsea, Brentford, and really most of the games since we lost Kamara. Its been so hard to form any expectation of the team. Pretty much down to 13 or 14 reliable senior players and 4 of them are CBs. We just cannot sustain consistent performances now and adrenaline seems to be dragging us over the line in some matches.
 
Villan57 said:
Well, they aren't Chelsea and I detected people thought we'd wallop them.
We've been favourites to win this since round one.
If we don't it will be our fault.
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That's this season as a whole, even 4th, if we don't finish 4th it's also our own fault. Now if Spurs go and win 4 games out of the final 5 then fair fucks to them but generally speaking that's also ours to lose.
 
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