Panda A little niggle for anyone else might mean Ben White's leg is hanging off, knowing what we know about his ability/willingness to play through niggles.
I've got visions of Ben White as the Black Knight from Monty Python just now.
On the plus side, I'm hopeful it's just a sign the medical and coaching teams are being quite cautious about the healthy and fitness of key players.
I'm kinda baffled by the pedestal that people are putting Real Madrid on. Their front 3 are better than our front 3 but our back 8 are better than their back 8. We're going to have Saka and Martinelli against Fran Garcia and Lucas Vasquez most likely. In their last game, they conceded 4 goals at home against Real Sociedad. In the game before that, they conceded 2.87 xG at home against Leganes. In the game before that, they got out-xG'd by Villarreal. In the game before that, they lost against Atletico and went through on penalties. I don't really understand the idea that Leganes can put the fear of God into them but we apparently have no hope. I guess it's just some weird emotional hedging, I suppose.
DiabyKungFu I think it's moreso the talent of their front 3 combined with their Champions League hoodoo/mystique. I am also of the opinion that we can get a result across the two legs but no Gabriel will certainly hurt our chances.
samthegooner with Gabriel I was actually quite confident, especially with Saka on the way back. Now with Kiwior…
Yep Kiwior is the great deflator. I was actually bullish just last week with my mates. Bet them dinner that we'd win. Had to go in hmming and harrumphing at work this morning. Minus Gabriel is a massive loss by itself, but that Kiwior actively works against us.
Interesting stat.
Burnwinter Interesting stat.
4 minutes of uninterrupted possession almost.
Big Willie Sometimes we watch these sequences and think "boring", but when you're playing footy, it's truly demoralising when your whole team isn't touching the ball for that long a period.
Burnwinter control ball is truly a horror to play against when deployed with maximum constriction.
Tchouaméni also suspended for the first leg
Don't do it to yourself. I'm rarely defeatist but this tie is already done.
Oh I'm not confident we will go through but even though we have injury problems, looks like Real Madrid's are just as bad if not worse.
It's only bad if UEFA actually dole out immediate suspensions, which feels unlikely given how slow/ineffective football litigation is.
I'm fed up of the defeatism. Real are slight favourites to qualify. We are favourites to win the home tie. Its very close and all to play for. Real aren't that good despite their superstars.
they conceded 4 goals against sociedad a few days ago. they can be got at for sure, but you have to get at them. we're not going to control ball them to death . we'll need to be way more incisive
They looked awful defending corners v Sociedad which makes it even more of a shame that Gabriel is injured.
Gazza M they can be got at for sure, but you have to get at them.
This is the issue though. We'll sit deep. It's what we do in big games. Attack vs defence, with out defence missing Gabriel. Can't wait.
Vamos!!!! COYG!!!
Big Willie strategic deep defending is fine, but we that shouldn't be our whole gameplan. do it after we've nicked 1-2 goals. get at them early then think about being conservative. it sucks because we have one of the best-equipped back 4s to take the risk of defending them man-for-man and absorbing their attacking waves, but a huge piece of that will obviously be missing. most of their games in la liga are windshield wiper affairs, back and forth, and they almost always concede goals.
