Madrid Reflections and Scouser Options...

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How good was that performance and result in Madrid. Having rode our luck early on we came back well, deserved the opener and were unlucky not to see Harry on the scoresheet from his header.

Mad Dog Aurier - a case of Serge by name, surge by nature. He certainly surged down the wing to cross for our goal, but watching him pursuing Kroos you just knew he was going to destroy all the good he had done for us earlier. Let's trust Poch to get into his head, and hopefully his fellow defenders as well.

I actually think Dele not being available helped, as we looked all the better for setting up as a 4-4-2 without him either getting into trouble or spending the game on his bum. How good was Winksy. That was a big match in which to feature and apart from one bad loss of the ball he was excellent.

And how good was Hugo. Best performance for a long time, for me.

So we return from the Bernabeu bristling with confidence to prepare ourselves for one of our bogey sides. Last term I felt we were lucky to get a point, and got well and truly Mane'd up there.

They're a good side, still inconsistent, but a full house at Wembley will be a good enough reason for them to raise their game.

I'm torn between 3-5-1-1 and 4-4-2. Assuming no Dembele or Wanyama then I'd go with:

3-5-1-1: Hugo, Sanchez, Toby, Jan, Aurier, Winks, Eriksen, Dier, Rose, Dele, Harry

4-4-2: Hugo, Aurier, Toby, Jan, Rose, Eriksen, Winks, Dier, Dele, Harry, Llorente

Both have their merits, the former allows width and with two pacy full backs we can exploit the vast open space that is the Wembley pitch. You could always interchange Dele with Son, given Dele's mixed form this term.

The second takes the load off Kane and I'd like to see two front men against the Scousers suspect defence.

Either way it will be a cracker.......and I've only going to play with 11 this week...lol.

COYS

 

We didnt set up as a 442, it was 532. I know its pedantic but I cant help myself.

 

Not pedantic at all. Had we gone 4-4-2 we wouldn’t have got anything out of the game at all. The real story is how Poch has grown in the job and gone with a completely different system which got us a well deserved draw.

 

Poch does not play 442. At Real Spurs started 352/532 and finished 4231. Vert is my MoM.
I suppose there would be enough time to rest, so there should be no need for Poch to rotate. Yet game against Hammers could influence his thinking. Spurs got shot in the arm with few injured lads coming back. Given all that complexity, no one, including Klopp, I am sure, has any clue as to what and whom will Poch start on Sunday. I think such unpredictability is a good thing, don't you?
I would like 5 best performers from Tue remain: Lloris, Vert, Winks, Sissoco, Kane.

 

Wow, have no idea what game you all were watching. Poch's setup 4312, although Eriksen roamed mostly on the left...but he was playing a 10.

With 5 games in 2 weeks, Poch will need to rotate the squad a bit. I don't trust Aurier playing in this game and Rose isn't fully match fit yet, therefore I see Poch going with a 3421. Containing Salah will be key, we're lucky Mane won't be playing; both can really hurt any team they play. Think Son needs some game time though, maybe sub him in for Eriksen.

Lloris, Vert Sanchez Toby, Davies Dier Sissoko Trippier, Dele Eriksen Kane

 

Morning all. It's good to see that there is concensus on what formation we played...lol.

For me the good news is that, with Moussa, Wanyama and Lamela still to come back, Sissoko starting to come good and Winks emerging in midfield, our squad is as good as I've seen for years and full of options.

I still think we lack real pace in the side, which would really add to our armoury. It's going to a game and a half tomorrow, for sure.

COYS

 

It will be interesting to see how Poch sets up the team for Sunday,as the next 6 Games are all against top teams, apart from Spammers and Palace,he will have a problem resting any one,very concerning if any of our spine pick up any knocks,we need all the lad's including Ali and Son to put a shift in otherwise we could have a problem,

 

It was a Great result mid week, we played well in spells, rode our luck at times and were indeed unlucky ourselves.
The result was/is the main thing away from home in the Champions League if you want to qualify, we couldn't really have asked/expected a better start to the campaign.

We must now switch full focus to Liverpool though and Give their ropey defence a traumatic afternoon.

 

It was a 3-4-2-1 or a 4-3-1-2 or maybe a 3-1-3-2-1 anyway have to agree that Jan had been immense for us in the last few games on the left but hoping we can get Rose or Davies back for Pool as Salah will carve us up if given space.
Good to see Poch changing things up as Pool have had it over us lately with their game plan. Love three points here but think this one might be a draw.

 

There is no reason we can not take 3 points on Sunday,if the lad's play as we know they can,Poch is also learning how to shake things up,some thing he has had a problem with,if he can just get Ali and Son to play then we should be ok,things ease off around 25th November but untill then the games are brutal..COYS

 

We've struggled against Klopps L.Pool so far mainly because our usual gameplan leaves us vunerable by pushing up so far and leaving them acres in behind to thrive on ... I understand the conundrum it leaves the manager in , why shouldn't we trust our own game , have absolute faith in what we're doing and if anything force them to change their style but it just hasn't worked so far against them ... In fairness it works nearly 100% of the time in Premier Lg , but at the same time it hasn't really worked well in European competition .. We've not played well in Europe at all under Poch until this year and personally I wasn't too impressed with our first two performances either even tho we won ... I wasn't convinced we'd changed our tactics in the Dortmund game , taught it might be just the way it panned out with them forcing us back with their possession game and making it look like we were dropping off more and hitting them on the counter .. Whatever happened there we deff approached the Madrid game diff ( thankfully ) and it worked well in fairness considering the opposition .. I'd go as far to say it was our best European performance under Poch .. So back to Sunday , it's going to be interesting to see what he does here , Liverpool are no R. Madrid but their style does cause us problems , themselves and Man. City are the two sides in Premier Lg where we can't afford to push up too high and leave them acres in behind ... We'll find out tomm , we owe these ****s one bigtime , overall we've been a fair bit better then them lately but cant get the better of them one on one .. Playing at poxhole Wembley also tempers confidence a fair bit for me ... So overall I just can't be confident heading into this one .. A big performance and a win here could be massive ... Fingers crossed , C.O.Y.S .....

 

Though I agree with the overall sentiment of your argument. I'd say that I enjoy our style of play, unless we are playing an opponent way above our weight (ie RM) we shouldn't have to sit in; especially playing at home. Let's take the game to them, their defense is too vulnerable and deserves to be tested. LPool used to be ahead of us, no more! COYS

 

I'd expect trippier and Davies/rose to come in meaning dier will revert into centre mid along with winks. Alli also will start at the expense of sissoko in a 3421 formation.

 

Well I deff didn't see this line up coming , look a bit lightweight through the center ... Was hoping to see something like it at some stage but you'd probably expect it against a lesser light then L.Pool ... Going to be very interesting to see how this pans out ... C.O.Y.S .....