Chelsea (away) Sunday 24th April 2pm Sky Sports

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Comments

  • OldCastleSwiftOldCastleSwift
    At least Kovac got time on the pitch to demonstrate how bad he was.

    I think it's harsh to judge Kral's ability on the 255 minutes he's played under Moyes.
  • eskimokingeskimoking
    Alese is a left footed CB. My opinion is “no more square pegs in round holes.” Give Alese the chance.
  • claretandblueskyclaretandbluesky
    At least with the Chelsea game we get to experiment as they will stress test any weakness in whatever formation Moyes attempts.

  • OutcastLondonerOutcastLondoner
    edited April 2022
    Whatever Moyes does is going to be something he hasn’t really done before, at least not much, whether it’s starting Alese, moving Rice to CB or playing one (or two) full backs as centre backs.

    To me, playing Alese seems the most normal option.
  • buffybegoodbuffybegood
    edited April 2022
    OutcastLondoner said:

    To me, playing Alese seems the most normal option.

    I agree, but I somehow doubt we'll see it. I think he'd start Kral at CB ahead of Alese, but I suspect we'll see a switch to 3/5 at the back,

    ----------Johnson---Dawson---Cresswell----------
    Coufal (or maybe Fredericks)-------------Fornals
  • LukerzLukerz
    If he was considering Alese he would have mentioned him when discussing Diop ahead of the Lyon game. He only mentioned Diop & Rice as options.
  • whupathmanwhupathman
    If Arsenal win they will be hurt, but at least it may mean spuds don't get CL, Ying and Yang
  • thornburyironthornburyiron
    Chelsea have now lost 3 at home on the bounce so will be hurting come Sunday.
  • LukerzLukerz
    Chelsea have us, Man Utd (a), Everton (a), Wolves in their next four. 5 points clear of 5th. Not completely safe in that top 4.
  • OldCastleSwiftOldCastleSwift
    LWLL would be nice
  • LukerzLukerz
    Full strength. This Chelsea side are showing cracks & with Arsenal & United playing each other, this is a vital chance to get back into contention for top 6.
  • OldCastleSwiftOldCastleSwift
    Unfortunately I think our cracks (one fit CB, one striker hopelessly out of goal-scoring form, lack of options on the bench) are bigger than theirs.

    Chelsea are wobbling a bit, but we seem to do terribly against teams out of form and have our own problems.

    I'd be amazed to see anything other than a home win.

    It's looking like a fight between Man U, us and Wolves for 6th. As bad as Man U have been this season, they have still somehow managed to pick up points and I expect them to get enough to secure 6th.
  • SlackerSlacker
    Great that we’re still in the mix innit?
  • LukerzLukerz
    edited April 2022
    I don’t see Man Utd wanting to finish 5-7, personally. I think they’d be quite happy with an 8th place finish and having a clear run at the top four next season, with just the two domestic cups (although they won’t admit it). I also think they’d get away with just losing until the end of the season, with everybody waiting for the new manager and rebuild to start. They’re already at rock bottom so can’t get any lower.

    I think we could still finish 6th based on that but we’re going to need to pull a big result out from somewhere. Our last two results have probably ended top 5 dreams. That Arsenal game is poorly timed as I think our focus will be on Frankfurt when we play them, so I think the Chelsea game will be the one we may need 3 points from. We have Norwich (who could be relegated by then). Man City will be hard if the title race is still going (but is Nobes final home game). Brighton may be a nice game to end as it will be a season ender for them with nothing to play for, so if we needed 3 points to finish 6th, I think we’d get it, but we have a horrendous record against them.

    A lot will depend on where we’re at after that first leg. If the players feel we are within touching distance of the final, I could easily see us not winning another league game after that first leg.
  • OldCastleSwiftOldCastleSwift
    Lukerz said:

    I don’t see Man Utd wanting to finish 5-7, personally. I think they’d be quite happy with an 8th place finish and having a clear run at the top four next season, with just the two domestic cups (although they won’t admit it). I also think they’d get away with just losing until the end of the season, with everybody waiting for the new manager and rebuild to start. They’re already at rock bottom so can’t get any lower.

    Can't say I agree with any of that. The fans are already furious with the owners; if they finish outside of the European places there'd be carnage in the streets of Surrey.

    5th or 6th will see them in the EL, which is another route into the Champions League. With Arsenal's resurgence it's possible that top four for Man U next season is less likely than it has been this season, so I think they'll want a fall-back option for the CL. If 'rock bottom' is being 5th in the PL, then what will finishing 8th do to them?

    But even if they didn't want 5th-7th, I can't see them achieving it, unless you're implying the players will be asked to throw games to make sure they finish 8th. If that was the case, they could have settled for the point against Norwich.
  • buffybegoodbuffybegood
    Although I see Lukerz point, in that next season will be easier for them if they're not in Europe, I really don't believe they would prefer to finish outside of the Europa League spots than finish 5th or 6th. If they're in the EL they would automatically be one of the favourites for it, and as OCS says, it's also a backup route to the CL the following season. The EL would arguably be easier to win than the FA Cup, but probably has more prestege these days.
  • FortuneseekerFortuneseeker
    buffy, But what happens when the ECL teams drop in from finishing third in the group stage & may want to use the same route back to the Champions League the next season?
  • buffybegoodbuffybegood
    Fortuneseeker said:

    buffy, But what happens when the ECL teams drop in from finishing third in the group stage & may want to use the same route back to the Champions League the next season?

    Obviously those teams will try, but it's unusual for teams of the quality of Barca to drop down; I suspect, with their new manager, recruitment in the summer, and 6 months of football to improve their performances, that Man Utd would still fancy their chances against most if not all of the teams originally in the EL and those that could only manage 3rd in their CL groups.
  • LukerzLukerz
    edited April 2022
    I think Man Utd will quite gladly finish 8th. Clearly this is not in keeping with the clubs expectations of winning but I think their new manager will be thankful to just focus on a rebuild and a league push. They’re certainly not playing like a team that want to finish 6th.
  • IronHerbIronHerb
    Fortuneseeker said:

    buffy, But what happens when the ECL teams drop in from finishing third in the group stage & may want to use the same route back to the Champions League the next season?

    Of this seasons 8 CL drop downs 3 went out in the Knock Out Round, 2 went out in the Round of 16 and 2 more in the Quarter Finals. RB Leipzig are the only CL survivor and they got a bye in the Round of 16.
  • FortuneseekerFortuneseeker
    IronHerb, They were obviously suffering from "Tottenham Syndrome"! =)
  • Expat_HammerExpat_Hammer
    Fortuneseeker said:

    buffy, But what happens when the ECL teams drop in from finishing third in the group stage & may want to use the same route back to the Champions League the next season?

    They all pray that they don't get drawn against the Mighty Hammers =)
  • WHU_Champo_league_in_7_yearsWHU_Champo_league_in_7_years
    Lukerz said:

    I think Man Utd will quite gladly finish 8th. Clearly this is not in keeping with the clubs expectations of winning but I think their new manager will be thankful to just focus on a rebuild and a league push. They’re certainly not playing like a team that want to finish 6th.

    Don't agree with this

    They're a big club in a rut, but they aren't going to give up top 7, that'll be a an embarrassment coming 8th

    Obviously the Europa and Europa conference are a bit beneath the ones who want top 4, but it's still Europe and they still get some $$ and some coefficients

    For Europa, it's a good avenue to potentially qualifying for champions league by alternate means (see us this year)

    And Spurs who are currently sitting 4th were in the Europa conference league this season and just played their squad/youth players, United could easily do that

    Also....however slim, they can still get top 4 this year with Spurs and Arsenal still having to play each other and United themselves still having to ay Arsenal

    As long as they're in the mix, I d be shocked if they'd be happy to get 8th
  • LukerzLukerz
    If Utd do qualify and play their reserves, that proves exactly what I was saying. They’d rather not be in it. I’m not saying they’ll throw games to finish 8th but they will not have that extra motivational edge in these final games as, in their mind, they are not where they want to be. If they do finish top 6, we’ll see what side they select next season in the Europa. Anything other than 50-50 split with first team players tells me they don’t want to be in it.
  • thornburyironthornburyiron
    Lawro goes 1-1. Maybe tempting fate but an interesting stat is that Antonio has played in 23 games where he has had a break of at least 7 days between games to refresh and of those we have won 18 and drawn 3. Of the 2 we lost one was at Man City.
  • buffybegoodbuffybegood
    edited April 2022
    Moyes in the presser (from BBC):

    Moyes on Issa Diop and Kurt Zouma's injuries: "I’m not going to put timescales on it. Issa has an injury and Kurt has an injury, we’re not putting timescales on it because you always want to get them back quicker. Hopefully we can get them back as quick as we can."
  • WhitehorsehammerWhitehorsehammer
    That's not very informative. Moyes does keep his cards close to his chest when it comes to player availability. Based on his comment I expect both to start on Sunday!
  • LukerzLukerz
    Listening to Moyes, it certainly doesn’t seem like we’re going to be playing Alese at CB. He also didn’t seem to be in any of the videos/pics today.
  • OldCastleSwiftOldCastleSwift
    Alese starts for the U23s tonight.

    He ain't playing Sunday.

    So it's looking like it'll be Johnson at CB against Chelsea.
  • IronHerbIronHerb
    I maybe clutching at straws but -



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