Gent away Thursday 13th April 17.45 BST (that's quarter to six)

Brother_Sledge

So back to concentrating on our european adventures now that we are almost certainly, quite possibly, looking a bit more likely, maybe, dare I say it, a little safer in the league.

Would like to see a strong side for this one, then rest a few in the home leg if it goes well.

ASLEFshrugged

As MIAHammer mentioned the player getting all the attention at the moment is 20yo Nigerian striker Gift Orban, signed from Norwegian side Staebek for €3.3m on deadline day and has now scored 14 in 12 games

His striker partner 26yo Hugo Cuypers started out life at Standard Liege, has moved around a bit and joined Gent in the summer for €4.00m from Menchen, another Juliper Proleague club. He has scored 14 in 46 games

Hein Vanhaezebrouck is in his second stint as Gent's manager, he led them to their only Proleague title in 2015, quit to take over at Anderlecht in September 2017 but only lasted until December 2018 and returned to Gent in December 2020. Gent won the Belgian Cup last season beating Anderlecht 4-3 on penalties

His preferred formation is 3-5-2

Gent are known as "The Buffalos" supposedly because in 1906 Buffalo Bill's Wild West show finished a European tour in Belgium and the players adopted the nickname along with the club crest of a Native American chief.

ASLEFshrugged

Whoops, slip of the finger, Cuypers has scored 24 in 46

(19 League, 1 Cup, 4 Conference)

Pengeman

Time to rest some players and give a game to fringe players and those lacking in confidence for the EPL battles ahead.

Areola
Johnson - Kehrer - Aguerd - Emerson
Fornals - Downes
Lanzini - Cornet - Benrahma
Mubama

Paquetá and Scamacca are injured, I think.
Depending on how the game develops, make maximum use of subs to give other a bit of confidence.

ASLEFshrugged

Moyes on Scamacca before Newcastle
"Gianluca has two weeks of rehabilitation on his knee. We don't think he needs surgery, but we'll see how the next two weeks go.'

Moyes on Paqueta after Fulham
"I don’t think it is that bad. You probably remember the tackle he got against Newcastle; he has a swollen foot. He tried to train yesterday and did a bit, but didn’t feel like it was right."

buffybegood

Pengeman said:

Time to rest some players and give a game to fringe players and those lacking in confidence for the EPL battles ahead.

Areola
Johnson - Kehrer - Aguerd - Emerson
Fornals - Downes
Lanzini - Cornet - Benrahma
Mubama

Paquetá and Scamacca are injured, I think.
Depending on how the game develops, make maximum use of subs to give other a bit of confidence.

As much as I agree we should make some changes, I can't see us starting with a more or less completely different team to Saturday, and I doubt very much we'll start Mubama, although I would like to see him involved. This is the first leg, so it's important to get ahead in the tie before being quite so radical imo, maybe room for more changes to the PL 11 in the second leg if we're comfortably ahead.

OldCastleSwift

With Arsenal next in the league, we may as well go full strength against Gent. I think our first eleven gets beaten on Sunday, so I think we can afford to play a good number of them, if not all of them, on Thursday.

I'd like to see:

Areola
Coufal Zouma Aguerd Emerson
Rice Downes
Bowen Fornals Cornet
Antonio

Try to get a good lead ahead of the second leg, so we can rest a few before the Bournemouth game, which is, IMO, more likely to yield points than the Arsenal game.

buffybegood

Coufal gets rested imo, we need him for the PL, and after coming back from an inflammatory type injury I think we need to manage his game time a little for fear of a reccurence. Would prefer to see Johnson given another game against weaker opposition (he played in the second leg v AEK Larnaca) after his horror show in his last PL game against Brighton.

Hamstew

Full strength and get the job done on Thursday so we can rest players in the return fixture ready for Bournemouth.

steve

There in a good bit of form ,Wont be easy ,Wouild take a draw

Lukerz

Areola
Johnson - Zouma - Aguerd - Cresswell
Downes - Rice
Bowen - Lanzini - Benrahma
Cornet

nychammer66

So, we’re going to the Gents on Thursday. I hope they have plenty of t. paper and towels 😀

ASLEFshrugged

32yo central defender Michael Ngadeu-Njadjui started every game except one for Gent this season but left to join Beijing Guoan at the end of March

Cameroon international but hasn't been called up since September last year

welovethehammers

I’d like to see:

Areola
Kehrer Zouma Aguerd Emerson
Rice Downes
Bowen Fornals Benrahma
Antonio

buffybegood

I think the player I'm most undecided about starting is Zouma. He does seem to always be carrying an injury of some sort, I think he is managing something long term with his knees isn't he? He's going to be so important in the latter stages of both this competition (yes, I appreciate that we need to field a strong enough team to reach the latter stages) and the PL that I'd be tempted to let him sit this one out.

Coufal also sits out for me given he's only just coming back from an inflammatory issue with his foot/heel. Given that we've seen so little of Downes this season, and we need to be able to assess him properly before the summer transfer window, I think he starts alongside Rice in the middle. Cornet is another that desperately needs game time so I'm tempted to play something like:

Areola
Johnson Kehrer Aguerd Emerson
Rice Downes
Bowen Benrahma Cornet
Antonio

buffybegood

Have just seen that Coufal did a presser with Moyes this afternoon, so I guess he's likely to start. Not that Moyes ever gives too much away, but it would seem that Paqueta will be fit to play if selected.

https://www.whufc.com/news/live-blog-david-moyes-and-vladimir-coufals-pre-kaa-gent-press-conference

buffybegood

buffybegood said:

....... and I doubt very much we'll start Mubama, although I would like to see him involved.

Mubama has travelled with the squad, would be nice to see him get some minutes off the bench.

"Eighteen-year-old Academy of Football prospect Divin Mubama, who debuted in the UECL Group B win at FCSB in November, has also travelled after scoring 26 goals in 31 appearances at all levels this season."

https://www.whufc.com/news/team-news-paqueta-returns-squad-gent

eskimoking

Areola
Johnson Kehrer Aguerd Cresswell
Downes Rice
Bowen Lanzini Benrahma
Antonio

Quite a few that I don’t really think can’t play both this and Arsenal due to fitness (Coufal, Og, Zouma in particular).

claretandbluesky

Zouma is the one i would rest. I am not convinced he is far from another lay off so the more rest he gets between games the better.

ASLEFshrugged

Vanhaezebrouck has started the same XI for the last two games, a 5-0 away win at bottom club RFC Seriang and 1-1 at home to 2nd place Union Saint-Gilloise

GK Paul Nardi 28, signed from Loreint in the summer, although back up keeper Davy Roef, 29, has been preferred in recent Europa Conference matches

CD Jordan Torunarigha, 25, signed from Hertha Berlin after loan last season
CD Joseph Okumu, 25, Kenyan international,
CD Alessio Castro-Montes 25,

ML Malick Fofana, 18, Gent youth, Belgian U20
MC Sven Kums, 35, won the Belgian Golden Boot with Gent 2014/15
MC Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe (C), 34, 3 caps Belgium, 10 Prem apps with Norwich 2015/16
MC Julien De Sart, 28, 14 Championship apps w Derby & Boro 2015-17
MR Matisse Samoise, 21, Gent youth, Belgian U21

FW Gift Orban, 20, signed from Staebek in January
FW Hugo Cuypers, 26, current Pro League top scorer (19)


A noticeable absence from the starting line ups was midfielder Hong Hyun-Seok, South Korean U23, signed from LASK in the summer and had started every game up until then. Lost his place to Odjidja-Ofoe who returned from a knee injury.

Also returning to fitness is Moroccan CF Tarik Tissoudali who has been a substitute in the last two games after recovering from cruciate ligament

BubblesNeverDies

Don't understand how so many have a non-footballer in their selection. I don't need to spell his name, do I?

alderz

XI: Areola; Coufal Johnson Aguerd Obgonna Emerson; Rice Downes Lanzini; Bowen Ings

Subs: Fabianski, Anang, Cresswell, Zouma, Fornals, Antonio, Paqueta, Cornet, Benrahma, Kehrer, Soucek, Mubama

Whitehorsehammer

Strong bench.

eskimoking

Looks like an overly defensive team to me, feels a bit unnecessary to have 5 defenders and 2 holding mids.

buffybegood

Matching them up with 3 at the back. Interested to see how well this works, and how well Ings and Bowen work as a pair. Good to see Downes starting, glad Zouma has been rested tbh, guessing Coufal has shown no reaction in his foot to the games he's played recently so hopefully he'll be OK to play again on Sunday. Also good to see Johnson play again.

Overall I'm not too unhappy with the team, just hoping we manage to get the job done 🤞🤞🤞.

COYI ⚒

steve

Not sure how Ings is going to get any service

OldCastleSwift

eskimoking said:

Looks like an overly defensive team to me, feels a bit unnecessary to have 5 defenders and 2 holding mids.

Yeah, that was my initial reaction. I'm expecting a defence-first, take-a-clean-sheet-back-to-the-Bowl type performance.

Two keepers on the bench again, too. Would have been nice if one of those places went to someone like Potts, or Scarles, or Kodua.

buffybegood

steve said:

Not sure how Ings is going to get any service

I think it's entirely related to how much possession we get. With effectively a midfield 5 plus 2 up top I suspect the intention is to have a lot of the ball in advanced positions, which should then bring Ings into play. Whether we manage to do that is another matter, but I can see what we're aiming for (I think).

OldCastleSwift

steve said:

Not sure how Ings is going to get any service

Got to assume that the theory is that Bowen and Lanzini will be playing up with him.

History suggests he could end up quite isolated again though.

Slacker

Looking forward to this.It looks on paper a pretty positive selection so let’s hope it comes good.
My boy’s out there enjoying himself.⚒

nychammer66

Not on tv over here. Have we scored yet?