morgs Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 Im happy with that selection. At this stage what is almost as important as anything is having players who can/ will have a bit of bite and run hard for 90 minutes. Up top we have 4 mercenaries and at least colback/ tiote behind them will put in a tackle, and hopefully not conceding will keep the heads up of those lads up top. I think that back 6 unit is in terms of desire/ passion arguably the strongest we have put out under rafa and at this stage having players who arent going to stop playing upon conceding will be as important as having a player with quality. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TK-421 Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 Soccer Saturday panel going mad at the Shelvey dropping... Merson: "You've got to play your big players'... totally ignoring he's been fairly anonymous since the West Ham game. As said above, most of our players are playing sh*t, so I have no issue with Rafa trying other players. Its sh*t or bust really, and the players who had their chances so far haven't stepped up. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
timeEd32 Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 Dummett can go to CB. Sissoko or Colback to LB. Mbemba to RB. Plenty of defensive options, it's a good bench given the options. Such an opportunity today. We will clearly fuck it up. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 Shelvey has done nothing to justify his starting place. I'm reasonably happy that he's not starting because he rarely does enough. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teasy Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 Norwich don't play until the 30th after today as well (and that's Arsenal away), we'll have played 4 times by then. Fantastic opportunity, but aye obviously it'll get thrown away today. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobody Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 Fucking hell Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minhosa Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 Shelvey has done nothing to justify his starting place. I'm reasonably happy that he's not starting because he rarely does enough. He doesn't deserve a start. Good to see him dropped. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
St1pe Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 I don't understand the Shelvey dropping either. He'd be well up for it against his old club, it's a bit of a slap in the face replacing him with either Colback or Tiote. There isn't much a like about that team selection actually. Wijnaldum keeping his place? Sissoko keeping his place and being promoted to captain? They've both been dogshit man. De Jong and Perez must be furious. Cisse over Mitrovic is comfortably the worst though. I would be over the moon to be made to look completely stupid mind. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nufcjb Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 Dropping Shelvey was good. Dropping Mitro, keeping Gini and Sissoko is so awful. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 Isn't Benitez well known for fannying about with his starting XI anyway? Desperate times call for desperate measures. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRon Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 I don't understand the Shelvey dropping either. He'd be well up for it against his old club, it's a bit of a slap in the face replacing him with either Colback or Tiote. There isn't much a like about that team selection actually. Wijnaldum keeping his place? Sissoko keeping his place and being promoted to captain? They've both been dogshit man. De Jong and Perez must be furious. Cisse over Mitrovic is comfortably the worst though. I would be over the moon to be made to look completely stupid mind. There's nothing about Shelvey's demeanor on the pitch which makes think he will everbe up for it against any club never mind his previous one. He looks like a sulky twat who expects everyone else to do his running for him. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElDiablo Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 Rafa the rotator. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shearergol Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 I like the idea of mitro coming off the bench. Perez has done nothing for weeks now. We're setup to keep tight and try and nick it late on, but we've not managed that all season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
triggs Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 Mitro has done nothing bar that Norwich game since Rafa came in like. Don't know why people are so surprised/unhappy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leazes_End_Mag Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 Shelvey has done nothing to justify his starting place. I'm reasonably happy that he's not starting because he rarely does enough. Remind me what Colback offers? He's as awful defensively as Shelvey and doesn't offer any creativity, which when he's interested, as he would be today, Shelvey does. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallowgate Toon Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 Dropping Shelvey is not good. He's not been great since West Brom but he generally sets something up for our forwards or makes something happen on some sort of basis most games. How the fuck Gini and, to a lesser extent, Sissoko get away with it week on week is beyond me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty66 Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 At least Rafa is trying something different with the midfield as it has been shocking with Shelvey. Hopefully we will be able to be more solid with 2 defensive midfielders,no point going gung-ho from the start. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest firetotheworks Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 Controversial line up. Wijnaldum shouldn't be starting and Mitrovich should be imo, but we'll see. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
morgs Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 Might be able to keep a clean sheet for more than 8 minutes Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sempuki Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 Over to us now. Scrape a win and it's not over. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimbo Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 You can debate the midfield and strikers all you want, I don't see a team winning a premier league game with those fullbacks. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRon Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 Shelvey has done nothing to justify his starting place. I'm reasonably happy that he's not starting because he rarely does enough. Remind me what Colback offers? He's as awful defensively as Shelvey and doesn't offer any creativity, which when he's interested, as he would be today, Shelvey does. Colback is absolute shit it's true, but he's at least a body in central midfield who might get in the way of Swansea runners. I don't think Rafa trusts Shelvey to turn up. He's exactly the type of player who would just stand watching while an opposition player smacked a shot right past him. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 Remind me what Colback offers? He's as awful defensively as Shelvey and doesn't offer any creativity, which when he's interested, as he would be today, Shelvey does. Shelvey offers nothing and Colback offers nothing, I'm OK with Shelvey being dropped, I didn't say that I was happy with playing Colback but I can understand the decision. We'll have to wait and see if it works out for us or not. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Venkman Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 I honestly think a lot of people think they're watching a lazy player in Sissoko when they're actually just watching a rubbish one. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foluwashola Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 I honestly think a lot of people think they're watching a lazy player in Sissoko when they're actually just watching a rubbish one. Watching both in all honesty. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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